The Dirty Dozen: The Watches That Went to War

Built for the British Army at the end of the Second World War, the W.W.W. watches followed one uncompromising brief: legibility, reliability and purpose. Twelve manufacturers answered it. Decades later, collectors gave the watches a name - the Dirty Dozen - and their influence can still be seen in field watches today.

Why “the Dirty Dozen”?
 The name was never part of the original military specification. Collectors adopted it decades later, inspired by the 1967 war film of the same name. The connection was simple: twelve very different manufacturers, united by one mission and one remarkably consistent design brief.

The family photo. All 12 gathered, wearing NATO straps - a strap that was designed 30 years after the watches themselves were made.

If you have even a passing interest in military watches, you’ve likely heard of the legendary Dirty Dozen - a collection of timepieces born out of necessity during the chaos of World War II. These were not luxury accessories or fashion statements. They were tools of war, issued to soldiers who relied on them in life-or-death situations.

A Watch for the Battlefield
Before the War Office issued standardised wristwatches, soldiers carried whatever personal timepieces they could afford. But war is no place for fragile heirlooms. The unpredictable and brutal conditions of combat required something more - something robust, precise, and reliable. In response, the War Office developed a strict set of specifications for what would become the WWW (Watches, Wristlet, Waterproof), the foundation of the Dirty Dozen.

These specifications ensured that the watches were:

• Legible: A black dial with Arabic numerals, seconds at 6 o’clock, and railroad-style minute markings. 
• Luminous: Radium-coated hands and markers for visibility in darkness.
  
• Shockproof and waterproof: A rugged case with a water-resistant crown and shatterproof Perspex crystal.
• Highly accurate: Precision mechanical movements built to military standards
  
  

A Longines Dirty Dozen - a firm favourite among collectors due to it slightly larger size

The Twelve Who Served
With British watchmakers focused on naval and aviation instruments, the War Office turned to neutral Switzerland, inviting manufacturers to produce these battle-ready watches. In the end, eleven Swiss brands and one British company, Vertex, answered the call. Together, they supplied an estimated 145,000 watches to the British military. Surviving records are incomplete, but commonly cited production estimates include:

The 12 manufacturers and their respective WWW outputs:

Buren (11,000)
CYMA (20,000)
Eterna (5,000)
Grana (1,000-1,500)
Jaeger-LeCoultre (6,000)
Lemania (10,000)
Longines (8,000)
IWC (5,000)
Omega (25,000)
Record (25,000)
Timor (13,000)
Vertex (15,000)

Some of these brands have faded into obscurity, while others remain among the most prestigious names in horology. Regardless of their fate, the watches they built served soldiers in the field, ticking away in the trenches, on the march, and in the cockpit.

Although most of the Dirty Dozen were produced towards the end of the Second World War, their story didn't end in 1945. Many remained in Ministry of Defence service for decades, with examples reportedly still in use around the time of the Falklands War and some even seeing action as late as the Gulf War. For a simple mechanical watch built for soldiers in the 1940s, that is quite a service life - and perhaps the ultimate testament to just how well these watches were made. They say they don't make them like they used to. In this case, they may have a point.

The most sought after of them all
The most sought-after of the Dirty Dozen is generally considered to be the Grana. And rather wonderfully, it isn't because of the name on the dial. In a collection that includes Omega, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Longines, the rarest and most elusive watch comes from one of the least familiar makers.

Grana is believed to have supplied only around 1,000–1,500 watches, out of approximately 145,000 Dirty Dozen watches produced in total. By comparison, Omega and Record are each thought to have supplied around 25,000. For anyone attempting to assemble the complete set of twelve, finding the Grana is usually the biggest challenge.

The Grana Dirty Dozen - almost impossible to find

There is another interesting twist to the story. Grana watches were made by Kurth Frères in Grenchen, Switzerland, with the name derived from Granacus, the Latin name for the town. The company also created the Certina name, which subsequently became its principal brand. In other words, the holy grail of the Dirty Dozen isn't the Omega, the IWC or the Jaeger-LeCoultre. It is, in effect, the ancestor of a Certina — a lovely reminder that in the world of vintage watches, rarity can matter rather more than the name on the dial.

While the Grana may be the rarest of the Dirty Dozen, the Longines has a strong claim to being the most beautiful - and perhaps the easiest to wear today. At 37-38mm, it has proportions that feel remarkably contemporary, with a design that has barely aged in more than 80 years. Like the Grana, good examples are increasingly difficult to find. If you come across one, don't spend too long thinking about it.

Reimagining the Dirty Dozen for Today

More than 80 years after they were made, the influence of the Dirty Dozen is everywhere. Look at almost any modern military or field watch and you will recognise something: the clear Arabic numerals, the railway minute track, the small seconds, the uncompromising legibility. These watches were designed to do a job, and remarkably little about that basic formula needs improving.

Which inevitably led us to ask: what would a Dirty Dozen watch look like if it were made today?

There are two ways of approaching that question. You can reproduce the original as faithfully as possible, right down to the movement and materials. Or you can preserve the character and proportions of the original while taking advantage of 80 years of progress in watchmaking.

We chose the latter.

The Fly E03/S - the most popular watch from our Dirty Dozen range

Our four Dirty Dozen models retain the compact dimensions and wonderfully simple appearance of the originals. They still look and feel like military watches from the 1940s because that is precisely what they are supposed to do. But underneath, they benefit from modern movements, modern materials and the sort of reliability and accuracy that a watch owner in 1945 could only have dreamed of.

Built to be Worn
The originals were military equipment. They were issued, used, serviced and, when necessary, replaced. Nobody at the Ministry of Defence was worrying about whether a soldier might one day pass his watch on to his grandchildren.

Today, things are rather different.

Our Dirty Dozen watches don't have to survive a battlefield. They do, however, have to survive everyday life — work, travel, rain, knocks, weekends away and everything else we throw at a watch that is actually worn rather than kept in a box.

And perhaps that is the best way to keep the Dirty Dozen story alive. Not by turning these watches into museum pieces, but by continuing to use them for the purpose for which they were originally created: to tell the time clearly, accurately and without fuss.

Four watches. Four interpretations of the same remarkable idea. And all designed to be worn.

Step Into the Story – Experience the Dirty Dozen Collection here