British Military Watches | How To Collect

COLLECTING MILITARY TIMEPIECES

Since the beginning of the 20^th century, the military has used specialized timepieces which have been required to stand up to the particular demands of the military services.

However, it was becoming obvious that the pocket watch was not perfectly suited to the needs of ‘modern’ warfare. Initially, this led to an abundance of specialised leather straps that could house a small pocket watch, successfully tied to the wrist.

It is said that Cartier have the honour of making the first actual military wristwatch, and indeed, that is probably the case. But this was not by any stretch of the imagination, a true military wristwatch.

During the First World War, purpose made military timepieces were contracted for use both by some elements of the army, and the navy. Towards the end of the First World War, the newly formed aviation units also needed a timepiece aboard the planes.

It was during the lead up to the Second World War that true sophistication of timepieces for the three services took place.

Neither the British, or indeed the German, watch-making houses could cope with the levels of contracts.  This led to the two major opposing countries sending contracts to Switzerland, to provide various types of timepieces for their respective services. Indeed, leading Swiss watch-making houses, such as Longines, Zenith, International Watch Company, were making virtually identical timepieces for both the British and German military.

Today, the collecting of military clocks and watches is both buoyant and vast.