Vintage Movement ID help please (possible WW2 RAF pilots watch)

Hi team forum.

I am helping a family ID a watch which it looks like belonged to a WW2 RAF pilot who died in the war (so very timely with Remembrance Day this week).

There is provenance for the watch which supports their belief however there are some contradictions. I am unable to say much more on it yet as that would be a breach of confidence. I think I will get permission to share all soon. It is a very interesting story. Of course some of them were very young then and are quite old now.

The watch would need to date before June 1940 to match their recollections.

What can the team glean from these pictures?

Many thanks in advance for any help and feedback on the movement and case style.
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n/a

Ok - thanks for checking out the pictures.

I should add the watch was a gift so it was private / not official military issue which you can probably tell from the case etc anyway.

Thanks. Yes I think the same. The 10 is not clear on the picture / could be a letter. I got some info from a watchmaker yesterday and will post that later. It is a cheap economy movement but I guess times were hard back then.

Hi team forum - I have some extra information. Any help much appreciated. I will also link this to a previous thread below to give some data on the Brand (thanks to everyone who helped on that).

A watchmaker has confirmed this is a budget end pin-lever movement as invented by Georges Frederic Roskopf. I have not been able to identify the manufacturer to help date it. It is 30mm I think.

I suspect the watch was made by the Services watch Co which combined with the Aviation branding would seem a logical choice for a family to select as a gift to a young RAF pilot. The link below shows they were active pre-war as a significant retailer of 'Services Sports Watches' by casing up a variety of German (Thiel) and Swiss (Oris) movements. Their Aviation Watch Co subsidiary is believed established around 1938 so that could also be a match for the dates. Their location (Leicester) is also interesting given the back story I have. Oris did use pin-lever movements in the thirties but I imagine they would be branded in some way - the same with Thiel I assume?

The young pilot did not think he would survive the war (he was correct) and also the budget movement / sentimental value makes me think he would not have worn it on many (any) missions - hence why the watch has survived.

Currently I dont have anything to date the watch other than the family testimony which is compelling. I would like to have something more concrete before I encourage them to go public with the extra information as a lot of time has passed and memories can let us all down.
Services watch Co were also active in the fifties and as per the thread below other companies did use the Aviation Brand.

Any feedback much appreciated - could this be a 1939/1940 watch from the info above?

The Services Watch Co - Chronopedia

https://omegaforums.net/threads/vin...n-watch-brand-any-owners.137656/#post-1872499
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Small bump before the weekend.....