Buren WWW Dirty Dozen British Army Wristwatch c.1945

The WWW watches are perhaps the most popular and collectible watches amongst all those issued to the British Army.

This is perhaps because they were the first to be specially designed and custom made for the British Army.

WWW stands for Watch, Wrist, Waterproof and was the descriptive code used by the British Army to identify it as a piece of equipment.

These watches began being manufactured and issued to the British Army in early 1945.

There were 12 Swiss manufacturers of the WWW watches and as such, the collection is commonly referred to by collectors and dealers alike as “The Dirty Dozen”.

Only around 11,000 Buren WWW watches were made for the British Army during WW2. As such, good original examples of these watches are very sought after by collectors and can often be difficult to find.