On His Majesty's Service 1 Thomas Koenig and Adrian van der Meijden look at the Watch, Wrist, Waterproof (W.W.W.) of the British Army and its History. The Abbreviation W.W.W. and the other markings.
1: Dial of a typical W.W.W.
Among the British Army watches, the W.W.W.s are by far the most esteemed, possibly because they were the first wrist watches specially designed for general British Army service. Prior to this civilian wrist watches were used, which were not always suitable for requirements. Special custom made watches were only procured for very special tasks and equipment like wireless sets.
The Manufacturers and their Brands At the time the W.W.W.s were ordered, only very few British watch factories were still in business. Of those few, instead of watches, many produced aviation and navy instruments and fuses. Therefore all 12 well known W.W.W.s originate from Swiss manufacturers. Additionally, an order had been placed with a 13th Swiss manufacturer (Enicar) and a stores number for an Enicar W.W.W. had been allocated. However, this did not result in the actual production of a 13th watch; Enicar W.W.W.s are unknown. The 12 known brands, sometimes called the ‘Dirty Dozen’, and their makers are depicted in Table 1.
Watches used in military service can usually be identified by the markings, engraved, milled or stamped in the case back. These markings pursue three objectives: 1. To mark it as government property. 2. To create uniform characterisation of the watch type (for reasons of stock keeping and to check whether the applicant was eligible for that specific type of watch) 3. To establish uniform identification of each individual watch by means of a serial number. This was used in most armies to register to which individual soldier each watch had been issued. Watches were often classified as valuables, resulting in more strict rules for surveillance, stocking and bookkeeping. All of these considerations were applicable to the Watch, Wrist, Waterproof. The traditional marking for Crown property is the ‘Broad Arrow’, also called ‘Pheon’ or ‘King’s Arrow’. The Broad Arrow head is present on all W.W.W.s three times: on the dial, the inner side of the case back, and on the outside of the case back. Photos 1-3. This is in contrast to the Mark 11 of the Royal Air Force watch there is no Broad Arrow present on the movement. The watch type is indicated by Watch Wrist Waterproof - W.W.W. The British Army initially used a pure descriptive code to characterise and identify its equipment. This is in contrast with the Royal Air Force, which used an alphanumerical code, and NATO, which used a purely numerical code.
Brand
Maker*
Brand
Maker*
Buren Grand Prix
Buren Watch Co.
Lemania
Lugrin SA, Lemania
Cyma
Schwob Freres SA,
Longines
Compagnie des Montres
1949 renamed
Longines, Francillon SA
CYMA Watch Co Eterna
Eterna SA, formerly
Omega
Schild Freres
SA Louis Brandt & Frere, 1947 renamed SA OMEGA Louis Brandt & Frere
Grana Watch
Kurth Freres SA
Record
Record Dreadnought SA, 1949 renamed Record Watch Co
Jaeger LeCoultre
Jaeger-LeCoultre SA
Timor
Timor Watch Co SA J.
IWC
Uhrenfabrik Ernst
Vertex
Thommen SA Fabrique
Bernheim & Co Homberger-Rauschenbach
d’ Horlogerie
vormals International Watch Co
Table 1: Manufacturers and Brands. * The mentioned names are from Kathleen Pritchard, Swiss Timepiece Makers 1775-1975 and are the names used at that time.
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2: Outside case back of W.W.W. IWC and W.W.W. Record with military markings.
3: Inside case back of W.W.W. IWC and W.W.W. Record with military markings.
