WW2 Hamilton UDT US Navy Canteen Watch

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river rat

·Feb 2, 2026

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.

Funny after I bought it looked for the straps these were issued with and found one on eBay for 60 bucks and NOS to.

 

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Wahoo98

·Feb 2, 2026

Really interesting watch. Looks great too. Thanks for sharing.

 

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arturo7

·Feb 2, 2026

I dig it.

 

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Arancio601

·Feb 3, 2026

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.

 

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river rat

·Apr 29, 2026

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.

 

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river rat

·May 13, 2026

The Hamilton Canteen watch in action.

 

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Arancio601

·May 14, 2026

@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.

 

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river rat

·May 15, 2026

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.

 

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Arancio601

·May 15, 2026

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

 

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river rat

·May 17, 2026

Well got another strap for it. This one was a issued one sort of a green gray color.

You can see how the glass crystal was soldered in