My first post to these forums!
My grandfather recerntly passed away at the age of 103, and as is the norm for
his generations, he held on to everything. Everything had a purpose, could be
fixed, restored, etc. When going through these items, in the bottom of an old
cigar box filled with mementos from the European Theater (mostly patches torn
from Nazi uniforms, a Nazi arm band, and party lapel pin) were four watches
with notes attached to them, indicating they had been taken from German
prisoners of war. The first three were fairly underwhelming Art Deco style
men's watches (the watch face on one read "Anker 15 Rubis", the other two had
no marking on the watch faces). The fourth was underneath everything, with a
strap so grimy it was stiff. Expecting this to be another nondescript watch
like the other 3, I didn't really look too hard at it.
A few weeks later as I was going through items to document the watches for the
purpose of making an inventory of my grandfather's estate, I looked at the
watch again and immediately saw "International Watch Co. SCHAFFHAUSEN" on the
salmon colored watch face. Ironically I had just been looking at IWC pilot's
chronographs, so my interest was immediately peaked.
I consulted some collectors online and was told it was an IWC caliber 83, in a
rare combination of a salmon dial with curved indigo blue hands. I've not seen
another example of this watch out there. Given this, I decided to have it
serviced as it didn't run, and there was so much green rust on the face the
hands wouldn't move when I'd manually move them.
It was sent to Total Watch Repair in Van Nuys, CA where a service was
conducted, and the dial was cleaned. It now runs perfect, and the dial has
been brought back to life. The strap, as I said, was very grimy so I cleaned
it myself with some warm water and soap allowing me to get most of the dirt
and grime off. At one point I encountered a stain I believed to be blood given
the dark brown color and how oily it was once I got some warm water on it.
After 80 years I suppose any stain made by an oily liquid might look like
dried blood, however.
As pictured below, I put the watch on once it was returned to me after a few
months. It didn't dawn on me at the time, but the last time the watch was
likely wound and worn in a clean condition was over 80 years ago. Between then
and now it's seen war, German defeat, Allied victory, and the bottom of a
cigar box.
It's not my style, and though it's more the size of a women's watch today my
wife isn't keen to wear a watch that, in her words, "had been previously worn
by a German soldier", so I'm likely to part with it. Below are a few photos.
