Eaglemoss Military Watches Collection.
MWC 50 - Southern African Soldier 1970s
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, Feb 24, 2016 at 09:32 PM (12206 Views)
In 1964 Ian Smith, a former RAF pilot, became Prime Minister of Rhodesia, at the time a self governed British colony. Smith wanted to make Rhodesia independent and in principle the British authorities were agreeable so long as the majority Black population were provided with a power sharing agreement, this was not what Smith and his supporters wanted and in 1965 Rhodesia unilaterally declared its independence.
This action led to the Rhodesian Bush War, also Known as The Zimbabwe War of Liberation, many groups were involved and several external countries, such as China and the USSR lent support to one faction or another, UN trade embargoes restricted supply of arms to the Rhodesian government and South Africa first supplied arms and eventually joined in the fighting.
It was inevitable that equipment came from a variety of sources, such as weapons from portugal or old British Lee Enfield rifles.
Watches made by Roamer were issued to soldiers in both the Rhodesian and South African Army, the model in this edition is based on one from the water resistant 'Anfibio' range.
Case
Cushion Style polished 34mm case, 36.3mm with the crown, 11mm deep.
38.8mm lug to lug. 20mm wide
Interior aperture 29.2mm across, 8mm deep. 4.5mm Crown 29mm flat glass
Case engraved with watch description. South African Soldier
Dial
29mm Black dial.
Green printed Minutes scale
Hours indicated with green Arabic numerals from 1 through 12 inclusive.
Polished pencil style hours and minutes hands with green infill which is not luminous, Seconds hand is slim and polished
Strap
Khaki green nylon strap, 20mm wide, polished buckle. approx. fitting 175-215mm