Military pocket watch

[antonyh]

Well  a while  ago I got one of the Williamson  pocket watches,  a non runner, spares, for spares, no hands on the dial, so I had to guess a bit on the sort of hands it had, from a few books I had.

Then on Ebay I see yet another spares or repairs,  non runner,  But this one has hands, see picture, I thought at leat I will know.

Yes another watch that is only suitablefor spares, but the hands are all I'm  interested in.

It's possible  some of you may have even seen it or bid on it, trust me ,case included, it was bad.

Anyway,  hands are quite unique,  dished hands fI'll ed with luminous paint,  never come across this before.

Has anyone else have anything similar,  watch dates from 1st world war.

[khunter]

Pictures of the movement would be most helpful....can't tell much from the dial.....

[antonyh]

This is the movement 9.

[khunter]

Not a bad looking movement all in all....blued screws, gilt finish, snail pattern on the winding wheels....pretty cool

[wls1971]

The hands are correct for the watch the reason they where dished rather than open cathedral type hands is that the radium could be applied in  larger quantities  which meant they glowed brighter and where less prone to cracking and paint loss. The watches are stamped with the military issue number on the case back, case side and painted onto the dial.

As with all radium dial watches appropriate precautions should be taken when dealing with them although it will no longer emit any glow from the paint it will still be very much radioactive and a possible hazard to health.

Edited February 23, 2018 by wls1971