The descriptive code was composed of several words, the first of which was the most important in the sequence of describing the object. In the case of W.W.W. the first word is ‘watch’. This is to discriminate it from other objects such as weapons or necessaries. After ‘watch’, the second word is ‘wrist’ (originally ‘wristlet’), to differentiate it from pocket watches. The third and last is ‘waterproof’. At a certain point in time, the British Army introduced along with the descriptive typing, an alpha-numerical code. Despite thorough research, we could not determine when this exactly took place, but it must have been towards the end of World War II. As a consequence, the W.W.W.s carried alpha-numerical codes on the dials for a short period, presumably in the 1950s. Those brands that stayed in active military service, received in the 1960s preliminary ‘NATO Stock Numbers’ (NSN) printed on the dials. W.W.W.s always show two serial numbers: one is the civil serial number of the manufacturer and the second a military one. The military serial numbers start with a capital letter followed by a number of one to five digits. The civil and military serial numbers are present on the case back, but their exact locations differ amongst manufacturers. All
Horological Journal
watches have on the outer case back a military serial number (this is not surprising as to identify a watch by its military serial number otherwise, would have meant opening the case). Grana and IWC do not have the civil serial number on the outside. In reverse, the civil number is always shown on the inside case back, but JLC, Lemania, Longines, Omega, Record and Vertex do not have a military serial number on the inner case back. At the same time it is clear that both the civil and military serial numbers are case numbers, not movement numbers. In many instances, during servicing the case backs of watches were switched. Such switches can be established for Lemania, Longines, Record and Vertex. Taking Longines, the four digit civil case number is repeated in full on the lugs, so a case back swapped to another watch can be identified easily. Lemania, Record and Vertex show a three digit number on the lug, which seems to be the end of their military serial number; however, the number of interchanged case backs is so large that a reliable statement on this issue and concerning these brands is not possible. Buren, Cyma, Grana, Lemania, Longines, Record and Vertex do not indicate the manufacturer’s name on the case back. Not only are the case backs interchangeable amongst watches of one brand, but also widely amongst different brands. This will be highlighted later on. The exact meaning of the capital letter by which the military serial number starts is unknown. Several visits to the British military archives, as well as to the archives of still existing manufacturers lead to no results. Indisputably, there is a correlation between this letter and the manufacturer. There is a further remarkable correlation between the military and civil serial number. If one subtracts the military number from the civil one, a certain, but always constant number for the brand appears. Only for JLC, this does not apply. This is shown in Table 2. Obviously, both the civil and the military serial numbers (with one exception) have already been applied by the manufacturers, not by Army departments. For IWC, the evidence of this has been traced in the IWC archives. For the other brands the same must apply. The fixed subtraction number, as the result of civil minus military serial number, would not be possible for thousands of watches if both serial numbers had not been milled on the watch at the same time. However, it remains unknown why Horological Journal
Maker
Letter code
Buren Cyma Eterna Grana IWC Jaeger-LeCoultre Lemania
H P P M M F Q
Longines Omega Record Timor Vertex
F Y L K A
Civil serial number minus military serial number results in 330,163 5,000 3,108,328 533,538 1,118,980 Varying, about 310,000 to 325,000 -100 (but often there exists a second Q-Number unrelated to the civil serial) -3,724 10,664,199 517,847 or 518,047 29,900 3,512,916
Table 2: Letter codes, according to manufacturer and the corresponding subtraction number (civil minus military serial number).
some W.W.W. Lemania watches bear two different ‘Q‘-numbers, of which the second ‘Q’ -number does not correlate with the civil serial number. Apparently, the second ‘Q’-number has been assigned later in time for unknown reasons. It is also unknown why for JLC the fixed difference between civil and military serials does not exist and who, the manufacturer itself or the British Army, has applied the military serial number. Another conclusion from Table 2 is that the letter code was not unique for one manufacturer but from time to time it was used by two. The capital ‘P’ was used by Cyma and Lemania, ‘M’ by Grana and IWC and ‘F’ is shared by JLC and Longines, respectively. The letter code does not refer to the importer/wholesaler in Great Britain, as Grana and IWC (both letter code ‘M’) were delivered to the Army by M. Dreyfuss, while JLC (letter code ‘F’) as well as Omega (letter code ‘Y’), were delivered by Goldsmiths & Silversmiths. So Omega and JLC do not share the letter code ‘F’, but were sold by the same importer, while Longines and JLC share both ‘F’ as letter code, while Longines has been imported by Baume. The hypothesis, that the letter code might correspond with a certain region or depot where the watches have been distributed, cannot be accepted. As pointed out, the military serial numbers including the letter code have been applied by the manufacturer. It is not very likely that the British Army at the time the order was placed and the cases produced, already knew or had decided in which depot or region the watches should be distributed (or was prepared to disclose such a decision to Swiss suppliers). The 6B markings on the navigation watches of the Royal Air Force have also been considered by some collectors and dealers pointing to a certain region. This
is wrong as well, as 6B is the RAF code for ‘Aircraft Navigation Equipment, Accessories and Unit Servicing Parts’. It is more likely, the letter codes represent ‘Contract Numbers’, by which every order is linked to a certain letter and a range of numbers. In all cases where two brands share one capital letter, the number ranges are strictly separated and they are never overlapping. From time to time watches of the type Army Trade Pattern (ATP) show up bearing ATP plus W.W.W. markings, or even W.W.W. markings only. These watches have been marked prematurely by subordinated authorities, followed by an army order to strike out the W.W.W. markings, with a horizontal line and at the same time to (re-)apply the markings ATP where appropriate. Besides such ATPs for wrong reasons upgraded to W.W.W., there exist genuine W.W.W.s which, due to wear and tear, have lost the high W.W.W. standard of accuracy and subsequently have been downgraded to ATP level, Photo 4. However an ATP stays an ATP, even if by mistake it is marked W.W.W., and a genuine W.W.W. of one of the aforementioned brands will be easily identified as such, even if there have been issued ATPs of the same brand. So it is no problem to differentiate between ATPs incorrectly marked W.W.W. and downgraded W.W.W.s. Dates of Delivery, numbers produced and stores numbers. Determination of dates of delivery and numbers of watches produced is really difficult as this data cannot be retrieved from the British Army, and in most cases neither from the manufacturers’ archives. It is only available from currently existing manufacturers IWC, JLC, Longines and Omega, but the quality of data is highly dependant on the accuracy of the records and structure of August 2008
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4: W.W.W. downgraded to ATP standard.
