recent discussion link. Many of the surviving WW2 RAF watches were recased and redialed in early 50's and re-issued in 1956 I think- so I guess all of those were in fact issued and used by more than one person
Isn't it the case that, in theory, the whole point of an issue number was to track possession of the item? If so, perhaps there's some file cabinet buried deep in the bowels of some musty Ministry of Defense basement that has the information.
Makes sense. The MOD went to some effort to discourage private pilfering of watches. Most of the deck watches (pocket watches used on ships) were altered to be “unwearable” for example but some survived intact
I have one from WWI with all the MOD broad arrow markings.
Isn't it the case that, in theory, the whole point of an issue number was to track possession of the item? If so, perhaps there's some file cabinet buried deep in the bowels of some musty Ministry of Defense basement that has the information.
Well I like your answer wouldn’t it be great if that was proven some day, there’s got to be more to it.
Makes sense. The MOD went to some effort to discourage private pilfering of watches. Most of the deck watches (pocket watches used on ships) were altered to be “unwearable” for example but some survived intact
I have one from WWI with all the MOD broad arrow markings.
How did the original watches survive and not be tampered with ? cheers
Joe
Isn't it the case that, in theory, the whole point of an issue number was to track possession of the item? If so, perhaps there's some file cabinet buried deep in the bowels of some musty Ministry of Defense basement that has the information.