Internet Horology Club 185
Military contract data

This topic can be found at:
https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/990103944/m/527103618

December 05, 2004, 20:59
Julian J. Smith
Military contract data
For what it's worth.
Years ago I had a conversation with Marvin Whitney. I asked about finding out the number of watches and maybe the serial numbers of the movement in the watches in the contracts.As we were talking about Air Force watches, he said that all that info was in the records at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton Ohio.So.
Is there anyone near Dayton who could find out if any of these old contracts are still in the files ,or have all of them been deep sixed.
I think that after so long they are discarded,but who knows?
J Smith
December 06, 2004, 17:08
Jim Rogers
Julian,

I don't want to make this seem trite. However, Wright Patt is the home of the Roswell UFO alien cadavers, The Arc Of The Covenant and other terrible secrets.

The Airforce or any government agency will release no data to the public without a written request basically under the Freedom Of Information Act.

Believe me I used to be an ACO and know just how this works.

If you post the pic of a watch you are interested in along with a specific contract number maybe somebody here can help identfy and provide some data.
December 06, 2004, 17:33
Greg Crockett
Give me that FOIA form! I want to see the cockpit clock recovered from the alien space ship which crashed in Roswell. So cool, out of this world!

Now back to earth; as for the contract records, most of the time such documents only provide specifications of size, materials, features and such, not the actual serial number of each. Still, it would be nice to see.

Best regards,

Greg
December 07, 2004, 14:05
Jim Hester
If someone does take on this challenge, I would hope that it could include some dates as well. This is one of the frustrating things I find in Whitney - he doesn't include dates of manufacture for most of the timepieces he lists.
December 07, 2004, 14:26
Jim Rogers
Jim,
I don't think you would end up with what people would like to see.

In many cases watch contracts like all contracts were issued by different services. The Navy, Army Af in most cases issued their own. In some cases certain depts within a service branch issued contracts and performce requirements based on mission needs.

For example, the Ordance Dept issued contracts within DA. which was outside the Combat Arms operations. A lot of it had to do with the not invented here syndrome.

When you request info, you can't just say" Tell me all the wrist watches you ordered from 1952-1987, who made them, quanitity, dates etc etc. The request are for very specific info. Very difficult task.

It would be easier getting Roswell info
May 17, 2010, 19:12
Kenneth Spink
You can request a free copy of that alien's autopsy (or any other government contract for which you know the contract number) by opening a (free) account at the ASSIST database. Go to Assist and register for an account. Be sure to check "other" on the pulldown menu if your email is not a government agency.