A Second War Royal Air Force (Raf) British Broad Arrow Marked Longines Pilot's Wrist Watch

Manufactured by Longines of Saint-Imier, Switzerland, functional, weighing 29.4 grams without its strap. The maker's name "LONGINES" appears below the twelve position, the six position flanked by "SWISS" at the left and "MADE" at the right, with each of the hour, minute and second non-luminous hands in blue, and the twelve Arabic numerals and minute positions marked in black, covered by a glass crystal. The case is stainless steel, the back cover of which is engraved with the British Broad Arrow insignia above "6B/159" over "A15960". The underside of the back cover is marked "ACIER INOX." (acier inoxydable = stainless steel) above the maker mark "LONGINES", flanked by "2" at the left and "1" at the right, and numbered "22521" above "2" below, along with being hand scratched with the code "LJ15120". The internal gilded workings of the watch is marked "LONGINES / SWISS MADE / 16 JEWELS / 6625468", in addition to "A R" above "F S". It is finished with a black nylon strap that passes between the body of the watch and the pins extending from the lug ends. It measures 35 mm x 43.3 mm x 12.5 mm, exhibiting scattered wear spots in the blue finish on the three hands, the casing and crystal with very light contact. Extremely fine.

Footnote: Royal Air Force watches from the Second World War period were supplied by a number of manufacturers including Omega, Jaeger Le-Coultre and Longines, the watches following a standard specification, which included a white dial with black arabic numerals, centre seconds and blued steel non-luminous hands. They were ordered for pilots and navigators. The Air Ministry marked "6B/159" watches were supplied by the Air Ministry and marked with the issue number and year of issue. After 1943, they were supplied by "The Ministry of Aircraft Production " or "War Production" under Lord Beaverbrook and marked with the British Broad Arrow, along with issue number with the "A" prefix, as per this example.