Show Your Military Watches

blubarb · Jul 4, 2026

Mr Vo
Very little information is available. Was it a Uruguayan military order in the 1940s?

Are there any case back markings - need to see the case back. It might be one of the many military used (not issued) pieces bought individually due to their multiscale chronograph layout with a telemeter scale, I guess used to estimate distance to an event such as artillery fire, explosions, or lightning by timing the delay between sight and sound.

Where did the idea of it being a "Uruguayan military order in the 1940s" come from?

Of course, Uruguay did have established armed forces throughout the 1940s (both army and navy). Uruguay broke relations with the Axis powers in 1942 and declared war on Germany and Japan in 1945, but I think they just wanted in on the United Nations.

Regarding your Vulcain, it's plausible that a Uruguayan military officer could have owned a Swiss chronograph in the 1930s–1940s. Swiss watches were widely imported into South America duroing the late 1930s. To prove that your specific watch was issued to the UM you would need evidence such as:
1. Military engravings on the case-back,
2. Unit markings,
3. Inventory/property numbers,
4. Or documentation linking the watch to a military contract.

Our military watch collecting hobby is full of wishful thinking 😉 I have the "could've been" watches to prove it too. 😁

Donko1100 · Jul 5, 2026

Longines D137 1944 year.

blubarb · Jul 5, 2026

I am curious as to the case back. I have never seen the lone inscribed D without the trailing H, but I know they definitely exist - super rare I suspect. I think I read somewhere once that only the Wehrmacht officers' watches had the D xxxxxx H inscriptions and general service had D only? Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could chime in. The DH of course stands for Dienst Heers (Dienst Armbanduhren des Heers). Any backstory on it?

is the movement serial a bit on the high side?

kfranzk · Jul 6, 2026

See here my Longines D 714 H. case no. 22133 and mvmt. no 6370154.
The movement is not gilded...

And see here Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel and his adjutant Helmut von Leipzig wearing a D H watch maybe a Longines at the North Africa theatre.
And before someone asks, why I show a Nazi General, Rommel was an Army General and at least forced by the SS to suicide to save his family after he supported an anti-Hitler activity.

Donko1100 · Jul 6, 2026

blubarb
I am curious as to the case back. I have never seen the lone inscribed D without the trailing H, but I know they definitely exist - super rare I suspect. I think I read somewhere once that only the Wehrmacht officers' watches had the D xxxxxx H inscriptions and general service had D only? Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could chime in. The DH of course stands for Dienst Heers (Dienst Armbanduhren des Heers). Any backstory on it?

is the movement serial a bit on the high side?

Hello!
Everywhere with the inscription D and not only Longines watches they present them as watches for the Luftwaffe. How much is it true can only say narrow specialists in military watches. From DH Longines made 5,000 pieces. From D there are 500. On the Internet I found only three more. On my 137 and 77 the numbers of the mechanisms are exactly 60 different. This leads to the fact that they are correct. The other two have the same mechanisms, but with numbers that do not correspond to this series...

river rat · Jul 9, 2026

My Hamilton FAPD only issued for one year in 1970 so a rare one.

river rat · Jul 9, 2026

Another rare one a Precista 93 an odd one no case back marks.

Got this when they were cheaper at the MWR forum before stinking rip off tariffs. Always wondered if this one was like the unmarked Benrus type 1 sterile version used when you don't want to be ID by your enemy only a theory.

river rat · Jul 9, 2026

Someone posted a type1 here is a type2

blubarb · Jul 10, 2026

river rat

Someone posted a type1 here is a type2

The type 2 is just epic! Precista are in another paygrade these days - the last 1982 Precista I saw sold was USD12.5k. and of course the FAPD is another classic. Great group of mil watches. That precista has been roughly scratched and I think for the exact reason you suggested.

river rat · Jul 10, 2026

Here is my issued IDF Eterna Kontiki Super I got about 14 years ago.

