i have a waltham ww2 aircraft clock #01686, 8 day. my dad was an aircraft mechanic in england in 1940 and he put this clock in a british spitfire wooden propellar tip. could you tell me more about this type of clock. thank you paul

this is the picture of this clock in a wood spitfire propeller

Hi and welcome to the forum!

I can not see the details of your clock so I can not tell you much at this point, but I can say that you have a Model A-11 aircraft clock. These are U.S. aircraft clocks and they were produced by all of the big US watch companies of the day in large numbers. They are the most common variety of U.S. aircraft clocks and were used as generic, one-size-fits-most, instrument panel clocks in every kind of airplane including trainers, cargo, transport, artillery spotters, fighters, and bombers. There is no way to tell which kind of aircraft one came from unless you personally removed it. You can say, however, the kinds of aircraft that it would not have come from, and Spitfires are among those.

If you remove the clock from the wooden base you should find a brass or aluminum data plate on the back of the case, and possibly some more information embossed in the bakelite case. If you post a clear closeup of this we could tell you a bit more about your clock. Also, if you look really closely at the dial and shine a light from the side a bit, some of these have additional words and numbers in shiney black paint near the center of the dial. Let us know if there is any information there and tell us what it says.

Your dad put together a nice mounting for his clock. Such items fall under the general heading of "trench art" which has a collector following of it's own.

I join Jim in asking for any information on the back of the case. Some of these U.S. clocks have ink stamps of the RCAF.

The RCAF is Royal Canadian Air Force.
I have only seen RCAF ground into the cases of the Waltham 3" that looks like a CDIA without the date and some CDIA Walthams also. I have never seen a RCAF ink stamp. Can you post a photo?

I would if I could, but I don't have any examples.

The only RCAF marking I have seen so far is the typical hand scratched (melted with hot needle?) letters 'RCAF' on the back of the 3" size Walthams (the ones with no extra functions - just a plain large clock).