Original German WWII Wehrmacht D-H Wrist Watch by Silvana with Soviet Airplane Hand-Painted on Face - Functional - Missing Strap

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a rare vintage 1939-1944 Swiss made, under military order for Germany, mechanical men's wrist watch by Silvana. Known as a "D-H" service wristwatch of the German Army for Wehrmacht officers and soldiers during WWII. This example is missing the wristband, but was painted on the face during the period with a depiction of a Soviet Airplane with the ground below it. This likely denotes that this watch was captured by a Soviet soldier or officer who then painted the front. This example has been fully cleaned, tested and still runs, but will need a wristband.

There is no warranty for this watch and returns for a non-working watch will not be honored. Please note all watches are wound and tested then recorded on video before shipment. We are not in the watch repair business- ALL SALES ARE FINAL.

This example has a beautiful original metal chrome case with stainless steel screw-back. Reverse of screw-back impressed with issue number D 324382 H under:

STAHL BODEN
WASSERDICHT

This genuine vintage German military Silvana wristwatch from the WWII period is offered in very good functioning condition. Constructed as a two pieces case with fixed lugs bars, body with acrylic crystal, original chromium coating, screwed stainless steel back. The case is in rough shape with many small nicks and scuffs.

Chromium plated original crown, original black dial, military style, marked on face over the painted plane:

Silvana

Recessed sub-dial for small seconds at 6, luminous Arabic numerals.

Fully cleaned and oiled and runs correctly.

The German Army issued wristwatches to their officers of the Deutsches Heer (The German Army). The Letters DH found on the reverse of the case indicated that the watch was made in Switzerland under military order for Germany during WWII.

The German ARMY had watches produced and retailed by companies such as ARSA (Auguste Reimond), Alpina, Mulco, Titus, Minerva, Record, Zenith, Silvana, Helvetia, Longines. And also (mixed up with German): Buren, Doxa, Dogma, Glycine, Gala, Mimo, Phenix, Record watch Co., Recta, Para, Leonidas, Revue, Tritona, Wagner, B.W.C., Grana, Helios, Moeris, Helma, Siegerin, Vogele, Zentra, Laco, Stowa ,Wempe, IWC, A. Lange & Sohne, Hanhart, Glashutte.

The pocket as well as the wristwatch had screwed backs and were shock resistant. The dial was black with a small second hand with radium digits and hands. The back was marked "D.H." (Deutsches Heer), with the case number. The watches were partly deployed and written into the soldier's book, and also sold to army staff. It is not entirely clear what D H stands for. Some writers suggest the D stands for Deutsches (Germany) and the H for Heer (Army). Some prefer the interpretation given by Konrad Knirim (http://www.knirim.de/english.htm), who has written that the D stands for Dienstuhr (Service Watch) and the H = Heer (Army). However, it is not entirely clear that DH watches were originally intended for the Army alone, given documented instances where the service record books of members of the Luftwaffe (Air Force) have been found with DH watch serial numbers written as issued to these troops. In addition to watches marked with DH, there are some identical watches with only the letter D in front of the serial number and no H after the number. Collectors speculate that these D only watches were for the Luftwaffe. Others speculate that these watches were used by Para-military personnel such as those working in railroads. However, given that the WWII German records have been lost we really don’t know for sure how these watches were issued.