Posted 13 years ago
Appleclod
(2 items)
Picked this item up years ago at a San Diego garage sale for a few bucks. Was told at the time it was found by an uncle in the wreckage of a Japanese war plane after a battle on an island in the Pacific. Last year after discovering the Japanese Military Watch Forum on the internet, I sent them pictures of the watch in its busted condition and received this reply:
"Ok, that circled Kanji means AIR/SKY and is the sign of Japanese flying corps, the nearby number is the Japanese military assignment s/n and above reads as LUMINOUS CHRONOGRAPH TYPE1, markings are all original and not applied post-war by fakers...
being fully marked as such it gives your watch the highest collecting value among these type of S pocket chronos....
Depending what you want to do with it you may keep or change the glass but surely install the winding knob and have it serviced...just let us know and we will direct you....
brgds". THIS GOT MY ATTENTION. I sent the watch off and spent $300. on restoration. The crystal could not be saved as it fell apart during the restoration. The watch is now in perfect working order. I do not know the collector value, but I feel the $300 was well spent.
