Afternoon.

I purchased this timepiece from a collector in Israel, early in 2006.

I was told that is was 'Taken from a German pilot from Army of Marshall F Paulus under Stalingrad (1943). Russian officer later sold on to a Russiam watchmaker. Timepiece then left in 'storage, drawer' for over 60 years!
The son of watchmaker who lived in Israel then put up for sale.

Questions.

Anyone have any information on 'Singer?'

Would this watch have been around during the war?

I await your knowledgable replies.

Timely regards.

Roy.

Hallo Roy,

unfortunately that is not a German WW2 issued military watch,neither Army nor Navy.

It doesnt retain the peculiar features that a GMW should have had such the antichock, fixed lugs, black dial, nickel case, screwback, radium hands etc...

That seller has replicated that ''story'' so many times on Ebay and with the same wording selling any kind of junk...

Singer is just one of the many trading names that Swiss have used to market assembled watches.

Sorry if that will make you unhappy.

Rgds

Enzo

I do not know about Singer watches but hopefully someone here will be able to give you some background on the company. The hands and dial on yours are a style that remind me more of the wristwatches of the 1950s or 1960s rather than the 1930s or 1940s, but dials are hard to date by style alone.

All of that said, I have never seen a Singer branded timepiece that was a German military timepiece. This watch also looks very civilian to me. What markings, if any, are on the back of the case?

If it turns out to be of the era, there is always the possibility that a pilot may have worn it as a personal purchase item and not a part of their issued equipment but that would not really make it a military timepiece by most people's definition.

Without some provenance there is no way to tell if this really were a purely civilian watch that happened to have been unofficially worn by a WW II era German pilot since such verbal stories about watches being taken from Germans by a vet or such are notorious for being inaccurate at best and outright deceptions to get a person to buy it at worst. On the other hand, if it has all of the correct markings, there is a chance that it could be said to be an example of a watch that was issued to a pilot before or during the war but the part about a particular pilot or circumstance would be baseless. Here again, you would need to show the back of the case and the markings - if any - that are there before we could offer you any hope of it being what you were told it is.

The watch does not look like a WWII vintage watch. Most likely 1950-60.

Singer S.A. of Geneve (Montres Singer SA)claimed to have been founded in 1902. Singer was listed in Geneva in 1954. In 1966 Singer was listed as a watch wholesaler. (Swiss Timepiece Makers 1775-1975 by K. H. Pritchard.)


Best regards,
Greg

Thank you chaps.

Enzo. I was aware that the watch was not of 'military - issue', just looking to date timepiece. Regards.

Obviously 'duped' regarding providence!

Jim. Ditto, but regards.

Greg. History of Singer appreciated.

n.b.
I am pleased I only paid $10.00 plus postage for wrist watch, and have had much fun in researching item!