Yesterday at an antique store in Albuquerque I found a 17 jewel Elgin pocket watch that had a broken balance staff, I bought it & discovered by chance I had the correct staff on hand.

The watch has a perfect dial other than I removed the old radium from it & the hands.

After cleaning, it appears to run well so far. It has the military markings on the back case but they are hard to photograph, I noticed in TM 9-1575 it shows the same case & dial. I had a question about the ORD markings, the TM says an 17 jewel would be marked OC, this one is marked OB, do these prefixes to the serial number on the case meaning anything or where they just tracking numbers for the ordianance department.

Thanks
Tom

I forgot to take a photo with the bezel on, all the case numbers match & the crystal is scratched & worn but appears to be an orginal plastic crystal, or whatever they called those crystals. It is the none yellowing kind.

Tom

The movement

The case back is marked
ORD DEPT
USA
OB-23715

Nice find there Tom.

Great images, as always. I like these 17J WWII U.S. Army Elgins. The RR style dial on your watch is excellent. I have found it to be common for these Elgins to have light military markings on the back.

An "OB" serial number prefix is correct for a new issue 15 to 17 jewel U.S. Army pocket watch. If the prefix code is incorrect, it may indicate movement and case switching.

Best regards,
Greg

Hi Greg & Mike thanks for the comments, so far after 12 hours it is still right to the second. I have had a chance to put it on my timing machine yet.

Glad it has the right markings, it looks all orginal to me. I am glad I decided to take it, when I 1st looked at it I liked the dial but I didn't notice the Military markings on the back. After walking around the store I went back & decided it was worth the dial & bought it, it was after I got home that I noticed the case marks on the back.

With out meaning too I have started to get together a pretty nice collection of WWII watches.

Tom

Ordinance Department codes:

OA - 7 to 9 jewel pocket watches
OB - 15 to 17 jewel pocket watches
OC - 7 to 9 jewel wristwatches
OD - 15 to 17 jewel wristwatches
OE - 21 jewel railroad grade pocket watches
OF - 15 to 17 jewel wristwatches with waterproof case
OFA - 15 to 17 jewel wristwatches with waterproof case, Air Corps (Navigation, Type A-11, substitute standard)
OG - 7 to 9 jewel wristwatches (waterproof cases)
OS - stopwatch
OW - 7 to 9 jewel pocket watches made before Nov. 12, 1940 and remarked later
OX - 15 to 17 jewel pocket watches made before Nov. 12, 1940 and remarked later
OY - 7 to 9 jewel wristwatches made before Nov. 12, 1940 and remarked later
OZ - 15 to 17 jewel wristwatches made before Nov. 12, 1940 and remarked later

Jim

Thanks for the info on the Ord marks, I had never seen that in print before. It will help with future watches to.

Tom