‘Dirty Dozen’ British Army Issued Grana WWW

The Dirty Dozen is the title of 1967 film, which I have never seen, in which 12 fictional soldiers had some misadventures in WW2. But I have seen all the watches 12 watches lovingly nicknamed after this movie, the watches which actually served in WW2. This dozen are a group of field watches built by differing manufactures to a specific standard set by the British Ministry of Defense (MoD) during the war. They were initially prized for their relative inexpensive, no-nonsense functionality, and naunce in collecting. Today they are no longer inexpensive, but just as interesting and nuanced to chase. This, the Grana, is by considerable margin the most desirable and hard to find.

The companies which answered the MoD’s call were Buren, Cyma, Eterna, Grana, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Lemania, Longines, IWC, Omega, Record, Timor, and Vertex. Some have speculated that fewer than twenty collectors have assembled a complete set. While models like the Record and Omega were produced in 25000 units, the Grana was somewhere between 1000-2000. And these are initial production numbers. Far, far fewer survive today. The Dirty Dozen were in period known as WWW watches. This was short for Watch, Wrist, Waterproof as was the descriptive code used by the British Army to identify it.

And this example might just be the best around. It comes not only very well-preserved, but directly from the family of Frank Hudson, who served in the RAF from 1938 until 1946. A letter of provenance from the family is included which details the history of LAC Hudson’s life and his service. It has was discovered in a drawer after his passing in 2017 and remained in family possession until its offering to the market today. For military watch collectors, this is as good as it gets.

Find this Grana WWW here from Finest Hour Timepieces listed as POA.