Aeschbach WW2 Pattern German Airforce (Luftwaffe) 17 Jewel Hand Wound Military Pocket Watch

Military pocket watches along with their civilian equivalents are seeing a huge increase in popularity. Historically they were often employed for both land-based, Airborne and naval applications. During WW2 they were frequently used by both the German Forces (Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe) as well as British and American forces, the primary reason that pocket watches were so popular was that wrist watches at the time were usually very small and hard to read with an average diameter of just 32mm hence the pocket watches large size of close to 50mm meant that the time could be seen much more easily. 

This classic WW2 pattern Aeschbach* military watch with a small subsidiary dial second hand is based on the typical designs used by the German Luftwaffe and issued by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM / German Air Ministry)  these watches did not remain in the possession of the Luftwaffe pilots and were issued to them on a mission by mission basis, to be returned to the quartermaster on arrival back at base. This watch is closely based on one of Aeschbach's WW2 designs, although the original watches are now quite rare and tend to fetch high prices this watch is outwardly almost indistinguishable from the factories WW2 models and has a traditional 17 jewel hand wound movement, the watch has also been upgraded to a glass crystal which is superior to the acrylic / plastic crystals which were used in World War Two and were very easily scratched or damaged. 

The original WW2 watches made for the Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe were produced by a large number of Swiss and German manufacturers some of which including Aeschbach which was originally founded in 1923 continue to exist to this day.

This particular pocket watch has a solid 316L military grade stainless steel case with second hand subdial.