Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Cyma WWW, Military Dirty Dozen Wrist Watch, British Army Issued WW2, circa 1944
- Maker / attribution
- Cyma (maker)
- Date
- c. 1944
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Dimensions
- Case 38 mm
- Stock no.
- vws4114cs
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Vintage Watch Specialist (vws4114cs)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Cyma WWW - Military Dirty Dozen Wrist Watch - British Army Issued WW2 - c.1944 (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Vintage Watch Specialist (dealer), United Kingdom (stock number vws4114cs), this is a wristwatch by Cyma, dated c. 1944. 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 — Vintage Watch Specialist
Introduced during the Second World War, the Cyma Dirty Dozen is one of the most desirable British military wristwatches ever produced. Cyma was one of just twelve Swiss manufacturers contracted by the British Ministry of Defence to produce the famous "Watch, Wrist, Waterproof" (W.W.W.) specification in 1944–45. Built for active service, these watches combined exceptional legibility, robust construction and reliable timekeeping, making them indispensable to soldiers in the field and today among the most collectable military watches ever made. What's on Offer This is an original Cyma W.W.W. "Dirty Dozen" military watch dating to around 1944. Housed in a 38mm stainless steel case, it retains its highly desirable matte black military dial with luminous Arabic numerals, pencil hands and subsidiary seconds at six o'clock. The broad arrow on the dial and matching military engravings to the caseback confirm its British Ministry of Defence issue. Powered by Cyma's superb Calibre 234 manual-wind movement with 15 jewels and approximately 44 hours of power reserve, it represents one of the finest examples from the legendary Dirty Dozen series. Fitted to a khaki NATO-style strap, it looks every bit the purposeful military timepiece it was designed to be.
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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