military service afrika korps
german army

Glycine military watch from the German army from 1941, with its original regulation endowment engravings (Dienstuhr Heer + number), which indicate an assignment in 1941 during preparations for the offensive on Tobruk by the troops of Afrika Corps. This watch with a black dial and small independent seconds is made to the same manufacturing standard as the famous dirty-dozen watches commissioned by the British Ministry of Defense at the instigation of Winston Churchill.

Before World War II, the standard of the military watch for use by land or mechanized troops was based on the experience acquired during the First World War but also on regional conflicts such as the war in Ethiopia with the Italians or, more commonly, in Spain where the German forces (as part of the Condor Legion) were engaged through the support of Franco's nationalist troops. This results in confirming the need for a hack-type watch (which can be synchronized to the nearest second), a radium-type luminescent dial (which will change to less corrosive tritium sometime later), a small independent seconds (to check that the watch is working) and a mechanism both shockproof (at least fifteen jewels) and dust-proof. Finally, to simplify maintenance operations, the bottom of the screwed case has notches on the outer edges to open it more easily.

This glycine DH-692 watch features an Anton Shield AS-1130 17 jewel movement. This movement is the standard movement found in all infantry watches of the German army at this time, whatever the brand (IWC, Recta, Helvetia, Grana, etc...). The back is screwed, engraved between the D and the H on the back of the case, the serial number of the watch (D-H meaning military watch (Diensturh Heer). This type of glycine brand watch was delivered to the German army in 1941, during the preparations for the attack by Rommel's Afrika Korp against the British positions in Egypt. It is, therefore, quite common to see these watches in archive photos retracing this campaign which has remained famous in the history of the Second World War.

More than 10,000 copies of this watch were delivered to the Wehrmacht in 1941, most of which were used in North Africa. Only a small initial batch of 2500 wisteria will be produced in 1936 to equip the condor legion, which will oppose the republican forces and the international brigades in Spain, and then, after the victory of Francisco Franco, finish on the wrist of Spanish nationalist soldiers who will fight alongside the German army against the Soviets within the Azul division on the Russian front.