WW2 German Military Contract ARSA Wristwatch

An undelivered WW2 German Wehrmacht contract wristwatch by Unitas / ARSA.

As Allied fortunes turned during WW2, Swiss watch manufacturers found themselves with many military watches in stock, following cancelled contracts. These undelivered watches were later reconfigured and offered to the civilian market at reduced prices, and this is one such example.

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 supplied to the Deutsche Heer. However, after the war, Unitas rebranded this Wehrmacht watch, which retains their calibre 174 ARSA named movement inside, while on the outside they milled off the German DH numbers and impressed the alteration with a "Stainless Steel Swiss) marking. The wartime ARSA dial was also changed to a white "Unitas" version, which would have been familiar to any soldier who might have seen the ATP types used by the British Army.

After these watches had been reconfigured 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