An air of adventure and excitement

Fashions in watch collecting have changed over time - through the scholarly pursuit of pocket watches, the desire for vintage dress watches, and the craving for contemporary complications. We have now reached a point where the ‘tool’ watch is king. Yes, the other categories have their place and attract their aficionados, but the keen interest now is in non-precious metal watches with an air of adventure and excitement, whether as divers, flyers or racers.

The military watch

This neatly intersects with another genre of watch collecting: the military watch, which is able to deliver on that ‘tool’ watch aesthetic and stirring backstory, often at a very affordable price. Warfare and watchmaking have had a long parallel history; in conflict, timing is everything. Whether it is the ticking of a bomb or a pilot’s precision wrist watch, mechanical movements have played a major role.

A wide array of military pieces

The forthcoming auction offers a wide array of military pieces, some with fascinating stories, which will appeal both to the novice and the discerning collector. We have rugged little British Army ATP watches from the start of WWII as well as the better known WWW British Army watches from the last months of WWII. 6B Pilot watches from Longines and Jaeger-LeCoultre sit alongside rarely seen US pilot’s watches by Elgin and Waltham and a more contemporary offering from Seiko.

Watches worn by the Luftwaffe join those from the French and Belgian armies.

For those in search of the unusual and oversized we are offering massive Russian dive watches and a Royal Navy wrist-worn depth gauge as well as unusual wrist bomb timers.

Browse the catalogue

These military watches are offered in addition to our usual wide selection of vintage and contemporary wrist and pocket watches.

The sale also includes a fine selection of pens, to include two Private Collections of Parker pens.

Browse the full catalogue here

For more information on the watches in this auction or to consign to future auctions of Watches please contact us: jsw@dreweatts.com | +44 (0)1635 553 553