These three vintage military watches from different brands offer a raw glimpse into the story of post-WW2 watches issued to the British Royal Air Force (RAF). See that arrow on the dial there? Each of these watches has what’s called a Broad Arrow, which indicates that it was produced for Britain’s Ministry of Defense and issued to military personnel — and that it was originally considered British government property.
While the Broad Arrow was found on equipment of all kinds issued to various British military forces, a “6B” designation found engraved on the case back of these examples means that it was for RAF aircrew. Another detail common to these watches is the circled T just beneath the maker’s logo, indicating that tritium is used for the dial’s luminescence instead of radioactive radium.
IWC and Jaeger-LeCoultre also produced the 6B, and the features of all such watches were dictated by very exact specifications. So it’s not surprising that the watches below are all 36mm wide, feature manually winding movements and look pretty similar — but they’re not quite the same watch. Another requirement was high accuracy, and this led to the development of some of the best, most robust movements ever.
Strong enthusiasm for vintage military watches has, unfortunately and ironically, meant that the bargain prices that once helped make them popular have led to them being harder to find today. See more about vintage military watches that are still quite affordable here. Below are three examples that make the cool history behind them feel more real.
Hamilton 6B Military
What We Like: The once-American brand had a prominent role in military watches of the past, and probably the most popular watch Hamilton produces today, the Khaki Field, is a direct reference to that history. That’s why it’s particularly cool to find an original watch that helped form what is the modern company’s personality and DNA, and one that helps paint a broader picture of Hamilton’s role as a maker of various kinds of watches for different militaries.
