WWII Military Issued Dirty Dozen Omega with Caseback Engravings W.W.W. Y 4788 10668987 and Radium Dial

During 1944 and 1945, twelve watchmakers (Buren, Cyma, Eterna, Grana, JLC, Lemania, Longines, IWC, Omega, Record, Timor, and Vertex) produced a total of approximately 150,000 of these almost identical timepieces. As these watches became highly sought after by collectors over the ensuing decades, they became known as "The Dirty Dozen" - earning this nickname from the 1964 war film of the same moniker. Members of this exclusive club are now in constant demand as few remain in good and original condition, and as production volumes differed widely across the 12 wartime manufacturers. Omega made approximately 25000 of these watches.

What’s on Offer

Here we have an Omega Dirty Dozen with caseback engravings W.W.W. Y 4788 10668987 which refer to military issue numbers from when it was manufactured.

When evaluating the stainless steel case there are very few signs of wear and the shine of the finish has kept very well for its age. The only real signs of wear can be seen on the caseback with a couple of minor scratches. The original plexiglass is also in good condition showing only very light blemishes, which can be polished out if you wish.

Moving onto the dial, this watch was produced with radium lume featured in the hands and plots above the numerals which have decayed with time but are still fairly luminous to this day. The black dial consists of white painted numbers and a sub-dial which sits at the 6 o'clock point. The Omega logo and numerals in places have started to fade and the stalk of the military arrow symbol has disappeared. But overall it is still a very collectable and more importantly wearable and nice-looking watch, even with the tiny issues!

The watch has not been serviced recently to our knowledge and although we have not tested it for any length of time it does seem to run well and keeps time within reason but we would recommend it be serviced before any prolonged, regular use. This Omega military watch is therefore offered for sale as seen, as we are selling it on behalf of a watch collector's family who has asked us to help sell an entire collection - this is reflected in the price. The watch can be serviced by our watchmaker, once you have made the purchase please add a note when placing it in your basket and we will contact you to discuss this. Once serviced the watch will be given a 12-month warranty.