Πολύ ενδιαφέρουσες πληροφορίεςLemaniakias έγραψε:Καταπληκτικά ρολόγια αυτα της 12αδας.....
Μερικές πληροφορίες ακόμη απο άρθρο που είχα γράψει παλιά στο monochrome...
The W.W.W (Watch, Wrist, Waterproof) watch
WWW’s were the first watches specially designed for general British army service. The characteristic features that were set by the British MoD were:
Black dial with Arabic numerals, sub seconds at 6 o’clock and railroad style minutes
Luminous hour and minute hands plus luminous hour markers
Movements with 15 jewels, 11.75 to 13 ligne in diameter
Shatterproof Perspex crystal
Waterproof to the era standards
Precision movements that had to be regulated to chronometer criteria in a variety of conditions
Rugged case, capable of diminishing shocks
Water resistant crown of good size
As we already mentioned before, the watches came from twelve Swiss manufacturers. The British MoD clearly stipulated that they were explicitly meant for ‘General Service.’ This did not mean that each soldier would be eligible for having one issued to him; it was and certainly remains over-the-top to provide a watch regulated to chronometer standards for every soldier. With the term ‘General Service,’ the British meant that these watches would be issued to special units and tasks respectively such as artillery members, staff members, engineers and personnel of the Communications corps.
The watches had special markings either engraved or milled in various areas. These markings were there for three sole purposes only:
To mark each specific watch as a piece of government property
To create uniform characterization of the watch type
To establish standardized identification of each individual watch by means of serial numbers
The W.W.W’s also had engraved in three places with the Broad Arrow or Pheon (which denotes property of the British Crown.) They also decrypted on their case backs the descriptive code W.W.W which was composed of three words, the first of which was the most important in the sequence in describing the object: Watch. Two serial numbers could be found as well, one being the civil serial number of the manufacturer and the second a military one which started with a capital letter; In the case of the watches we will review here in some detail, the IWC’s models used the letter M and the Record’s the letter L.
About 150,000 W.W.W’s were delivered to the British military by all 12 manufacturers delivered from May 1945 until December 1945. For the specimens that we will examine, the count came to some 6,000 IWC’s and approximately 25,000 Records. The watches were repaired and maintained by R.E.M.E (Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers.) The task of this organization was to carry out complete maintenance, repair and regulation of the supplies of the British Army, and for that reason, they employed watchmakers and instrument makers.
