Brand New - Rotate North W10 1970s Pattern 24 Jewel Automatic Military Watch with 100m / 330ft Water Resistance - Date Version - Brand New Surplus Item
Brand New - Rotate North W10 1970s Pattern 24 Jewel Automatic Military Watch with 100m / 330ft Water Resistance - Date Version - Brand New Surplus Item
We purchased this watch as a military at security industries clearance sale there was just the one of this type among a variety of other military watches but we have to assume it was a prototype because we can't see it on their website, this means it's clearly very rare and possibly the only one so for anyone who collects W10 watches this would be another one to add to the collection of around nine other types of W10 which use a similar case pattern.
Please note that this watch is brand new and still has the plastic on the case back.
DW386
Various manufacturers have made W10 models for decades but this model is clearly an updated version of the original 1960/70s models, it retains the original outward appearance whilst having the advantages of firstly an enhanced water resistance rating of 100m (330ft) which brings it up to modern standards, there are of course other manufacturers still making W10 watches including CWC, MWC and ourselves but some of these (CWC) these still utilize an acrylic crystal which can only reach a maximum water resistance of 50m (165ft), this Rotate North model has a screw-down crown which avoids the risk of the crown being lost or damaged if the watch gets snagged on something.
These Automatic W10s have a heavy stainless steel satin finish case made from Military Grade 316L stainless steel, they are very robust and tough and built to endure the most extreme of conditions, sweep second hand, black dial and luminous markings.
The watch has a 24 jewel high-performance self-winding movement with a 41-hour reserve which has the option to be hand-wound if you're not using the watch on a daily basis. One further advantage over the older models is that the current watch also has a screw caseback for easier maintenance - earlier versions (as well as current CWC models) are serviced by removing the crystal which makes servicing quite challenging for many watchmakers.
The history of these W10 models is quite interesting. The hand-wound version of this automatic self-winding W10 was the predecessor to the quartz G10/98 models used by the armed forces of today, interestingly there was a plan back in 1980 by the British MOD to retain this case pattern utilizing a quartz movement but there was one major obstacle because the quartz movements in 1980 were too thick to fit into the case! The consequence of this was that military watch manufacturers had to go back to the drawing board which led to the various watches we now refer to as G10s. The last two images here show this government specification sheet requesting tenders from February 1980 which shows the W10 pattern case.
