Hi folks,
rather a newbie here, but was wondering if there is any way to track down the military markings, generally on the outer case of a pocket watch.
I understand that these are likely contract numbers, but knowing which service they were destined for and that kind of thing might be interesting,
Any thoughts,
Thanks,
Bill

Welcome Bill.

The answer to your question is both yes and no. Yes the military markings can be deciphered to one degree or another (depending on many factor such as which country's military and what era) to provide some interesting information on the timepiece. And no they can not be used to track down to the particular person, or vehicle, or ship, etc. to whom it was issued. They normally also can not reveal if it even was issued to someone or used on a military vehicle that saw duty or if it was used in some non-combat area back home, or if it was never issued and was later sold off as surplus after a war.

If you have a particular timepiece in your collection you can post some photos the overall timepiece, the dial, the back, and hopefully the movement. Be sure to clearly show any markings on the dial, the back, and the movement. There are a few folks here who might be able to help you with what information is available.

If you get bitten by the bug and start to collect these things, there are a number of good reference books to buy for your personal library. Most are somewhat specialized to individual countries. Also, once you get into them you notice that there are many areas for which you wish reference books existed but do not. Military timepieces have not been collected or researched to the degree that civilian timepieces have over the years.

As noted above, we would need an image of the markings to tell you what you have.

A set of images might also help i.d. a fake. There are alot of them on the market right now.

Best regards,
Greg

Jim & Greg,
Thaanks for the quick responses, I have a 4992B at the watchmakers now and Rolex I have not yet received, the 4992b will be american and the rolex i believe is British. Will send photos when I get them back.
Thanks,
Bill