WW II British Military Pocket Watch

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Everyone,

A while ago I posted some photos of the Wireless Set No. 19 Mk. II that I am trying to restore at least to display condition. One of the missing items was the military pocket watch that fit on the front of the wireless set. I was shocked at the cost of these little gems, even one that no longer worked. After months of looking I found this watch at a price I thought I could afford and while it does not keep time now (correct twice a day) my wife's nephew is a watch marker and should be able to repair it to working order.

These were issued to soldiers like the Signals Corps who would have used the wireless in my collection. I have been told that if you lost the watch you had to pay for it and they were expensive at that time period. This one is Swiss made by the Moeris company and the dial and arms still glow in the dark. Perhaps they all do, I don't know about that. On the back, which is very worn, is the British broad arrow mark with GSTP and the serial number 140055 still visable, though just visable. I have been told that GSTP stands for General Service Time Piece. In order for the watch to fit into the watch holder the suspension ring on the watch had to be removed. They are easy to remove and are quite "springy" so no damage to the ring occurs when it is removed.

I hope you like my addition to my ever growing No.19 Mk II project.

Cheers

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Here's a shot of the back. You really have to be in the correct light to see the markings and even then they are faint. Perhaps this watch was used in the ws19 considering the wear to the back and the "crystal" is in pretty good condition. I would have thought that if the wear was due to it being in a pocket both sides would have been quite worn. This is probably just a case of me wanting to think it was actually used in a radio, I hate it when so-called historians amature and otherwise make items fit into what they would like it to be.

Cheers

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Here's the watch mounted in the radio.

Now to surround the watch and radio with an APC.

To that my wife would say, "Keep dancing on the mine field, funny man".

Cheers

Brian