Presented here is a highly desirable IWC WWW “Dirty Dozen” military watch dating to circa 1945, produced for the British Ministry of Defence during the Second World War. The clean matte black dial remains beautifully preserved, featuring luminous Arabic numerals, matching lume plots, subsidiary seconds and the iconic British broad arrow marking beneath the IWC signature. The elegant syringe-style hands and balanced military dial layout perfectly demonstrate why the IWC version is regarded as one of the finest and most collectible watches of the entire Dirty Dozen series. When serviced by the Ministry of Defence, quite often, the original dials, which were radium were replaced with tritium service dials and hands as is with this example. These are now referred to as MoD dials and are becoming increasingly rare. 

The stainless steel case shows honest signs of military wear throughout, entirely consistent with age and wartime service, while retaining strong overall proportions. The screw-down case back is correctly engraved with “W.W.W”, the British broad arrow issue mark and military reference M14849. Powered by the reliable manual wind IWC calibre 83 movement, this example is fitted to a grey-blue NATO style strap which complements the watch’s military aesthetic perfectly. An increasingly difficult Dirty Dozen reference to source, the IWC WWW remains one of the standout military watches of the Second World War era.