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WW2 Hamilton UDT US Navy Canteen Watch

canteen watch hamilton military watch tool watch us navy udt vintage ww2
river rat
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Since the tariff I been looking at military watches in the USA got that RCAF Waltham off eBay in the US and this from the MWR forum. This Hamiton canteen watch issued to US Navy UDT diver who cleared beach obstacles so landing craft can hit the beach. Bare bones nothing but swim trunks a k-bar knife and fins and a mask and a watch plus the explosives to blow up the obstacles to clear the beach. Been on my want list for a while.
oHmxBRC.webp Ncjw9GJ.webp XgZl8Hl.webp

Funny after I bought it looked for the straps these were issued with and found one on eBay for 60 bucks and NOS to.
 
Wahoo98
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Really interesting watch. Looks great too. Thanks for sharing.
 
Arancio601
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that is a great watch. Would love one for my collection one day. Heaps of fakes to wade through though. I have a few of its WW2 contemporaries. Primarily for the USN and USMC aviators.
IMG_9484.webp IMG_9483.webp
 
river rat
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Well, some of you might have noticed it has the wrong second hand plus an Elgin dust cover that has been corrected when I had it serviced plus a new mainspring.

e9789e81-de45-44ca-86f0-7ed257ef6b40.webp IMG_E3185.webp
 
Arancio601
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@river rat I was told recently that the USN buships watch in my photos above shouldn't have the USN Buships case back. Is that correct? IT was from someone who has a bunch of the canteen watches themself.
 
river rat
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Arancio601 Are you a member of the MWR forum if you are post a photo and ask about your USN watch. If not, a member sign up. I Can post the link over there and tell you the answer. You need to be a member to see the forum. I have seen USN on dial and USN case backs on the sub seconds before on the net but not knowing their history that had all vintage parts and some with put together with fake parts but yours are vintage parts and could be real just not an expert on them but there a guy on MWR Forum if he sees your post can tell you if real. I tried searching for a post over at the MWR forum because I thought I saw a post of the difference on these sub seconds and canteen USN cases different letter marks on cases but could not find it.
 
Arancio601
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river rat river rat
Arancio601 Are you a member of the MWR forum if you are post a photo and ask about your USN watch.
Thanks, I think I did join years ago. I will see if I can retrieve a password
 
river rat
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Well got another strap for it. This one was a issued one sort of a green gray color.
PiZmU5q.webp wCmAiem.webp

You can see how the glass crystal was soldered in
wtFzEmr.webp 8pvefWg.webp
 
elephantcage
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river rat river rat
Since the tariff I been looking at military watches in the USA got that RCAF Waltham off eBay in the US and this from the MWR forum. This Hamiton canteen watch issued to US Navy UDT diver who cleared beach obstacles so landing craft can hit the beach. Bare bones nothing but swim trunks a k-bar knife and fins and a mask and a watch plus the explosives to blow up the obstacles to clear the beach. Been on my want list for a while.
oHmxBRC.webp Ncjw9GJ.webp XgZl8Hl.webp

Funny after I bought it looked for the straps these were issued with and found one on eBay for 60 bucks and NOS to.
Are you looking for a correct, orig. dial? I may have one.
 
river rat
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elephantcage elephantcage
Are you looking for a correct, orig. dial? I may have one.
when I had the watch serviced got a photo of my dial out of the case the Hamilton name was stamped where it should be, so it turned out original. The hands are original Hamilton but should be none blued but that's OK. Might fix that one of these days.
099XqyM.webp
 
elephantcage
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river rat river rat
when I had the watch serviced got a photo of my dial out of the case the Hamilton name was stamped where it should be, so it turned out original. The hands are original Hamilton but should be none blued but that's OK. Might fix that one of these days.
099XqyM.webp
You know, I've seen so many of the repro dials like this that are far too perfect that I jumped to a conclusion. I agree. It's a very nice original. The Hamilton canteens are about one for every ten Elgins, and the dials are getting very tough to find. I have a buddy who is pretty much exclusively GI watches, and he used to turn them up regularly...not so much now. Yours is a very nice example.
 
elephantcage
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elephantcage elephantcage
You know, I've seen so many of the repro dials like this that are far too perfect that I jumped to a conclusion. I agree. It's a very nice original. The Hamilton canteens are about one for every ten Elgins, and the dials are getting very tough to find. I have a buddy who is pretty much exclusively GI watches, and he used to turn them up regularly...not so much now. Yours is a very nice example.
It's a shame whoever did the hand replacement that they didn't just remove the blue. Having re lumed hands isn't a big problem. Do you have a good movement photo?
 
river rat
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elephantcage elephantcage
It's a shame whoever did the hand replacement that they didn't just remove the blue. Having re lumed hands isn't a big problem. Do you have a good movement photo?
My watchmaker damaged the lume and it was great looking before that, so he had to relume the hands funny thing he charged me for the damage he did for the relume. Better than missing lume. If you look at the top photo before the wrong second got replaced, had original lume really can't tell the difference now.
Edited:
 
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