WW2 Hamilton UDT US Navy Canteen Watch

Posts

1,179

Likes

6,009

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.

 

Posts

169

Likes

585

Wahoo98

·Feb 2, 2026

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

 

Posts

1,179

Likes

1,760

arturo7

·Feb 2, 2026

I dig it.

 

Posts

326

Likes

557

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.

 

Posts

1,179

Likes

6,009

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.

 

Posts

1,179

Likes

6,009

river rat

·May 13, 2026

The Hamilton Canteen watch in action.

 

Posts

326

Likes

557

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.

 

Posts

1,179

Likes

6,009

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.

 

Posts

326

Likes

557

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

 

Posts

1,179

Likes

6,009

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

 

Posts

536

Likes

3,757

elephantcage

·Jul 13, 2026

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.

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.

 

Posts

1,179

Likes

6,009

river rat

·Jul 14, 2026

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.

 

Posts

536

Likes

3,757

elephantcage

·Jul 14, 2026

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.

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.

 

Posts

536

Likes

3,757

elephantcage

·Jul 14, 2026

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?

 

Posts

1,179

Likes

6,009

river rat

·Jul 14, 2026

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: Jul 14, 2026

 

Posts

536

Likes

3,757

elephantcage

·Sep 4, 2026

Here's my Hamilton buships...had three at one time but sold the others. I prefer the Elgin canteen as it feels more sturdy...and I have several of them. Your dial is the nicest I've ever seen. NOS.

 

Posts

536

Likes

3,757

elephantcage

·Sep 4, 2026

I just noticed something interesting on your watch (riverrat). I'll attach a photo. It's the small link that connects the screw on crown cover to the loop on the case bezel. I looked at many photos of various Hamilton canteens, and yours was a little different. Your link looks like a cast metal part rather than a bent metal part. I'll try to show what I mean. You can use yours and compare to this photo and mine above.

 

Posts

1,179

Likes

6,009

river rat

·Sep 5, 2026

When I bought it was told the crown cover was a replacement. They are missing on a lot of them plus the Elgin one's on the MWR forum a guy from Europe gets hard to find vintage military watch parts made. The crown cover was one of them better than no crown cover. Think he sells them on eBay and on the MWR PX. Think that's were the seller got the crown cover from.