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Revue Caliber 59 c.1940s ATP - Army Trade Pattern - British Army-issued WWII Watch

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£0.00GBP
vws1357cs

A rare British-Issued Revue Caliber 59 WWII ATP (Army Trade Pattern), British Army military issue markings on the case back with the MoD 'Broad Arrow' 

Please note: this is actually two watches! Please refer to the photographs for illustration. We have included a spares/repairs watch which, though missing hands and a glass, would gladly serve as a dial, movement or place parts replacement source for the main watch as shown in the first and second photographs. Should you wish to purchase either alone, please contact us to discuss options. 

One of the elusive 'ATP' series, this Revue has quite literally been through the wars, but lacks the scars to show for it. A precursor to the famous ‘Dirty Dozen’ watches, produced for the British Armed Forces during World War II by 12 world-famous watch manufacturers (hence the nickname). The ATP (Army Trade Pattern) series of watches was made available at the start of WWII via a Ministry of Defence contract with Swiss suppliers in 1939 (amazingly, in an effort to demonstrate neutrality, the Swiss supplied almost identical watches, this time with black dials, to the Germany military).

Just over 133,000 ATP watches were produced during World War II, and while the watches were meant to have been destroyed as fighting drew to a close, many were decommissioned and some continued in service. The Revue 59 is one of the rarest ATPs to survive to this day. Military Watch Forums expert 'Bobsy', generally regarded as one of the most knowledgeable on the ATP collection, estimated that 25 Revue 59 watches traded hands over a four year period, averaging at around 6 per year. Given that many of these will be in poor condition given their age and former services status, we believe we've got quite the gem here!

The ATP watches are considered to be the original British Military watches, made available at the beginning of the Second World War by an MoD (Ministry of Defence) agreement with 16 Swiss watch manufacturers, dating from 1939. Of these 16, Timor, Ebel, Lemania and Revue each made two variants, often denoted by a small variation in the dial, case back or movement. In the case of the Revues, there were two variants, separated only by their caliber of movement. This here is known as a Revue 'ATP' 59- it houses a Caliber 59 movement. Its twin is the Revue 57 (you guessed it, it has a Caliber 57 movement inside it). They were best characterised by their sub-seconds dial at 6:00 with concentric (radial) brushing, and their radium-lumed hour plots which have aged marvellously into warm, orange pumpkin speckles. 

What's on offer

This is a beautiful, honest example of an ATP watch- one of the earliest officially issued WW2, British military watches ever, many of which saw active military service on the Western Front during the Second World War. This particular example has seen a fair amount of ageing on the dial- it has turned into a dusky, vintage patinated tone, which for us is full of character and beautiful, but it is worth pointing out in case this isn't your cup of tea. The hands are a warm, tropical patina and contrast beautifully with the blue/green patinated hour plots which surround the dials chapter ring. The case is chrome plated, but has lost a fair amount of the outer coating to reveal the metal construction underneath. The case backs, however, were made of solid stainless steel and so appear relatively new in comparison with the rest of the watch. This case back is engraved with the British 'Broad Arrow' military Pheon as well as the Ministry of Defence's issue numbers. 

Additional information

Made from


Case: Chrome-plated

Dial: Original dial, tropical colour

Crystal: Plexiglass

Bracelet: Brown leather strap 


Technical specifications

Winding: Manual

Calibre: 59

Purchase details

Condition: Excellent, for its age, and in full working order.

Model Reference: A.T.P.

Date of issue: c.1940

Guarantee


Comes with a 6-month VWS guarantee.

Dimensions

Width: 32mm

Lug width: 18mm

Lug height (lug to lug): 38mm