Join HSNY on Monday, February 3, 2020 for a lecture on the hidden history of World War II watches, presented by HODINKEE editor Cole Pennington.
Most of the time we don’t even consider it, but a single line of text on the caseback of a watch can tell us so much about where it’s been and what it may have seen. It can add context to the marks in the case and the patina on the dial. Watches have stories to tell, and in this case, a small bit of info can unravel fascinating accounts about the watches and the people who wore them during WWII.
Last July, Cole Pennington published an article that chronicled the tale of buying a watch at a fair and using the caseback engravings to get it back to where it belonged -- the next of kin of the original owner. This specific watch was involved in the grim and desperate business that was the Battle Of The Atlantic, and the mission concluded with placing the watch in a museum in Canada. A number of other watches led to dead ends, and no further information could be found -- until he received an anonymous email that included a few key pieces of missing information that started the search back up. At the Horological Society of New York (HSNY) lecture on February 3rd, Pennington will present detailed imagery and archival documents that bring to life the tales of those watches.