The Dirty Dozen in Context | VARIO

The First World War first ended in armistice in 1918 — four long years of grueling combat had left all nations involved exhausted and emotionally jaded. The world had grown almost universally tired of war. The globe’s very map, as well as every western nation, had changed, to varying degrees. But one of the most immediate effect of the end of the war, at least for those areas not pitted and destroyed by the endless shelling, was legions of traumatized exsoldiers returning home. Many of them kept their uniforms locked away, avoiding them just as they avoided memories of the whole affair. Some just threw theirs away. Of all uniform components, though, the trench watch was easiest to carry around and keep. Many returned soldiers wore their watches about, and many stashed theirs in a coffee tin or something somewhere — preferring to keep to the still-fashionable pocket watch. Nonetheless, wrist watches were coming into their own, slowly but surely. Likely, their growth in popularity would have remained slow and steady had peace continued. 

But peace wasn’t assured, despite what optimistic leaders might’ve though at the time — in Germany especially, a fragile social order emerged. Disaffected left-wing soldiers and fedup civilians there staged a revolution, which was quickly put down by an even greater number of equally bitter ex-soldiers in the right-wing Freikorps, who tended to blame not the Kaiser for Germany’s defeat and further humiliation at Versailles, but subversive deep-state elements back home — namely, Communists and Jews. The new Weimar Republic survived, despite the struggle, and slogged through another several years of economic fragility — including the infamous period of hyper-inflation — before a stable (ish) society finally emerged, flourishing in architecture, art, theater, literature, and much else. Nonetheless, the undercurrent of right-wing discontent persisted, egged on further occasionally by flare-ups of Communist dissent. The Freikorps, for instance, remained stuffed full of bitter ex-soldiers, resentful of the politicians who had accepted the Treaty of Versailles — a treaty that limited Germany’s military, separated German-speaking peoples into different countries, and infamously contained a clause which made Germany take on full responsibility for the war that a Serbian terrorist had ignited. Soon, the even more extremist Nazi party began to strengthen, forming around a charismatic speaker, Adolf Hitler, with ideas that, unfortunately, began to find mass appeal after the advent of the global Great Depression in 1929. Adolf himself had even served in World War I; thus, the seeds of peace’s destruction were present even before its beginning.

Most people know, to some extent, the story of Hitler’s rise to power. The Nazi party became so popular that Hitler got himself elected chancellor of the German legislature, the Reichstag, instead of the presidential seat that he wanted. He managed to gain “emergency” dictatorial powers in 1933 and set about transforming Germany into the society that he had promised, more or less. It is not necessary to retread the Holocaust, or the ascendancy of the SS over civilian society. Nor is it really very advisable to describe the whole story of appeasement; suffice it to say, once Hitler was satisfied to a point with his domestic policy, he turned his eyes to foreign affairs. He seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in turn, risking the ire of the Allies. But each time the Allies allowed him to keep what he had taken, confident he would take no more. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, in conjunction with Stalin’s USSR, that was the last straw. War began again.

It was worse this time.

It should be said that, in the inter-war period, no country was so convinced by the promise of lasting peace that they did not continue to develop their militaries technologically. New guns, new uniforms, and new tactics supplanted the old Great War ones. Crucially, Europe and the US knew what industrial war looked like now, and prepared for it as well as they could. The British in particular abandoned aspects of their colonial policy without abandoning colonies — the practice of having officers buy their own kit, one so vital to the diversity of trench watches the first time around, was replaced by general issuance of almost everything. 

Uniforms and watches had to get better. Advances in waterproofing and precision allowed soldiers more mobility in worse conditions and better timing in their operations. At least, ideally. Although countries couldn’t know it at the time, the faster, building-to-building, field-to-field combat that comes to mind when most people think of WWII would almost completely supplant the classic idea of trench warfare, so equipment had to be more dynamic and flexible in terms of operations. But, crucially, they also had to be mass produced easily. One might notice that in any photo of British or US soldiers that their uniforms are quickly and cheaply made, or that their airplanes and guns are barebones and as thin as they could get without exploding.

The Dirty Dozen watches. Photo by Monochrome Watches.

Now, the most famous watch of WWII, the British “Dirty Dozen,” did not come into play until the last couple years of the war, c.1944-1945 — until then watches were similar in function and form, but none come of them close to how famous the Dirty Dozen are. The British model being replaced was the old A.T.P. (“Army Trade Pattern”) watches ordered at the start of the war, in 1939. Of course, by 1943, England was confident of its ability to win the war, having risen far from the days before US entry and Soviet alliance, when France had fallen and England “stood alone” (ignoring the vast area of its global empire). So, c.1943, the British government wanted the best possible watches for its troops out on the lines. And who was better at making watches than the neutral Swiss?

