WW2 German Military Contract ARSA Wristwatch

A WW2 German Wehrmacht "cancelled order" wristwatch by Unitas / ARSA.

As Allied fortunes turned in WW2, Swiss watch manufacturers found themselves dealing with cancelled contracts, as many watches formerly destined for the Wehrmacht remained in stock. Post war, these undelivered watches were reconfigured, as this Unitas was, before being offered on the postwar civilian market at reduced prices. Many of these would have been purchased by Allied forces in Europe.

German military watch collectors will be familiar with the name ARSA (Auguste Reymond Société Anonyme), as this was the name used by the Unitas watch company on the dials of their wartime watches they had supplied to the Deutsche Heer. However, after the war, Unitas took the marketing step and rebranded this Wehrmacht watch, which retains their calibre 174 ARSA signed movement, while on the outside they machined off the German DH numbers and impressed the concave disc with a "Stainless Steel Swiss" marking to further mask the work done. The first wartime ARSA dial would have been black and this was also changed to a white "Unitas" version, a colour choice that would have been familiar to any soldier who might have been issued an ATP type watch, as used by the British Army.

After these watches had been transformed and all obvious association to the Germans erased, such watches were keenly offered for sale, usually to Allied troops in Europe. As such, they are still very much "military watches" that are often overlooked. Furthermore, the ARSA movements used in these watches, as intended for supply to the nazis, were in fact a better product due to them having shock-protection as standard.

Presented in "original" condition and working order.

Code: 51840