Virtually every modern war (depending on how you define modern) has had timepieces worn in it. Be it pocket watches during the American Civil War or pilot watches in World War Two. There are plenty of well-known military watches known to be worn during the Second World War, but there is a specific group of watches made for British soldiers that is not only nicknamed after a famous 1960s movie, but very hard to put together.
While the Dirty Dozen film came out in 1967, and depicts the story of Major John Reisman and twelve prisoners convicted of a variety of violent crimes tasked with assassinating a number of high-ranking German officers before the D-Day landing in 1944. The Dirty Dozen in our case is a group of twelve watches given to British soldiers and manufactured by: Buren, Cyma, Eterna, Grana, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Lemania, Longines, Omega, Record, Timor, and Vertex.
Longines WWII Dirty Dozen watch / Credit: A Collected Man
These watches were commissioned by the British Ministry of Defense and had chronometer grade 15-jewel movements, with highly legible Arabic numerals on deep black dials with luminous markers and extra-strength glass. The Dirty Dozen all had small seconds at 6 o’clock and, while they share many similar characteristics, some are distinct – for example in their case design and case size. Another very distinct feature that they share is the broad arrowhead on the dial at 12 o’clock. Previously, timepieces in the British military had been issued but were not seen with as much importance by officials, they were produced by mostly Swiss companies as British factories were preoccupied with more essential elements of the war effort at the time. In total about 150,000 were produced.
All twelve of the Dirty Dozen watches / Credit: Monochrome Watches
What makes this set of timepieces so rare is the fact that some like the Eterna, Grana, or IWC were only made in the thousands; and when accounting for those lost or damaged during the war and the fact that there’s a whole dozen of them to retrieve makes it quite the endeavor! Some of them were also sent to other Allied militaries which makes them even more rare. All things considered, the Dirty Dozen are a very important set of military timepieces from the Second World War. A real part of history and a beautiful representation of the requirements of the British Ministry of Defense at the time and of the historic conflict itself.
By: Andres Ibarguen
Read more:
Touchot, Arthur. “In-Depth The 'Dirty Dozen,' An Incredible Collection Of 12 (Mostly) Inexpensive Military Watches.” Hodinkee, July 25th, 2016, https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/dirty-dozen-twelve-military-watches.
“The Dirty Dozen.”
IMDB, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061578/.Mulraney, Tom. “In-Depth Your Guide to the “Dirty Dozen” – Including the Only British Member, VERTEX.” Monochrome Watches, August 1st, 2019, https://monochrome-watches.com/your-guide-to-the-dirty-dozen-including-the-only-british-member-vertex/.
A vintage Caravelle dress watch for sale on Toronto Vintage Watches.
Editor’s note (September 9th, 2021): A previous version of this article stated that watches had not been issued by the MOD before the Dirty Dozen, which was incorrect.