SpeedyPhill · Jul 11, 2026

I hope the "average civilian" realises that many military-issued wrist watches had to be returned, after which these were destroyed as considered obsolete... in some modern day Forces, often the only way "to keep" a military-issued wrist watch was to fill all the necerssary paper work to declare it lost during a NATO TacEval Exercise
🤨

kfranzk · Jul 11, 2026

SpeedyPhill
.... the only way "to keep" a military-issued wrist watch was .... to declare it lost ....

Not in any case as there were huge sales by the official authorities especially in Britain here by UTS later by Silvermans...
I remember my friend Paul Dungate (passed too early), who got batches of watches in the 80s and 90s. I meat him once in a hotel lobby offering me a tablet of chronographs: Lemania, CWC and others for 70£ each, yes and a handful Omega Mil-SMs or Rolex Mil-Subs. I regret not to have bought all.

And surplus sales in Germany by VEBEG (the official government sales Comp., you may get trucks or kitchen furniture or clothes..)..

river rat · Jul 11, 2026

No one posted a civilian watch used in the military. Here is one I was lucky to find on eBay some years ago. The watch a Bargel cased watch the movement a front loader but easier to remove than the Benrus type1 or 2. This came with the soldier's military paperwork and pay records. His name was Mr. Cooper was in a motorboat section and was in the landing at Gallipoli and how often do you get a WW1 photo with the watch on his wrist.

river rat · Jul 11, 2026

Here is another WW1 trench watch what made me buy it was I saw that watch before. If any of you have the book Military timepieces by Whitney, you seen this watch in the book. No one else noticed it no bidding war. This watch was the exact watch so cool to have a watch that was photographed for one of the first military watch books I bought when I got into this hobby of military watch collection.

river rat · Jul 11, 2026

Bought this Seiko quartz when on active duty overseas in 1983 and used it for 22 years in the Navy and on my civilian job on a city tree crew it took a beating. Did have IWW service it and cleaned it up still working today better than a Timex it took a licking and kept on ticking as long as I changed the battery.

blubarb · Jul 16, 2026

river rat
Here is my issued IDF Eterna Kontiki Super I got about 14 years ago.

Lovely example of an issued Shayetet 13 naval commando watch. Any provenance you can speak of?

blubarb · Jul 16, 2026

SpeedyPhill
I hope the "average civilian" realises that many military-issued wrist watches had to be returned, after which these were destroyed as considered obsolete... in some modern day Forces, often the only way "to keep" a military-issued wrist watch was to fill all the necerssary paper work to declare it lost during a NATO TacEval Exercise
🤨

Also many issued watches were returned and later sold at military auctions. This was certainly the case in Australia - usually sold in Newcastle Australia. I believe it was the same for the MoD as well. Some were also gifted at course graduation such as KAF, IDF and others.

blubarb · Jul 16, 2026

RAAF JLC Mk11 (1953)

SpeedyPhill · Jul 17, 2026

blubarb
Also many issued watches were returned and later sold at military auctions. This was certainly the case in Australia - usually sold in Newcastle Australia. I believe it was the same for the MoD as well. Some were also gifted at course graduation such as KAF, IDF and others.

Indeed, it depends from each MoD policies... unfortunately I know of many being destroyed (1980s & 1990s)

SpeedyPhill · Jul 17, 2026

blubarb

RAAF JLC Mk11 (1953)

Reminds us of this LeCoultre:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/want-to-see-a-real-astronauts-watch.72729/

Thread 'Want to see a real astronaut's watch?' ·

You could have bought one last weekend:

From the Estate of Sen. John Glenn...

gatorcpa · Mar 13, 2018

👍

Show Your Military Watches

blubarb

Donko1100

blubarb

kfranzk

Donko1100

river rat

river rat

river rat

blubarb

river rat

SpeedyPhill

kfranzk

river rat

river rat

river rat

blubarb

blubarb

blubarb

SpeedyPhill

SpeedyPhill

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