A friend of mine bought this watch in Poland and wanted to know more about it: type of watch, age, who made it, but mostly is the engraving on the back authentic.
My guess is this is a generic cylindrical escapement from the 1880s that someone engraved with nazi info to make it more interesting to souvenier buyers.
The back says: "Unsere-Waffen SS (lightning bolt), 15.9, eagle, 1939, 1 Btl LSSAH (lightning bolts).
Please comment.
Thanks,
John III
Posts: 1755 | Location: Colorado in the USA | Registered: October 17, 2005
Are there watches issued for nazi troops ? I have traded in knives ,rings etc and have never seen a watch that could be verified , Tom the last real knife/dagger i sold was for 450 about 10 yrs ago
Posts: 1574 | Location: Maryland in the USA | Registered: June 04, 2015
That looks like an unadjusted solid wheel movement c.a. 1880-1890. At some time later, the engraving was added for "effect", possibly post WWII when our European occupying forces were buying "war stuff" to bring home and make up stories about.
Posts: 6492 | Location: Southern California in the USA | Registered: July 19, 2007
Tom, I remember standing in line at an Ohio Gun Collector's show in Columbus, Ohio back in the 80's waiting for a sale to finish.
A man in front of me was trying his best to sell a Nazi SS knife to a dealer, INSISTING it was real, and even had a receipt and COA to prove it. As I recall, he had paid over $600 for it, and that was HUGE back then!
The dealer calmly turned the knife over and showed the man (under magnification) the words 'West Germany' on the hilt and upper portion of the blade.
Needless to say, the knife owner wasn't very happy when he saw that.
Regards! Mark
Posts: 3838 | Location: Estill Springs, Tennessee, USA | Registered: December 02, 2002