Hello all, Following my find of the white dialled Helvetia (Helbros branded) pilot's watch a couple of weeks ago I have again come across an unusual Helvetia pilot's watch. I have purchased it and it is on its way from Bosnia. First I'll let you see some of the sellers pictures. Ignoring the obvious for now I'll first mention a few of the less obvious. The watch is in excellent condition, I don't think I've seen another as good, the case is practically mint. The dial is good too with a small overpainted area above the subdial. I will investigate further when it arrives but I would bet money on it having 'SVOJINA VOJSKE' or Army Property painted there as has another example I have seen. As an aside these are the only Helvetia pilots watches I have seen that are marked as military property, probably the only 1928 pattern watches I have seen. As mentioned above I knew of at least one other watch from that part of the world marked Army Property and digging through my records I've found another overpainted one. Pictures of both these below. Looking at them it seems they were identical to the original watch but have both had a bottom lug manufactured. In one it is not as obvious but you can see if you look closely. On to the case of the original watch. This case is a clip back and is marked 7013, the standard large Helvetia with rotating bezel has a 7011 hinged case, so it appears this is a standard case by Helvetia with it's own number not an adaptation for this contract or similar. As to it's use I can think of two. Firstly that it is designed to fit in a recess or case in an aircraft or vehicle and the tab is for lifting it out for setting or winding. The watch is a wristwatch though, a clock or pocket watch would do that job better I'd have thought, it still has one lug which would make fitting it into a case or something not that easy. It is 40mm, not huge for a cockpit watch and you need to be able to turn the bezel. The tab at the bottom is also quite large and curved, more so than is required for this use. The Kingdom of Yugoslvia was also rapidly modernising its Air Force at this time (1940) with ME109s and Hurricanes. The other use could be with some special strap. Perhaps a pull through one that somehow was fixed by the tab to stop it moving on the strap. It could be a slot, or two, that it fitted into though I am having trouble thinking how it would work and be secure. To me it seems like it should be worn on the person in some fashion, being a watch and still having the one lug, I'm going to experiment when it arrives. Anyone have any ideas! Thanks. Carl.
Hello Larry. David was the first person I thought of and sent him an email along with Konrad Knirim. David doesn't think it could attach to a pull through strap and thinks it's probably from a cockpit or similar fitting. I'm going to get a couple of cheap NATOs and have a play about I think.