data which was kept in those days. The best and most reliable resource is at IWC, where the exact number of W.W.W. watches produced exists, along with every movement and case number, and delivery dates for the different batches. For JLC the exact number of watches produced is known, as well as all the movement numbers and delivery dates. In the case of Longines’ archives it is possible to link the movement number to the reference number, and to the date of delivery, allowing identification of the watch as a W.W.W. However, due to the structure of records kept, the exact number of watches cannot be determined without unreasonable effort. For Omega, the exact production quantity can be derived via the reference number, and the delivery date can be retrieved by referring to the movement number Photo 5. Of the eight other W.W.W. suppliers (Buren, Cyma, Eterna, Grana, Lemania, Record, Timor and Vertex) very little, if any, data exist. This is because most of these eight brands do not exist anymore or have made a complete new start only using the brand name (Eterna, Lemania). As far as we know, all 12 manufacturers simultaneously started to deliver in May or June 1945, and after December 1945 there were no more deliveries. So in contrast to the assumption of many collectors, the W.W.W.s had not been in active combat during World War II. The sudden halt of deliveries was perhaps caused by a unilateral order of the Allies, stating that orders of war materiel would be paid for
only if shipped before the end of 1945. Such an order had been issued after the ending of World War I, and it is likely that the Allies did the same once World War II had ended. Manufacturers started their production in February or March 1945. Even when deliveries had taken place after the ending of World War II in Europe, the orders must be considered as war orders. Remarkably, none of those companies which delivered parts or complete artillery fuses to Germany (Cortebert, Recta, Enicar, FHF and Reconvilliere), provided any W.W.W.s. However, these five manufacturers had previously delivered pocket watches of the type GSTP and/or ATP to the British Army. This situation, combined with the fact that for Enicar, a stores number for a ‘Watch, Wristlet, Waterproof’ had been allocated, may be a consequence of Allied investigations on Swiss supplies to the Axis. The Allies had investigated which Swiss watch producers were involved in the production of fuses for Germany. Probably at the same time the procurement procedure for the W.W.W. was started. As a result those Swiss manufacturers could be discharged or be placed on a black list. In contrast, Cyma as a brand of Schwob Freres/Tavannes, had originally financial connections with an important supplier of fuses to the German Armed Forces: Tavaro S.A. The Germans however, forced the Schwob brothers to withdraw from Tavaro, because they were Jewish. When the procedure to order W.W.W.s had already been started in 1942/43, it might be that the actual ordering was considered as part of the preparations of the upcoming invasion. Fear was not anymore a reason for the Swiss producers to prevent delivery to the Allies. This is evident from the important concealed delivery of navigation watches to the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force during the war. IWC delivered calibre 52T S.C. Deck Watches to the Royal Navy in 1943/44. Officially, they were sold to a London bus Maker Buren Cyma Eterna Grana IWC JLC Lemania Longines Omega Record Timor Vertex
5: Production slip for W.W.W. Omega CK 2444.
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Letter Code H P P M M F Q F Y L K A
company with a Swiss management, which immediately forwarded the watches to the Royal Navy. During the same era, probably with full knowledge of the Allies, the delivery of IWC calibre 67 ‘B-Uhren’ (Observation Watches) to the Kriegsmarine (German Navy), took place. At the time the W.W.W.s were shipped, a direct supply to Great Britain was again possible, without interference from the Germans, and by avoiding German occupied territory, as the Allied Forces had reached the Swiss border in August 1944. How many W.W.W.s have been delivered is unknown. For IWC, JLC and Omega exact figures can be retrieved from their respective company archives. For the other brands only estimates are possible. After two years of research, collecting and archiving all available serial numbers in a data base and by using different statistical methods and considerations, the following estimation can be made. Part 2 will appear in September's HJ.
Author Notes Thomas Koenig is a German watch collector with a special interest in British Armed Forces precision watches. He was co-author of the articles on the Navigator's Wristwatch Mk. II published in HJ January & February 2004 and Watches in Air Force Cameras published in HJ December 2005 and February 2006. Adrian van der Meijden is a retired Dutch physician and IWC collector. He was co-author of the articles on Radioluminescent Dials and the KNIL IWC W.W.W. published in HJ March 2007 and July 2007 respectively. The authors also co-wrote an article on the Bonklip Bracelet in the December 2007 issue.
Pieces Produced 11,000 20.000 5.000 1.000 – 1.500 6.000 10.000 8.000 5.000 25.000 25.000 13.000 15.000
Source estimate estimate estimate estimate IWC archive JLC archive estimate estimate Omega archive estimate estimate estimate
Table 3: Production numbers of W.W.W. Horological Journal