I found a trench watch which Omega states should date back to 1916. It belonged to a World War One officer enlisted in the US Armed Forces. He served two years in France around 1918 (very end of the war). The engraving is on the back of the watch and it reads: "Warner T. Bonfoey", Oklahoma City. He was born February 24, 1894, in Unionville, Missouri, then moved around after the war and worked at Monroe Chemical Co. He had one child, a son who also served in the military, but tragically perished in Korea in 1951.
The watch looks like it has an honest dial and movement, and the numbers check out. It took forever to find a nice band for the straight lugs. I thought I would some pics and the story. The original owner died in 1976 and I found it in the intrawebs.

http://apps.westpointaog.org/Memorials/Article/17677/
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bonfoey-25

 

welcome, thanks for sharing and nice strap btw

 

Marvelous pick up! I love these older military pieces that come with a story. I also like that the engraving is not "professional", makes one think he really did value that piece. Congrats!

 

Thanks, yes, the engraving was utilizing a sans serif font called "chicken scratchings"

 

There are times when engravings enhance the charm and this is one of those times. Captivating piece of history you found.

 

Cool watch with a story attached, bonus when you can discover some of the owners history.

What is the case size?

 

larger than most at 36mm. It is currently at the spa, since it was 5 minutes too slow in a 24h period and the adjustment was already at the end of the range. The service might be half of what the watch cost, but I do not have too many vices, so I can swing it!

 

Very cool! Thanks for sharing

 

That's a great old watch, I just sold my Omega trench watch, mine was a basket case though. If you are ever interested in unloading it I'd like to call dibs if for no reason than the local history connection (I'm sixty miles from OKC).

 

Thanks. It should come back from the spa in a couple of weeks. I might need to amortize the repair for a little while, but I will keep you in mind for dibs.

 

Fantastic engraving! Cool watch and story too!

 

About as cool as it gets.

 

Wristlets, as in watch bands that would fit the narrow lugs of trench watches? From what I read....in the US...it was mostly Zenith that supplied wristlet watches to the US Signal Corps. At least at the beginning of the war.

Your post sent me on a chase that has the potential to destroy any productivity:

https://www.amazon.com/Early-Swiss-...8&qid=1520469530&sr=1-4&keywords=trench+watch

https://www.ww1trenchwatch.com/fame.html

 

Believe it or not, Omega may have records on these watches. I know it may not be where you want to park ~$150, but if they have the record it may be really nifty to have.

You'd have to order an Extract of the Archives.

Really awesome. I love trench watches and one day I'm gonna pry @jumpingsecond's off his wrist.

 

Every time I read someone running down a watch value because of an inscription, I think of stories like this. To me the overall condition is great, inscription and provenance is great .. enjoy. Be advised though that these don’t have antishock. Keep it on the bund. Congrats!

 

Kool looking watch, great story too. The strap seems right at home with that watch.

 

I have the same watch

 

Congrats and nice story about the original owner. I own a few time pieces from WW1 a Waltham US Navy ships chronometer, and US Navy Chelsea ships clock, Elgin Pershing dial wristlet also with a chicken scratch engraving and a Zenith US Army signal corps wristlet. I all ways enjoy reading threads like this. A photo of my chicken scratch on the Elgin Pershing dial wristlet.

You can see the 29th div a US Army national guard unit activated to go to France in WW1 but with initials hard to track the owner like yours. Also QM you can't really see in the photo for quarter master I guess. If you want to get a WW1 era type strap I bought two from this site and it's has a lot of info on trench watches.
http://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/strapdetails.php

 

Me too, v12gte and thanks for posting about that book/those books! Then I had to buy the book (on a subject in which I thought no one else was ever interested, none of my posts on the subject here are ever liked! or, sometimes, even responded to)

Last week I even posted one of those 1917 Signal Corp Zeniths and no one even commented!!

I finally found the book on ebay.de for a perfectly reasonable price and, incredibly, with cheap shipping. I.m now dying to see what is wrong with it, - is it one of those books where 90% of what you are paying for is translations of the text into a half dozen languages one doesnt speak? Or is it just self-published and they only printed a few copies?

Then I looked up your second reference and found an even more obscure book, published/sold only on something called lulu?? Does anyone know how good/interesting/bad it is? I always get a bit suspicious when I see some publication, without details or samples or reviews that did without a publisher editing the text to make it look a bit professional? Plus I always get a bit suspicious when I see someone authoritative say in a book I am supposed to be paying for, that a Peerless watch marked S & Co is an IWC!! Does this mean that the author doesn't actually know that the SCHAFFHAUSEN part of the name was the town of manufacture, eg Le Locle, Geneva, Grenchen etc etc?