Longines WWW Dirty Dozen British Army Wristwatch c.1945

Longines WWW Dirty Dozen British Army Wristwatch c.1945

£6,495

Stock Number: W0313 Category:

Longines WWW Dirty Dozen British Army Wristwatch c.1945

The WWW watches are perhaps the most popular and collectible military 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’s and as such, the collection is commonly referred to by collectors and dealers alike as “The Dirty Dozen”.

Only around 5,000 Longines 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.

Happily, the watch for sale comes complete with an extract from the Longines archives.

The Longines WWW is in lovely overall condition.
The original factory dial is in excellent condition with no obvious flaws or blemishes.
The cathedral hands, seconds hand and crown are all correct to the original specification of the watch. The second hand is a new old stock replacement.
As expected, there are several fairly minor scratches and marks to the outer casing of the watch, which is commensurate with age.
Happily, the lug and case back numbers match which confirms the mid-case and case back are original to each other.
The 12.68z calibre movement is in excellent condition and is currently running well and keeping good time.

The watch comes complete with a free six-month warranty, two new NATO straps and a bespoke presentation watch box.

Diameter: 38mm (ex crown)