12 different Swiss companies filled the order for new military timepieces. The British had decided, in light of the old A.T.P.’s cream colored dial and non-luminous numbers, that the new watches must conform to certain standards, hoping that they would produce the perfect soldier’s timepiece: black dial, Arabic numerals, shockproof and waterproof, small seconds at 6, and luminous numbers. All genuine D12 watches were marked with the broad arrow symbol on the dial, stamped with W.W.W. (“Wrist. Watch. Waterproof”) on the back and then sent off to England, where they were distributed among pilots, engineers, officers, infantrymen, and all.

Many D12 watches are still around today, but not all varieties are easy to find. In addition to the fact that the war ended some 80 years ago, a few of the models were produced in much fewer numbers than others. Notably, the most valuable of the 12 is the model produced by Grana. Less than 5,000 of these were likely produced, but records of the exact production numbers are lost, if they ever existed. Today, Grana models can sell for more than 30,000 USD. Regardless of the massive price tag, many collectors are doing their utmost to collect all 12 models in original condition, meaning that the watches must also have never been modified in any way — a difficult prospect, considering the age and the fact that many of those watches were returned from the field to the British government for repair and re-issue. In the middle of the war, it was impossible a lot of the time to use the exactly correct parts to repair damaged watches, so it was common to use components from older or altogether different models, breaching their originality. Suffice it to say, this makes it rather difficult to find “original” pieces, but nonetheless, several complete sets of the Dirty Dozen are floating around today, in the hands of resourceful history and/or watch enthusiasts.

The standards of the Dirty Dozen became standard soldier watch form in short order, even if the war was soon to end. As far forward in time as the 1970’s, soldiers were still using watches that looked a lot like the classic D12 vision, which no doubt goes to say that the specifications which created the look of the Dirty Dozen were functional and timeless.

The war was surely soon to end, though, so one cannot say the legacy of the Dirty Dozen is solely rooted in its performance in the combat of WWII — it saw less of that than the A.T.P., all in all. Starting with D-Day in 1944 (the invasion of Italy the previous year was somewhat of a false start), Germany’s dominance of the European continent began to waste away. The Allies at one point were advancing so quickly towards Germany itself that neither the men nor the supply lines could cope.

Make no mistake, of course: people died every step of the way. And particular trouble was had in the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes, and crossing the River Rhine into Germany proper. Yet, less than a year after Allied armies had landed in Normandy, the German government surrendered. VE Day came on the 8th of May, 1945. The war in Europe had finally ended.

Even as people wept for the family they had lost, celebration engulfed Allied countries. Massive parades were held, with crowds full of every man, woman and child shouting and laughing and crying that it was (mostly) all finally over.

The final Axis power Japan still held out. But, in popular memory, the US and China own the fight against Japan, along with the grassroots resistance movements of Korea and Southeast Asia; the British, to whom the D12 belonged, are not usually recalled as having a large role there, despite the fact that British India put gigantic numbers of troops out into the fight. Simply put, the British were not wholly uninvolved there. Notably, the largest British surrender in history happened in Singapore, when 80,000 disorganized Allie troops surrendered in February 1942. The British territory of Burma was lost mostly in 1942, then retaken c. 1944-45.

Furthermore, all along the way, elements of the Royal Navy were assisting in assaults against Japaneses vessels, even being crucial to the success of the battle to take Okinawa in 1945. That, though, was largely the end of things; afterwards, the Royal Navy started to withdraw to base to prepare for the invasion of Japan, which never happened. Instead, the US dropped two newly-developed atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered; VJ Day had come.

The worst war in human history ended, less than six years after it had first began. Almost 80 million people died — an almost unfathomable amount of sorrow was put into the world. It was a small recompense that all over, the survivors could sigh in relief that it all was ended. The death toll is one of the most important aspects of the war; it, and the simple experience of living six years in fear and hardship, left an indelible mark on all the cultures it touched — marks which survive even today. It is no surprise then that all material aspects of the war are still worth something to people today, are still coveted by collector and historian. The smallest piece of shell, photos, helmets, flags, canteens, backpacks, bullets, hats, boots are still being collected. The watch, among all possible mementos, is one of the most enduring symbols of that experience.

Soldiers wore those watches on their wrists every single day and night for years. They lived and died by the time their watches kept. It is an undeniable good that today the same watches are remembered and appreciated, and paid legacy to by watchmakers and watch-lovers the whole world over. It is even better that we, globally and individually, remember the horror of six years of brutal, unending war, and finally keep the promise broken after the First World War; that we advocate for and always value world peace.

About the Author:

Milo Perzo is a young essayist and author from Southwest Louisiana. He is currently studying history and linguistics, and has been involved in many community projects in Lake Charles, where he lives. He spends his time writing, studying, or trying to cook.

A remake of the classic dirty dozen watch by Vario