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What date is on the caseback of the A-11? That's an early dial that was made prior to the manufacturers being required to obscure or leave off company name/ branding.
Not uncommon. Very few A-11's out there that are in the same configuration that they left the factory in. Most have been repaired or rebuilt numerous times during the last 80 years. Not to mention all of the watches that have been assembled using spare parts.
A few factory configurations…but a Goodwear A-2 might be lower in price.
As a kind of side note .. the pre-1945 issue A-11 with hack and second sweep hand never had the brand mark on the dial.
About military watches, it’s often complicated.
I learned a lot about Type 20 French issued chronographs and in fact, untouched watches are generally those that left service very early, either worn by a high-ranking officer or somewhat forgotten.
Watches that were worn in service are rarely matching numbers. Those that went through multiple visits to the watchmaker, like mine, were inevitably mismatched.
Theses watches were tools and keep mouvement, case, dial and hands original were not a priority.
And we saw today a lot of Auricoste with Vixa’s second hand and some Bréguet also with Vixa’s hands.
And some Vixa with Breguet’s hands
I had seen these photos taken at a retired watchmaker’s shop, where he still had a stock of watches undergoing servicing for the military:
Thanks St.Ex.
There is or was a dealer in Karlsruhe / Germany : ZMT . Frank Roesky : [email protected]..This dealer bought all HANHART parts and NOS components from Hanhart when they stopped manufacturing their own Cal. He had a similar stock as yours shown.Unsure whether he is still active. He serviced all my Ww2 and Bund Hanhart’s.
As for the quality of everything:
Point is as always.. you only get what you pay for.. remember the oat and horse story.. it sums it up very realistically.