Very rare Omega H.S.10 Royal Navy Dive Supervisors Wristwatch c.1945
The wonderful Omega for sale would have originally started life like any other standard W.W.W. wristwatch.
The WWW’s 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’s and as such, the collection is commonly referred to by collectors and dealers alike as “The Dirty Dozen”.
Only around 25,000 Omega WWW watches were made for the British Army during WW2.
However, the Omega for sale is considerably rarer and special still due to it having been subsequently re-issued to the Royal Navy for the Diving Survey, most likely for use as a Dive Supervisors wristwatch. This is indicated by the additional markings of H.S 10 on the reverse of the case back. “H.S.10” refers to the Royal Navy stores reference for a “Divers Wristwatch”.
According to records held by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the Dive Supervisors wristwatch was to be used for supervision and should be splash-proof but not pressure resistant.
The watch features an interesting MOD replacement dial, which bears a striking resemblance to the replacement “Fat Arrow” tritium dials fitted to Omega RAF pilots watches at the beginning of the 1950s.
Very few of these watches are thought to exist which makes the wonderful example for sale a truly rare and special find. The watch for sale, therefore, represents a superb opportunity to acquire a wonderful piece of military and horological history.
