Glasgow saleroom McTear’s holds a dedicated military watch auction on September 19. Most entries are from a private collection and include watches from the so-called ‘Dirty Dozen’ – the 12 Swiss manufacturers commissioned to supply the British Ministry of Defence during the Second World War.
The full set consists of watches by Buren, Cyma, Eterna, Grana, Jaeger Le Coultre, Lemania, Longines, IWC, Omega, Record, Timor and Vertex. The majority have serial numbers to identify the wearer and symbols to show them to be government property. Many are engraved WWW, which back in the 1940s stood for Watch, Wrist, Waterproof.