Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Lemania WWW2 Dirty Dozen Soldiers Watch, MOD Dial, Non Radium, circa 1944
- Maker / attribution
- Lemania (maker)
- Date
- c. 1944
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Stock no.
- vws2735
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Vintage Watch Specialist (vws2735)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Lemania - WWW2 Dirty Dozen Soldiers Watch - MOD Dial - NON RADIUM - c.1944 (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Vintage Watch Specialist (dealer), United Kingdom (stock number vws2735), this is a wristwatch by Lemania, made in Switzerland, dated c. 1944. 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 Very Well Preserved Lemania WWW Dirty Dozen Soldiers Watch with a Non Radium MOD Dial, c.1944 The “Dirty Dozen” watches are very well known within the Military watch-collecting community and are well documented in the watch world. All 12 brands have gained a great following including the present example we have on offer, the Lemania variant which among the circa 150,000 watches made, Lemania produced around 8000-10,000 pieces. Classified for “General Service” but issued to special units including radio operators and artillery staff members the “Dozen” are highly sought-after watches by any serious collector. What’s On Offer This is a fantastic example of the Lemania Dirty Dozen soldiers watch which features an MoD dial, this means the original radium dial was replaced by a tritium one, so if the presence of radium in military watches is a concern for you, then this is a superb option as it is still very much an original piece with historical military significance. The stark black dial is in excellent condition and boasts bold Arabic numerals, an outer minute track, a sub-seconds dial at 6 o'clock and the military arrow we expect to see which denotes the watch as military property. The hands and hour plots boast Tritium lume which has evenly aged. The dial is presented beneath acrylic crystal and encased in chrome-topped metal. The caseback is engraved with original military markings which read: WWW Q5444 5955. A superb addition to any collection and a joy to vintage and military enthusiasts alike.
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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