Article about: Hi I recently purchased an pocket watch. Please see pictures for description. The seller wrote me that he bought it about 20 years ago on ebay from a German man who said it belonged to his u
Hi
I recently purchased an pocket watch. Please see pictures for description.
The seller wrote me that he bought it about 20 years ago on ebay from a German man who said it belonged to his uncle. He bought then several other WWII objects from this man.
I already read a lot about the fakes that are sold on ebay and how to recognize them. However, this one made me curious and I made the risk to buy this one.
I also read that SS did not have pocket watches... well maybe there is one here?
It is still in working condition, ticking here right next to me :-)
Sorry to say, it's a duff one. These are sold by a gang of fakers on eBay. Their modus operandi is to take old objects like vintage pocket watches, ornaments, cameras, etc, and dress them up with WWII-related imagery. This is typically done with a lithograph, as seen with the inscription on the inside of the lid, which would be engraved if it were genuine. (Take note of the 'Berlin 1939' portion, which was lithographed badly and is distorted as a result).
They also like to add images to the watch face, as seen with the two iron crosses. They vary in design. Sometimes it's SS runes, sometimes it's a Totenkopf, sometimes it's divisional insignia. Always a pair of them, and always in exactly the same place on either side of the spindle.
If you can return this, do so. The item is spurious, as is the story behind it (meant to enchance the 'authenticity' of the piece). It's nothing more than a regular vintage stopwatch that has been dressed up by some unscrupulous folks. It was once a piece of interest to collectors of vintage timepieces. Now it is worthless to both them, and to militaria collectors.
I'm sorry you fell victim to these idiots. I see their listings regularly whilst perusing eBay, and pray that my fellow collectors don't fall for their fakery.
Especially if the story doesn't say a thing about an item's authenticity in the first place even if it is true...
by Michiel1971
The seller wrote me that he bought it about 20 years ago on ebay from a German man who said it belonged to his uncle. He bought then several other WWII objects from this man.
... All this tells us is that the watch belonged to somebody's uncle in the 1990s and then changed hands to that somebody's nephew who sold it to somebody else who sold it on 20 years later. Nobody claimed that Mr. Uncle had worn that watch in the war, right...?
This bullet was meant to kill Hitler !! It was carried for several years on the mission to obtain world peace, If Johnny's uncle had ever seen Hitler in the theatre of Germany.. A watch, a bullet.. all items present during the war but without provenance are just stories.. And far fetched sometimes and exaggerated many times bigger than fist told.. Fakers are even worse.. Made up stories.. Taking helmets and adding decals or silver platters inscribing them to Himmler, Goebbles, Hitler.. And Really !! How many place sets did they actually have at Berchtesgaden any way.. You would think enough for the entire German Army with all the sites clogged with their items.. But that is another STORY !
Collect items that can be vetted or take a personal interest and invest in a few books and research here on the search engine and ask before buying if possible and in doubt!!
Well, I thougt it to be obvious, but this man's uncle had served in the Waffen SS. My seller had bought several other genuine Waffen SS realted stuff from this man, all belongings from his uncle.
Other thing, I showed the watch to an old watchmaker, the man is 84 by now. He recognized the watch and interior. He started his carreer in 1950. He told me the watch is 100% real from the time. The quality is mediocre, probably a watch made by the 100's or 1000's. In that case engravings were not common or not done. Instead a litho or a stamp was used even in that era. Engravings were time consuming and costly even for that time, unless for special gifts of course.
He told me it was commom for that time that ex. everybody from the railway was given an similar pocketwatch. Most probably Waffen SS did a similar thing.
My guess is this is a unique found, but a very common watch for any Waffen SS soldier.
I will get deeper into that.
This has nothing to do with a fake from "allreaders.net", that's for sure.
Yes, it is an old watch, no doubt; but that's not the point.
The point is that it is an old watch that unscrupulous fakers have ruined by nazifying it.
It's one of the oldest tricks in the book and done with vintage watches, cigarette cases and hip flasks all the time. Spurious, ridiculously overdone embellishments like the ones seen here - with an Iron-Cross-and LSSAH sports-shirt-patch-design on the back, two more Iron Crosses on the watch face, plus "Waffen-SS" (which they forgot to hyphenate) and the SS motto - are typical for such items.
Waffen SS pocket watch???
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by Gwar
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