Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Glycine German Army Officers Watch (DH) WW2, circa 1940s
- Maker / attribution
- Glycine (maker)
- Date
- c. 1940s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Stock no.
- vws2554
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Vintage Watch Specialist (vws2554)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Glycine German Army Officers Watch (DH) WW2 - c.1940s (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Vintage Watch Specialist (dealer), United Kingdom (stock number vws2554), this is a wristwatch by Glycine, made in Germany, dated c. 1940s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. 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
A Well-Preserved Glycine German Army Officers Watch (DH) From WW2 with Original German Military Markings and Attractive Lume. Founded in 1914 by Eugene Meylan, Glycine was created to be a watch brand celebrating pilots, flying and travel. All watches have been produced in the factory in Bienne, Switzerland since the company first started. Glycine was acquired by Invicta Watch Group in 2016. What’s On Offer This Glycine design is not dissimilar to that which we see in the British WW2 watches with the stark black dial, bold Arabic numerals and sub seconds dial at 6 o'clock - it also boasts its original lume on the hands and hour plots which has aged to a beautiful caramel colour. It is stamped D 70781 H on the case back which denotes it as property of the German Military - Dienstuhr Heer. This watch is powered by the AS-1130 17 jewel movement. This movement was the standard movement found in all infantry watches of the German army at this time. This example has been very well preserved and still has 95% of its original nickel on brass plating which is very rare in these watches. It is still running and keeping good time, it looks well on the wrist and of course, it is shrouded in military history - these watches are slowly dwindling in numbers as the years roll by so now is the time to purchase!
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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HKM / Kulttuurihistoriallinen