IWC Corps of Engineers USA age and info request

Hi fellows,

I recently acquired this US Army Corp of Engineers pocket watch. I've seen them before from Ulysse Nardin faces but the movement of this watch is IWC which I think is really neat!. I was wondering if anyone could help with identification of the age and other information about the movement. I looked up the serial number on a website (Sn: 687437) and saw it was between 1915 and 1920.

german242.com/en/iwc-international-watch-company-shaffhausen-serial-numbers/
but this site www.elitetimepieces.com/iwcref.html says it should be around 1917?

It has got the radium hands and numbers and reads on my geiger counter if I put it right up agains the watch's face.

Thanks for any info!

moeb.on-rev.com/dyIWC/dyIWC.lc

According to this database, the results are:

"The movement is a LÈp. calibre 52, dating from the year 1918.
The case was most probably produced resp. delivered around 1919."

Very cool piece, I have my eyes out for a nice example as well...

Dear Roger

Your watch has been sold in the last days of 1918 (The US Corps of Engineers was not willing to accept further deliveries on the existing contracts after the war was over and the AEF US CoE tried to cancel outstanding deliveries, while the manufacturers tried to ship whatever they could finish and rate for the acceptance tests).

Your watch was part of a batch of several hundred watches. So the records of IWC do not show expressively that your movement and your case belong together. But there is a certain rule behind the numbering. And thus it is quite obvious, that your watch has "matching numbers".

All IWC watches for the AEF Corps of Engineers are signed on the dial Ulysse Nardin as UN had held the contract with the CoE and IWC was only a subcontractor. There exists an elder article in the NAWCC Bulletin dealing a little bit more in detail with the AEF US CoE pocket watches.

Hope this helps

Th. Koenig

What wonderful piece of history

Thanks! That is really interesting. I can imagine how the manufacturers were trying to get that government contract money before the taps shutoff.