Minerva D.H. German Military Watch, 1940s

Dealer description — Craft & Tailored

The art of collecting military-issued timepieces has never been more interesting or captivating than in today’s day and age. These alluring timepieces have been sought after for as long as collectors have been rummaging through estate sales and flipping through catalogs, however, due to the availability of archived information we now possess, the community has never been more interconnected or informed. This beautiful Minerva was a piece designed for the Deutsches Heer, the German Army, during WWII. A compact and robust design ensured its safe passage through the decades where now, 80 years later, it still feels and appears as solid as the day it left the Minerva factory. Stock # MVADHMW Brand Minerva Style Military Model N/A Serial 58XXXX Size Men's Material Stainless Steel Dial Glossy Black "Gilt" Millimeters 34 Bracelet Nylon Single-Pass NATO Strap CASE & BRACELET The stainless steel case is 34mm, with a stepped bezel and fixed lug pins. This manually wound military piece features a screw-down case back, with all markings still deep and vibrant, and a movement dust cover only found on the Lavina Caliber 105 version of this watch and not the other, Minerva Caliber 12 option. The watch comes supplied on a NATO strap. The case back features a unique "AD" engraving, likely the initials of the original owner. DIAL & HANDS The gilt dial is a deep black and the aged radium hour markers are all fully intact. The dial features subdial seconds at 6 o'clock which creates a much more full look on what would otherwise be a quite simple design. The tapered hands have long since lost most of their radium filling, but are quite beautiful in their emptiness, the original radium lume that remains in the hands is a very dark coloration. ACCESSORIES None. The watch is keeping time and functioning perfectly, previous service history is unknown.