HAMILTON

Hamilton GS British Military Issue watch

Whilst everyone knows the IWC (and JLC) British Military watches; few know the Hamilton GS is the watch that replaced the Mk XI in the British Forces inventory. Made by Hamilton of Switzerland (rather than HamiltonUSA) these watches were issued to both the RAF and the Army during the 1970s. The movement is a Hamilton cal 8768 with 17 jewels; it is jeweled to the center wheel and has a direct drive sweep seconds hand. The movement is protected from magnetic influences by a Faraday cage comprising a soft iron movement ring, removable movement cover and an extra thick dial. The dial is matt black with a large luminous inverted triangle marking the 12 position; there are large luminous blocks marking the other quarter hours and smaller luminous dots for the remainder of the numbers. The dial also has full Arabic numbers (apart from the 12) in white and much smaller inner 13 to 24 numerals. The dial is signed Hamilton with the circle T signifying tritium at the top and the UK MoD issue “Broad Arrow” below the center post.

The case has an unusual construction with an annular recess in the case body into which the gasket fits, rather than the more common method of placing the gasket on the case back. The inside of the case back is signed “Hamilton Watch Co Swiss Made”; and there are the usual issue markings on the outside of the case back. The watch has solid bars.

The watch measures 37mm Diam, 46mm lug to lug, it is 13mm high and takes an 18 mm strap. Interestingly it was following Hamilton’s withdrawal from the sale of Military watches to the MOD that CWC was founded in 1972. It is for this reason that the CWC, MWC, and the Hamilton W10 are all identical in appearance.

SEIKO

Seiko British Military Chronograph  

As far as I know this is the only watch Seiko have made specifically for any armed force since the pilot’s Seikoshas of WWII with the exception of course of the Pulsar for the British Army because Pulsar is a subsidiary of Seiko. The Royal Air Force Seiko chronographs differ quite considerably from the versions sold to retail markets; this mil spec model does not have a date, it has solid bars and (most importantly) it has a much higher quality jewelled movement. The movement is the 15 jewel 7/A28A

The case is brushed finish stainless steel with a screwed back with three buttons set into the case; the normal, start/stop/restart and reset buttons are in their normal places at 2 & 4. The split seconds button is at 10 whilst the crown is at 8, the crown is only used on this watch to set the time, and even that function is not required that often.

The black dial has a normal 3 dial layout, however closer inspection reveals that all is not as it seems; the running seconds dial is at 6 and the 30 minute register is at 9; but the register at 3 is the unusual one; it indicates TENTHS of one second. When the chronograph is started, it whirls around its register once a second as can be expected but stops at the vertical position once the chronograph registers 10 minutes; however if the chronograph is stopped at a time after the 10 minutes the tenth seconds register will suddenly move to its correct position so that the actual elapsed time correct to tenths of a second can be measured.

The watch has a split seconds facility even though there is only one sweep seconds hand; this stops once the split button is operated and then “catches up” to the correct elapsed time if the button is pushed again.

The dial has the symbol P in a circle, this is to signify Promethium used as the luminous material on the watch. This is a UK military requirement and the rest of the specification and issue information can be found on the case back.

These watches measure 35mm diameter, 44mm lug to lug, 9mm high and takes an 18 mm grey NATO strap.

Expect to pay around US$550 / GBP300 / €420 but much depends on condition.

SMITHS

Smiths British Military watch

Smith’s manufacturered watches for the British forces in the late 1950’s to early 1970’s and were superseded by the Hamilton W10 and then the CWC W10 which continued to be issued until the introduction of the G10 quartz in 1979. The Smiths W10 models which preceded the CWC and Hamilton models are becoming harder and harder to find. In around 1995 I had dozens of these and thought they would be floating around for ever! The rarity on hidsight probably hinges on ythe fax that this model was only issued to the British military between 1967 and 1970 and are said to be the best Smiths movement ever made and amongst one of the best watches ever issued to the British military. They have a stainless Steel Case, tritium luminous dial and hand markings on the screwed caseback.   The watches were originally issued to the army which is indicated by the W10 mark on the case backs. Broad arrow should be stamped on the back and dial.  The Smiths has a British made manual winding mechanical gilded movement wheras the CWC, Hamilton and MWC W10’s all have Swiss movements. These are really nice looking watches and this was the last British military watch to be made. Dimensions are: width excluding crown 35 mm, width including crown 37.5 mm, lug to lug 46 mm, thickness is 12 mm, lug spacing is 18 mm