Yesterday I visited a Watch and Clock trade fair here in germany and found this...
A silver cased Ulysse Nardin Deck watch in near perfect condition. Probably made in 1938-1939.
I found that watch had already been described by the National Maritime Museum, London- England, so I edited it to suit my watch.

A mahogany deck box fitted with a brass piano hinge and a simple pressed brass clip-type catch. The box contains a brass drum mounting in the base, shaped to the form of the watch, with a red velvet-covered cork base inside. It has a brass screw-down bezel with silvered site ring and bevelled glass. The lid contains a chrome-plated, folded steel label holder for an issue card .

The bottom of the box is covered with green baize. The silver, open-face case has the winding/setting crown inset into a cylindrical pendant, with a hand-setting push pin on the side of the case to the left at '11 o'clock'. The plain silver, rolled-edge bezel has a fitting for a thick beveled glass. The silver, screw-down back has no engravings. The inside of the back is stamped with the manufacturer's mark 'ULYSSE NARDIN / LOCLE' in Nardin's emblematic shield, the incuse mark 'AIIM' and number '396420' and in oval marks '925', the Glasgow import mark (two horizontal interlocking letter 'Fs) with the date letter 'p' (for 1938-39) and in a rectangular mark 'FFBA / 46'.

A white enamel dial of 50 mm Æ is signed 'ULYSSE NARDIN / LOCLE / 27762 / C ­/I\ W above the centre, and has a subsidiary seconds dial below. The dial has Roman numerals and the seconds dial has small Arabic ten-second figures. Polished, blued-steel spade hands and counter-balanced blued-steel seconds hand.

The going barrel, barred movement is of matt-gilt brass, and is signed with machine engraving on the barrel bridge 'ULYSSE NARDIN / SWISS / ­' and below /I\. It is also marked on the main plate, by the escape wheel cock foot '27762' in a rectangular surround. A polished steel index, mounted on the balance cock, acts on a horizontal steel screw for fine rating adjustment, the cock having a scale engraved on it with 'F' and 'S' for fast and slow. There is a four-wheel train with a going barrel.

There is a double roller, jewelled and club tooth lever escapement. The impulse roller has a jewelled impulse pin and pallets with red stones, the pallets bank against brass banking pins. The cut bimetallic compensation balance is mounted with 14 brass screws around the rim. The flat spiral, blued-steel balance spring, with over coil, has an index mounted on the upper surface of the balance cock. The train is jewelled to the centre with red pressed-in stones. The balance and escape wheel have polished steel-set end stones.

The instrument is in a very good condition, with just a few marks on the wooden box.

How very spectacular with all the provenance from Greenwich,Bradford, and Herstmonceux Castle,awesome !!! I've been wanting a Nardin deck watch for as long as I've been wanting a marine chronometer,almost forever!!! Congratulations sir on a great find!!!!

Werner nice deck watch and it's in great shape and the british Navy got there use out of it from the inspection marks looks like it was in service from 1939-1975.

I do consider myself lucky, especially as I found it in Germany and not as might have been expected, in England!
I have just written a mail to Ulysse Nardin, asking them for an extract from the archives on the watch.
I´ll post their answer when it arrives!

What a nice find in just beautiful condition.

Well, the answer came from Locle, not even 24 hours later, would you believe!
That´s what I call customer service!

Dear Mr. Werner,

We thank you for your email and the pictures: the watch is beautiful !
I found in our archives the following information:
The movement 27’762 is a caliber 22’ Ancre and has been produced on 14.05.1938.

Should you have any further request, I remain at your disposal,

Best regards

Sylvie ROLOT
International Technical Service
Ulysse Nardin
CH-2400 Le Locle
Tel: +41 32 930 74 00
Fax: +41 32 930 74 19

Werner you were lucky they had yours on record I got a early Nardine serial no.4707 I email them they did look but some how there record don't go that far back it's a 18 size civilian pocket watch with a high grade movement and you can tell it was made when they switch from keywind to stem wind there is a button next to the crown you push to change the time and on the movement you can still use a key to wind it Nadine do make some great watches glad they had yours on record.

Werner,

Please believe me when I tell you that I've had one h*** of a week and to return home and find this post really made it all worth while! What a prize, always cared for by qualified persons...if you think about it, that's quite rare in itself these days! Simply put, finer swiss timepieces were never made and it's a real treat for you to have displayed it here on 185.

Additionally, the personal response you got from the great house of Ulysse Nardin only further validates the reasons we all continue to hold great romance for this beautiful form of industry. This beautiful form of art.

Thanks!

William

Hello all,

Here is a recent acquisition and I have a few questions for you all ….as usual. Since a thread already exists on the subject, I will continue on;

As you can see here we have the WWII era Nardin “Chronometer Watch” in its brass tub style deck box with H.S. 2 rear case markings. The set is numbered “28544” on the dial, case back inner (scratched in by hand), Hydrographic Service Tag and the Nardin ivory button on top of wooden box lid but the movement serial number is “29550”. Ulysse Nardin was contacted directly and they confirmed, by detail photos, the movement is a genuine 17 jewel Nardin caliber 22” Ancre and produced in the year 1940. All these numbers (dial, movement, inner case, Hydro tag and button) should match. What happened?


Did the watch come this way from Nardin? (Doubt it)

Was the movement swapped out by the H.S. for repair?

Was the H.S. issued or ever receive spare movements from Nardin for replacements during war time?

Are the movement parts interchangeable like Hamilton’s chronometers were of that era? What I am getting at is, was the entire movement replaced if just several parts were malfunctioning?

Given the current movement # 29550 was produced in 1940 what would be an approximate date of manufacture for the original movement # 28544? 1938-39?

What do all the inner rear case markings mean? As they tend to differ from other examples.

And last, why is my example missing a bow and crystal unlike Mr. Rosier's?



Thank you all for any assistance you can give with my questions and other examples for comparison. Best regards to all. M

Close up of dial

Rear case markings

Movement

Watch out of brass ring

Wooden case

Nardin button.

Any help with answers would be wonderful. Thank you all. M

Very nice find Michael , very similar to this one I tried to buy a few weeks back,it also has no crystal or bow as it was made only for use in the deck watch box

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...&rt=nc#ht_568wt_1182

Thank you Tom. But now see how that raises another question:

Was Werner's watch originaly produced with a bow, crystal and shortened set pin or was it added or augmented by the H.S. to suit it's new needs for military use.

I wonder if Mr's Rosiers example is still able to be "set" while seated in the brass tub given the shortened pin? My guess....YES

Also I forgot to add an image of the inner rear case with markings. I wonder if they are the same but just in a different configuration. Please any help with unaswered questions would be great, thank you all.

Hi Michael,
Congratulations on your new Chronometer-Watch.
The stamps on the inside caseback seem to be the same as mine,apart from the different numbers and the date letter, yours is Glasgow Silver date Lettering "q"
In Birmingham the date letter changes in July up to 1974. From 1975, all Assay offices have the same date letter. Date Letters 1773 to 2010

quote:

The inside of the back is stamped with the manufacturer's mark 'ULYSSE NARDIN / LOCLE' in Nardin's emblematic shield, the incuse mark 'AIIM' and number '396420' and in oval marks '925', the Glasgow import mark (two horizontal interlocking letter 'Fs) with the date letter 'p' (for 1938-39) and in a rectangular mark 'FFBA / 46'.

A pity your watch was probably swapped during servicing.

quote:

I wonder if Mr's Rosiers example is still able to be "set" while seated in the brass tub given the shortened pin? My guess....YES

it can be set but it´s easier to do so by taking it out.

Regards

Werner