***NOW SOLD***

Vintage Grana WWW ‘Dirty Dozen’ World War II Military Issued Soldier’s Wrist Watch c.1940s, with the rare 'railtrack' subsidiary seconds dial as depicted in 'Konrad Knirim Military Timepieces' wristwatch book (Page 561).  

In the closing years of World War II, a basic but carefully specified model wrist watch was commissioned for members of the British armed forces by the Ministry of Defence - manufactured by one of twelve watchmakers who delivered the pieces in 1944 and 1945.

These manufacturers (Buren, Cyma, Eterna, Grana, JLC, Lemania, Longines, IWC, Omega, Record, Timor and Vertex) later came to be known as ‘The Dirty Dozen’ in the mid 1960s, after the release of the popular war film of the same name. 

These watches are now highly sought after by military watch collectors and enthusiasts alike, and we have been delighted to help a number of our clients complete full sets in recent years, even supplying a number of the most elusive Grana's as we have for sale here!

Each watch was commissioned and manufactured with similar specifications and, as military issues, were hard-wearing, highly legible and water-resistant with stainless steel or nickel plated cases, shatterproof crystal and fixed lug bars.

Watches were, as standard, capable of chronometer-accuracy - hand wound with a 15-jewel movement. Each piece also had a large black dial with white Arabic characters, luminous hands and indices and a ‘railroad’ minute track with sub-seconds at 6 o’clock. 

The piece offered here for sale was made by the manufacturer 'Grana’.

This piece is sold with a 'NATO' style strap and can be changed to a new NATO style fabric strap in your choice of grey, black or khaki before posting should you wish.

What’s on offer:

This particular Grana is in excellent, unpolished condition with crisp and sharp edges to the case, with only very light micro scratches to the case and bezel. So there are some signs of wear, however these are not even commensurate with age, but overall the watch is in excellent condition and the bonus is the fantastic colour that the original lume has turned. It has gone a lovely and very even colour, which is stunning! It still glows a very bright even green under a UV light and is still very nice and even, and without any shrinkage. There is a small amount of discolouration to the hour and minute hand but this seems common as the two pictured in Knirims' book are almost identically discoloured, suggesting it is all original and untouched since the days it was issued to a WW2 serving soldier.

As most military watch collectors will know already, the Grana WWW is the most difficult of all the set to find so we have been very lucky to give you the opportunity to own this particular Grana which we sourced from a private collector whom we helped complete his set in the first place. To add to our excitement when we were offered this particular watch it is even rarer than we anticipated as it is the 'railtrack' sub-seconds dial variant which is exactly the same version as photographed for the Konrad Knirim book and can be seen on page 561 should you wish to see and read about them!       

Additional information

Made from

Case: Steel.

Case back: Screw on. 

Dial: Black.

Crystal: Shatter-proof plexi. 

Bracelet: NATO fabric strap in your choice of grey, black or khaki. 

Technical specifications

Winding: Manually wound. 

Movement type: mechanical.

Calibre: KF320 (Kurth Frères)

Jewels: 15j. 

Waterproof: when new!

Purchase details

Condition: Excellent unpolished condition with crisp case edges. The watch has some slight signs of wear but generally we would give it an 8.5/10. 

Model Reference Number: WWW. 

Date of issue: circa.1944. 

Guarantee

Supplied with a 12-month Vintage Watch Specialist guarantee. 

Dimensions

Width: 35mm.

Lug width: 18mm.

Lug height (lug to lug): 45mm

Wrist size: Adjustable.