"When World War Two-era watches are mentioned, many a WIS thinks immediately of high-quality German-made B-Uhren and chronographs. But it was a comparatively small, unobtrusive, mass-produced American watch, the so-called "A-11", which has a claim to fame of having made a crucial contribution to the Allied victory in that war.

This is the watch that kept the United States Army Air Forces (from 1947 on known as the "US Air Force") as well as the Navy and Marine Corps flying, and - to a lesser extent - the RAF (under the 6B/234 designation), the RCAF and even the Soviet Air Force. The A-11 was there when Germany was bombed and the World War II in Europe was turned around, when the war in the Pacific ended in the first - and so far only - nuclear explosions in anger occured, and when the monumental effort of the Berlin Airlift turned erstwhile foes into friends and allies, and handed the Soviets the first resounding defeat of the incipient Cold War which their political system, and their empire, would not survive. The A-11 was superseded at some time - usually the Korean War is given as a time reference - by the all-lumed A-17.

The A-11 was not so much a specific watch model but a production standard used by a number of watch companies (Elgin, Bulova and Waltham), with numerous case and minor dial/hands variations (there were even silver-cased watches, as nickel was considered a metal more critical for the war effort!), though some design aspects were largely universal: Black dial; white hands; a handwound hacking movement with center second hand, hour numbers from 1 to 12; a second scale with smaller minute/second numbers in increments of 10 on the outside edge of the dial; and same-type minute and hour hands. Several A-11 versions featured a characteristic coin-edge bezel and caseback. Some were dustproof, others were waterproof.

There are several design elements of the A-11 which are still present in today's US military issued watches, viz. the full 1-12 numerals, and the preference for the same type of minute and hour hands. Even the basic accuracy requirement for the A-11 (30 seconds per day at room temperature) is still the same for todays American mechanical milwatches!

Elgin, Waltham and Bulova all made the A-11 from 1941 on. Hamilton, then the leading US watch maker, made a similar type of watch which was not subsumed under the A-11 designation, though the watches were very similar. Lumed versions of the A-11 were produced as well, as were occasional white-dialed versions. The USAAFs version was marked with the U.S. Army specification no. 94-27834, or its subsequent iterations 94-27834-A (2 November 1942) and 94-27834-B (22 February 1943). The U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics specified lumed dial and hands for their version of the A-11; the watches were marked FSSC 88-W-800

While previous to the A-11 designation some issued watches were made with white dials, this changed after 1942 to the black dial version that is better known. Any white-dialed watch would be issued prior to the A-11 specification, most likely in 1941.

There were at least three A-11 versions made. As mentioned, Elgin, Waltham and Bulova made various incarnations of this classic watch, but the "official" version is the Elgin, as documented in TM 9-1575 from the War Department. This is the ordnance maintenance guide for wrist watches, pocket watches, stop watches and clocks, from 6 April 1945."

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f7/wristwatch-won-world-war-ii-11-american-watch-icon-207560.html

Last edited by Oliver (2016-07-17 10:42:16)

Needs some cuffs and possibly not to be worn with all 3 jacket buttons done up - but otherwise superb. Brooks I assume.

Last edited by Yuca (2016-07-19 15:08:58)

Thank you Boys....its Brooks and i may just have enough on the length to get a Cuff.

Very nice AC, perfect when it cools down a touch.

Well done, AC. The sartorial gods smile upon you.

Lovely shirt Stan , really lovely.