I found This Elgin on Ebay. What was the purpose of the inverted dial? Looks strange.

Joe

WW2 U.S.Army Codes

Hi Joe,

Thanks for pointing this one out. The watch is no more than an odd collection of parts. The case has the code letters "OE-" which stand for 21 jewel, railroad grade. But this case now houses of 7 jewel commercial movement made around 15 years before the start of WWII.

The dial was made to convert ordinary 16 size Elgin pocket watches into car clocks. After the dial was installed, the watch could then be placed into a watch holder on the dashboard with the crown in a convenient place for winding. There was no military use of these dials that I am aware of.

Best regards,
Greg

Thanks for the reply Greg. I was really at a loss as to why a watch would be configured in such a way.

BTW Have you found out anything about the sextant?

Joe