# Www & Pilot Type Watches



## philjopa (May 18, 2005)

Decided that I now want a WWW military watch (Record, Cyma, Vertex, Timor, Omega, Eterna, etc) or, alternatively, a pilot type watch. There's absolutely loads of military timepieces on you know where though I'm a little dubious about the authenticity of some of them! As an alternative to the WWW, I quite like the look of the old pilot style watches - Archimede, Aristo, et al make some nice looking ones.

Any general pointers (like how much to pay for a decent WWW) or guidance on the WWW's would be useful plus what do you think about the new (German) pilot style watches - the Archime seems to get v good write ups but not sure how this compares to, say, the Aristo.

If funds permit I'd like a WWW and a pilot!!! (Don't tell the wife, though)

Cheers.


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

I plan to get all the WWW's, although I have only two so far.

As a general rule of thumb, the price for most WWW's seems to be around Â£250 at present. The exceptions to this are the Omega which (for no good reason in my opinion) is often two to three times more expensive, and the Longines and IWC which can be four times as expensive or even more!

You're right about being wary of eBay. Many of the WWW's I've seen on there are either reproductions/fakes or have the wrong combinations of hands/dial/case etc.

Perhaps the best resource for information on WWW's is HERE

As to the pilot style watches, I've not heard of Archime so can't comment, but the Aristo ones look perfectly OK to me.


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Great link Rich, I'd never heard of Grana.

I like the comments on Omega rareity! Very common







A chav WWW then?


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

There are a few military Grana`s on UK sites. both WWW & one that is ruputedly a *`WW2 German Issue Watch 1941`* going for Â£94









I`ve seen others at Â£165 and above


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

As well as the WWW''s, I'd quite like to get some examples of watches issued to the German army during the late 30's and 40's.

From what I've read, it seems that many Swiss companies also supplied the German army, but unlike the British specification for WWW's, the Germans specified shock-proofing for their watches.

The backs of the Swiss-made watches issued to Germany have a "D" and "H" property mark stamped either of the serial number like this:

D 1234567 H

"DH" stands for Deutsches Heer (German Army)


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

The one I mentioned has `*D*237547*H*`. on the back









If you want its location Rich let me know


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## redmonaco (Nov 29, 2004)

It seems every where I look it's German military watches...

I have nothing against Germans but I don't suppose their watch websites are full of enthusiasts hunting British Pilot watches...??

Why are there not more 'Hommages' of British WWW watches


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

I beleive the WWW's were _designed_ to a specific specification. The German army watches on the other hand were off-the shelf items which had to meet certain criteria but otherwise could vary considerably.

Thus, it's only really possible to homage the Brit watches. That's my theory anyway


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## psychlist (Feb 28, 2005)

I understand that there are collectors of WWW watches. How would an ATP Grana (for example) differ from a WWW Grana - is the latter rarer or earlier in date?

Just trying to get to grips with this


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

I'd say the main difference between ATP's and WWW's is that ATP's usually (though not always) have white dials and are generally a bit smaller I believe. I've never actually handled an ATP so I've never been able to directly compare one to a WWW. There may be other specific differences. ATP's also come from a wider selection of manufacturers I think. ATP's pre-date the WWW's which arrived towards the end of the Second Wolrd War and continued to be used into the 1950's. ATP's don't seem to be any rarer than WWW's, despite stories that many were deliberately destroyed after the war! I'd guess that many ATP characteristics were built into the spec for the WWW's.

I suspect that one reason why the WWW's are so popular to collectors is that there are only twelve original "models" to get so the idea of having a complete collection is realistic and achievable, whereas there are countless varieties of ATP's, GSTP's and German "DH's" to choose from and it would probably be impossible to have an example of every one.


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## psychlist (Feb 28, 2005)

rhaythorne said:


> I'd say the main difference between ATP's and WWW's is that ATP's usually (though not always) have white dials and are generally a bit smaller I believe. I've never actually handled an ATP so I've never been able to directly compare one to a WWW. There may be other specific differences. ATP's also come from a wider selection of manufacturers I think. ATP's pre-date the WWW's which arrived towards the end of the Second Wolrd War and continued to be used into the 1950's. ATP's don't seem to be any rarer than WWW's, despite stories that many were deliberately destroyed after the war! I'd guess that many ATP characteristics were built into the spec for the WWW's.
> 
> I suspect that one reason why the WWW's are so popular to collectors is that there are only twelve original "models" to get so the idea of having a complete collection is realistic and achievable, whereas there are countless varieties of ATP's, GSTP's and German "DH's" to choose from and it would probably be impossible to have an example of every one.
> 
> ...


Thanks - that was exactly the type of answer I was hoping for - really informative


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