Eaglemoss Military Watches Collection.

Issue 17 - 1940s French Navy

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During the years after WW2 the French Navy began a period of rebuilding, there was large scale investment in high quality ancillary equipment, including wristwatches.
Senior ranks and personnel who's role required accurate timekeeping were supplied with the official 'Marine Nationale' watch, procured from Longines.




Case
Brushed SS 33mm case, 35.4mm with crown, 40.5mm lug to lug, 8.4mm deep.
Case back engraved with description of the watch. 29.8mm flat glass.
Dial
White dial face black minute scale around outer ring, each fifth minute marked with small arabic numerals in black, hour numerals marked in pale green with black border.
Sword style hours and minutes hands, gloss black border with green infill. Slim straight gloss black seconds hand. Lume on minute and hour hands only.
Strap
18mm black coloured, quality nylon strap, brushed Buckle, aprox 170-215mm fitting



The strap is a far better quality than the usual MWC woven bands.
In the picture below, the usual standard MWC band at the bottom has a loose weave, the French Navy band in the middle has a much tighter, weave similar in quality to the ZULU band at the top.

Here is a size comparison with the issue 11 French foreign legion and the issue 16 Russian airman.

The issue 16 and17 cases are very similar, perhaps to reflect the use of French machinery used at the First Moscow Watch Factory in this period.
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