Originally Posted by
M4tt
The market is less than transparent. Getting a watch that is likely to have served is far harder than getting one from the right period. Pocket watches are easier. You are looking for something with a screw down front, back or both. The crown has to be sealed, usually with cork and that means either a long thick pendant or a large crown over a shorter pendant.
The bottom line line is that you need to research the hell out of the period to stand a chance of not ending up disappointed.
If you want a watch that has almost certainly served in blood and fire, look for Russian or Ukrainian sellers and once you have got past the big wedding watches, and endless Pobda scrape the barrel of small, battered unfashionable undistinguished German watches of the thirties. There are a lot out there and it’s fairly clear where they came from. No one buys them so they are cheap, but...
Anything that looks exciting is fake. Aim low.