dirty-dozen ww-2 british military forces
royal army

Record Dirty Dozen watch, an English military watch, was produced in 25,000 copies in 1942 at the instigation of Winston Churchill at the start of the Second World War. The Dirty Dozen watches were made from the British concept of war-world- wristwatch symbolized by the words W.W.W.. displayed on the back of these famous military watches.

The basic idea is to manufacture in large series and, under the constraint of a war economy, a watch with standardized and straightforward use intended to be used on the battlefield to avoid the anarchic use as personal watches. These watches (about 150,000 will be manufactured for the twelve brands throughout the war) will be part of the equipment of all Commonwealth servicepeople, soldiers and officers.

This watch must meet several criteria: a high standard of manufacturing quality, be equipped with a robust and easy-to-repair movement, have a screwed back, a very legible assembly in all conditions (black dial with luminescent indexes and hands), a permanent small seconds counter, a plexiglass glass, a winding crown that can be easily handled with gloves, and a design that can withstand dust and splashing water—fixed strap mounting pumps and letter and number coding that identifies the maker and assignment of the watch.

All dirty-dozen must be identified on the bottom of the box with the mentions W.W.W, with the broad-arrow and the civil serial number with a supplier code and a unique military number calculated according to the Ministry of Defense. On this occasion, each manufacturer will be assigned a supplier code (Record, for example, has the code 10034) and a letter symbolizing this code (for Record, the letter is L) to discover the detailed history of dirty-dozen watches by brand. You can consult the article that describes them in the mostra-mag by following this link.

The dirty-Dozen from the Record brand is a 36.5 mm diameter watch. It has a chrome metal case in excellent condition, black dial stamped with the broad-arrow, circular hour rail indexed all the minutes and dotted luminescent every five, the steel hour hands are sword-shaped (to the post-war Nato standard) and baton for the minute hands, the second hand in the needle-shaped small seconds counter. The original winding crown is easy to handle with gloves, and the movement is the Record 022K calibre with 15 jewels, a movement made in Switzerland as indicated on the blank.

The bottom inside of the case bears the W.W.W markings, surmounted by the broad arrow and below the watch serial number, corresponding to the production year 1942. The outer face of the case back is equipped on the periphery with six anchoring points (a circular arrangement of notches characteristic of British watches) to open the watch during maintenance operations. It is also engraved with the elements found on the inside of the case back with the watch's unique military registration number below. The watch's strap is of the NATO type, 18 mm wide. The strap attachment clips are fixed, as with most British military watches.

In terms of the collection, the Dirty-Dozen Record is a military watch distributed in the European theatre. It equipped, among other things, the famous parachute unit of the red-devils as well as many airborne regiments. It is an emblematic watch of the Royal Army, and its career is at the height of the attachment that its owners have had for it. With a solid and aesthetic case, the proportions of this watch, its readability and its ease of maintenance make it a model highly appreciated by collectors of militaria and watchmaking.