Here's another article that I wrote a while back. I will try and add some pics in due course.

Regards

Foggy

British Military wristwatches supplied by the Seiko Corporation

The Seiko Corporation began supplying the British Forces with wristwatches in the mid 1980’s and they continue to do so today. To my knowledge there have been 3 issued Seiko chronographs, excluding the yellow dialled “Vulcan” chronograph, and 1 issued Pulsar G10 general service wristwatch. Each of the models will be discussed in further detail below …

The first generation RAF issued Seiko chronograph

The first RAF issued Seiko chronograph was procured between the dates of October 1984 and November 1990. During that timeframe, 11,307 pieces of this particular model were supplied by the Seiko Corporation to the British Armed Forces.

This watch, constructed in stainless steel, housed the highly regarded, fifteen jewelled, quartz powered 7A28 Seiko movement. This model has three pushers, The top right pusher starts and stops the chronograph functions of the watch. The top left pusher stops and starts the chronograph for recording split times. The bottom right pusher resets the chronograph counters to zero.

The dial registers record the following information

1) The register at 3 records intervals of one tenth of a second. Once the chronograph has been running for 10 minutes, this hand stops revolving although does record the final one tenth of a second position once the chronograph is halted.
2) The register at 9 is the 30 minute counter.
3) The register at 6 is continuous seconds – i.e. running all of the time regardless of the chronograph function being used or not.

The dial is illuminated by Promethium. The case measures 38mm across, excluding the crown, and has a lug width of 20mm. Fixed strap bars are fitted as standard. The glass is mineral with a Seiko reference of 300WF0GN00.

The NSN for the watch is 6645-99-7683056. An issue number and year completes the military markings on the caseback.

The second generation RAF issued Seiko chronograph

From January 1993, the “second generation” chronograph was supplied by Seiko. The dimensions of the watch were almost identical to the first generation watch, but internally the watch was very different.
The movement was now the 7T27, an unjewelled movement of lesser quality than the previous 7A28. The dial now had a date window showing the day of the month. This version has 2 pushers, the main difference being the lack of the one tenth second counter.

The dial registers record the following information

1) The register at 12 is the 30 minute counter.
2) The register at 6 is the continuous seconds.
3) The register at 9 indicates the current hour using the 24 hour clock. This is linked to the movement of the main hour hand of the watch, so cannot be independently set and used as a GMT hand.

The dial is again illuminated by Promethium. The case measures 38mm across, excluding the crown, and has a lug width of 20mm. Fixed strap bars are fitted as standard.

The NSN for the watch is 6645-99-8149181. An issue number and year completes the military markings on the caseback.


The second generation RAF issued Seiko chronograph – non luminous version

There is also a version of this watch with a non-luminous dial and hands. This version was for use by the Royal Navy, presumably within an environment where luminous material would interfere with sensitive military equipment. Apart from the lack of luminous material, the watch is identical to that described above, except…

The NSN for the watch is 6645-99-7208727. An issue number and year completes the military markings on the caseback. This particular model was supplied between 1993 and 1999.

The fabled yellow dial Vulcan bomber crew Seiko chronograph

A yellow dialled Seiko chronograph is said to have been supplied to Vulcan bomber crews from 1983. The movement is a 7A38, which is the same as the 7A28 but with the addition of a day date window. All examples that I have seen of this watch have been dated from October 1983. There are no military markings on the watch itself, but it does seem likely that this watch was specially put together for the MOD. Numbers are scarce indeed – one source suggests only 700 were produced – and one would assume that if this had been a commercially available model, then more would be seen.
The reasoning behind a yellow dial was that this was particularly visible in the dimly lit inside of a Vulcan bomber.
Whilst not military marked on the watch itself, I have been told (thanks, Eddie) that the watch was certainly packaged in a typically military style cardboard box, wrapped inside in wax paper, and with the inclusion of NSN’s on the outside of the box.
Other than the above, little more is known about the yellow dialled Vulcan issue chronograph. My particular example came with a batch of issued 7A28 chronographs, so I have no doubts that this is a genuine military piece. When they rarely come p for sale, prices are high – the last one that I saw, correctly described on Ebay, made in the region of £1000.

The Pulsar (a Seiko company) G10 General Service wristwatch

In 2001, the MOD invited for tenders to replace the CWC as the general service timepiece used by the MOD. Pulsar was successful in winning a contract and produced a quartz wristwatch with fixed bars, Luminova lit black dial with a date window at three. The movement was the one jewel Seiko 7N32C calibre. This watch was found to have quality control issues surrounding it – poor mineral crystals and crowns prone to falling off !! Its life was therefore fairly limited, with the CWC winning back favour. The Pulsars were used in the recent events in Iraq, but mainly due to a general lack of available issue watches within the MOD stores.

The NSN for the watch is 6645-99-6052627. An issue number and year completes the military markings on the snap-on caseback.


(Thanks to Ned & Ale for the research on NSN numbers, which I have gratefully included in the above work.)[/b]