here is another interresting watch mainly because of what is written on the inside of the metal band...scribed insude the metal band is ((love Glenn new Guinee 1942 or 1944)) hard to make out the last number,,Us ser. no.oc-85935 it is housed in a wadsworth base metal case marked timed and cased by elgin

pic.2

pic.3

pic.

pic 5

pic.2

Sammie, This is interesting. If one goes by the Elgin SN list. The movement SN puts it as mfg around 1950. Oh the mysteries of our hobby.

Tom

You are right Tom i looked up the serial# on the elgin site..I should have checked before i posted it up as a world war 2 watch..

Sammie, You were not wrong to post that as a WW-2 vintage watch. There are markings that would indicate as such. There are endless possibilites for the scenario. One that I can think of is that the watch originally had a 1941 movement in it. Something happened to destroy the movement. The owner takes it into his local Elgin dealer in 1950. The dealer obtains a like movement that is new in 1950, puts the original dial and hands on the new movement. Voila--the owner has a new watch that is in the original case which has sentimental value. Again--Who knows.

Tom

Thanks for posting your excellent WWII watch.

The Band:

The metal band is of a type popular at that time, esp. in the Pacific Theater. The Govt. issued leather and cotton bands tended to rot. These bands were made by the men themselves as well as by local civilians in need of a little cigaret money. This type of item is called "trench art". This type of band was available commercially back then, but yours is a theater made trench art example. The sort I appriciate the most.


The Watch:

According to Shugart's Guide and the excellent Elgin collectors' webcite,

http://www.midwestcs.com/elgin/databases/elgin_sn_intro.html

serial No. E692955 is a Grade 580* 8/0 size, 7 jewel, watch made in 1944.

The number on the back of the case is a US Military issue number. The two letter code "OC" indicates the watch case should have either a 7 or 9 jewel movement inside, which it does.

Accordingly. You have a nice WWII vintage "trench art" band with a 1944 vintage U.S. military issued watch attached to it. A nice combination.

As for the inscription? I would suggest checking the history of WWII, to find out if US forces were in New Guinea in 1942. It seems to me that if your are not sure if the last digit is a 2 or a 4, the date 1944 is alittle more likely than 1942.

Best regards,
Greg

Greg, Thanks for the insight. The Shugarts book that I have by my computer is an older addition. In that addition, he had the date as I had stated. When I looked in the 2004 addition, it indeed has the SN as 1944.

I would agree that the date on the band is 1944, not 1942. My last tour in the army, I taught Military History for the Army Command & General Staff College. As I remember correctly, we were not yet in New Guina in 1942.

Tom

Thanks Tom and Greg for the information i was talking to a friend of mine who servied in world war 2 as a radar technician and he was statoined in New guinea but i forgot to ask him what year,,next time i talk to him i will ask him what year he was there...

This watch is the size of a man,s watch but the band is sized for a women..

Tom,
Being a C&GS grad myself I refer you to this little piece of info gathered with a little humint and use of satellite overwatch, LOL

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures/new-guinea/ng.htm

Nice historical article on New G.

Thanks for the history link. After looking at it, another possibility came to mind: We have assumed that Glenn was an American, however, it is also possible that he was an Australian. The Australians were in N.G. in 1942.... Now, if the band was sitting around in the USA with a US watch attached to it it's more likely Glenn was an American serviceman, but we will never know....

Best regards,
Greg

Now here is another possibility.

Gen Doug was in Austr from Corrigidor in 1942.The Aussies used a lot of Coast Watchers and there were also Amer working with them at the time.

The thing about metal trench art or any little project (Not combat survival related) is that you really need some metal working tools to complete the item, not the stuff you carry around in the bush waiting to use.

So, I would expect this was made at the time it was thru the use of base op tools available on some sort of permanent or semi-perm operation.

The people who have that type of stuff are Armorer's, Maint Company's, Maint Platoon etc and the important part is that you need the time to create the piece in the first place.

You will notice that this is a two piece band with no visible mech fasteners. Well that means welding, soldering etc etc.I don't know about you but I never had the room in my pack for a soldering iron, flux and solder LOL.

I always had room for Pogie bait , more ammo and clean socks.

Humidity eats and rots everything, so ingenuity goes a long way.

A little off the subject. But if you want to see some fun things go to ebay and type in "trench art

When I first became a LT. my Plt Sgt was an inventive guy and made me a swagger stick made out of a 90MM primer with a 50Cal projectile on the end and the 50cal casing on the other, polished to a high shine.

Some SOB stole it out of my 1/4ton and I don't think I ever got over that

Sorry about your stick, it must have been a snappy item.

While I don't smoke, I rather like the WWI vintage "trench art" lighters. The French made some exceptional ones out of German belt buckles, coins and etc.

Another source of trench art was POW's. Prisoners had nothing but time. However, looking at POW atributed trench art, it seems odd that these men were given access to the tools used to make these things.


Best regards,
Greg

Samie,

before I forget, what is that tool in your images? Is it a roller remover?

Thanks,

Greg

Greg
LIGHT UP

Greg i dont know for sure what the tool is ...i found it in one of the boxes among some watches and parts..

here is a better picture of the tool the one on the right is what i use most of the time..

Maybe someone will know what it is..

Jim looks like there is a lot of lighters on ebay,,smoking during world war 1 and 2 was a big thing ..Looking at the band the two pieces are riveted together and though somewhat crude still a nice job...With all the links i have looked at and the info posted here makes me appericate the watch more..


T hanks everone

Samie,
Tom and I know what that is.
ITS A COMBAT POGIE BAG OPENER, LOL

The tool on the left looks like a mainspring winder for wristwatches.
The stump on the right is part of the roller removing accessory for the staking tool.