Part 2 of my military watch OCD.
During the early days of ww2, Weems watches were issued to airman/navigators as a mean to sychronise and measure flight elapse times, before the direct hacking movement became common in wristwatches. The Air Ministry (A.M) of U.K in 1940 procured a quantity of these watches from five Swiss manufacturers – Longines, Omega, Movado, Zenith and LeCoultre. They were given the issue code 6B/159, Mark VIIa, and were based on the movements: Longines - cal 12.68N, Omega - cal 23.4, Movado - cal 150MM, Zenith - cal 106 and LeCoultre - cal 450. All were supplied via Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co. Ltd as stamped on the back, with the exception of LeCoultre which was supplied by S.S & Sons.
(A.M Weems 6B/159)
They shared the common design feature of external rotating bezel and a locking crown at ’4 clock position. Omega, Zenith and Movado used identical case and relied on a spacer ring to accommodate different movement sizes between the brands. Longines and LeCoulter on the hands followed their own unique case design, which were also used on their civilian watches. The case similarly measures approximately 33 mm across without the crown. Many of these Weems did not survive the war and most were later replaced by the more common non-Weems 6B/159 Longines and Omega.
One of the weaknesses of these earlier Weems watches is the fragile bezel locking mechanism. It uses a small metal spring to engage and lock against the teeth of the bezel when the locking crowned in screwed in. Moisture and dirts tend to accumulate under the bezel, causing corrosions and the spring to shear off under stress. For these reasons, they were often found with the locking crown missing and, sometimes, the hole left behind was plugged with solder.
Air Ministry was not alone in adopting the Weems watches, U.S Army Air Corp (U.S.A.A.C) also procured Longines and Lecoultre Weems for their navigators, in 1940 and 1942, respectively. These made up the earliest Type A-11 navigator watches, before the home produced Hamilton, Elgin, Waltham and Bulova A11s became available in quantity. The U.S.A.A.C ‘s Lecoultre is identical to the A.M except for the dial of the latter was not signed. The U.S issued Longines, however, was much smaller at 28mm based on the 10L movement, instead of 12L found on the bigger brother.
(U.S.A.A.C LeCoultre Weems)
(U.S.A.A.C Longines Weems)
In 1941, U.S.A.A.C also procured a quantity of Longines Type A-11 with direct hacking movement Longines 12.68Z and thus without the characteristic Weems bezel. These non-Weems A-11 Longines are relatively rare and were issued for one year only. I have the fortunes of acquiring a few over the years.
(U.S.A.A.C Non-Weems Longines Type A-11)
Taking the Weems concept further, US Army Air Force (USAAF), in collaboration of Bulova Watch Co, developed the Type A-15 experimental watch during ww2. It used the now common Bulova 10AKCSH hacking movement and added two independent internal bezels to it to enable long distance elapse timing. The bezels are turned by the crowns at ‘2 and ‘4 and hence could measure elapse time of up to 12 hours, in sub divisions of minutes and seconds. According to the military archive document, a relatively small quantity of about 500 of Type A-15 were procured in 1944, they were service tested at various theatres of operation (US, Europe, Asia and the Pacific) in late 1944 and early 1945 but was never formally adopted for general issue. This particular example came from England, possibly one of the 88 pieces tested at the RAF Warton.
(Buloval Type A-15)
