Pocket Watch

[Vincent]

Good afternoon everybody,

Can anyone shed some light on this pocket watch which is running perfectly, such as its age and what is the significance of the numbers on the back?

Many thanks.

[Geo]

It's been a military watch, and a good one at that. I'm sure Will (our resident watch historian and pocket watch expert) will be along shortly with excellent information for you. :)

[WillFly]

This is a very nice military watch by Jaeger-Lecoultre - an excellent and much sought after model - purchased by the British Government  in the late 1930 or early 1940s for use by military personnel in World War 2.

 

"G.S.T.P" stands for General Staff Trade Pattern - meaning that it was an official procurement by the War Department. The 262533 is a serial stock number, but I can't say what the "XX" is. Some people believe that the T.P. in G.S.T.P. stand for Time Piece, but Trade Pattern makes more sense as other military equipment also had the G.S.T.P marking. If the watch is in good working order, it would probably fetch between £200-£300 at auction at current rates.

[bobm12]

We had bottles marked XXX so maybe there is a relationship on those Xs! Looking at such nice watch one can get "mildly drunk" with pleasure...or how about soft core porno? :)

 

In any case, that's a very, very nice vintage watch with quite some history behind I suspect!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[Vincent]

Dear Geo, Will and Bob

Thank you for your interesting feed back, I would like to try and find out more about its history, it belonged to my late father.

Is it better to keep it running or "stored" and at rest?

Once again, thanks for you interest.

Best wishes.

[Geo]

Hi Vincent, unless you wish to use it for a daily watch, which I doubt, I would store it. It would be a goos idea to have it cleaned and serviced first, then maybe two or three times a year give it a half wind and let it run. I say half or partial wind to lessen the chance of the spring breaking if it is original.

[WillFly]

Good advice from Geo. I have a number of old pocket watches. They've all been cleaned and serviced over the last 2-3 years and I wind them about 3-4 times a year - just to check they're all OK.

 

I have a 1939 Unitas 173 military wrist watch. I bought it some months ago, ran it regularly - and the mainspring went. Not surprising after 75 years! I've replaced the mainspring and it runs fine again - but I wear it now and then these days.

[bobm12]

I agree about keeping it safe and definitely, it is essential to service it. IMHO, at this point, oils may not be in great shape and may even be a cause of malfunction due to undue resistance (change of viscosity, sticky, etc). As you can imagine, any type of malfunction is bad and cause undue deterioration on this vintage mechanism. During service other issues may surface that will allow for correction keeping your timepiece ticking as close and efficiently as originally intended.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[Vincent]

Once again thank you for interest and advice, I will let it run down and "store" it, it was serviced not too long ago.