Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Cyma WWW Military Dirty Dozen 1940s
- Maker / attribution
- Cyma (maker)
- Date
- mid 1940s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Dimensions
- Case 38 mm
- Stock no.
- W-687
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Bulang & Sons (W-687)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Cyma WWW Military Dirty Dozen 1940s (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Bulang & Sons (dealer), Copenhagen (stock number W-687), this is a wristwatch by Cyma, dated mid 1940s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. Recorded dimensions: Case 38 mm. The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Dealer description — Bulang & Sons
The Cyma Dirty Dozen Mil Watch The Dirty Dozen military watches are some of the most collectible military issued watches – all dating to the World War 2, they were ordered by the British army for soldiers to wear in combat. The British MOD ordered watches from 12 manufacturers, hence the nickname ‘Dirty Dozen’. On offer today is the largest of the 12 watches – the Cyma, which is housed in a 38mm case with fixed lug bars and has a manual wind movement. The black dial, with small seconds register, is in outstanding condition with all the radium still in place. The watch displays the correct military engravings on the caseback including WWW, which was the army issue code for ‘Watch, Wrist, Waterproof’. The watch has been fully serviced by our watchmaker. Specifications - Cyma wristwatch - Issued to the British Army - Black ‘Broad Arrow’ dial with radium numerals - Dates to mid-1940s - Full military case back engravings - Fully serviced by our watchmaker - Includes a handmade single leather watch pouch
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
The wristwatch overtook the pocket watch. Military use in the First World War, aviation, water-resistant cases (1926), automatic winding (1923–31), rectangular Art Deco designs and early chronographs and calendars defined the period.
Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
Atlas type guide
Military, pilot and travel watches
The wristwatch owes much of its adoption by men to warfare and aviation. Wristlets — small pocket watches soldered with lugs and worn on a strap — were used in colonial campaigns and became standard equipment in the First World War, with protective grilles over the crystal ('shrapnel guards'). Louis Cartier's Santos (1904), designed for the aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, is often cited as an early purpose-made pilot's watch.
In the Second World War governments specified watches in detail: the German B-Uhr observation watches, the American A-11, and the British 'W.W.W.' (the 'Dirty Dozen' set of 1945). After the war, jet travel brought GMT and world-time watches, which show two or more time zones at once — Louis Cottier's world-time mechanism and the Rolex GMT-Master (1955) are examples.
What to look for
- Military markings on the case back: broad arrow, issue numbers, 'W.W.W.', 'A.T.P.'
- High-legibility black dials with luminous Arabic numerals; oversized crowns for gloved hands.
- 24-hour hands and rotating 24-hour bezels or city rings on GMT/world-time watches.
- Wire lugs on early wristlets converted from pocket watches.
Dating clues
- Wire-lug wristlets: c. 1900–1925.
- Military specifications of the Second World War: 1939–1945.
- GMT and world-time wristwatches: mainly after 1950.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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