Deck watch

A deck watch numbered 98536, by

E. M. T. It has a jewelled movement with no markings except the regulator scale marked 'A R' and 'F S'. There is a club-tooth lever escapement and two-arm compensation balance. The movement is housed in an open-face stainless-steel case with screw-on back. The bezel has glass and the back is marked inside 'SWISS / ACIER INOXYDABLE / 98536', outside '98536' and the broad arrow. A pull-out hand-setting winding crown is at the XII-position.

A white enamel dial has Roman hour numerals, Arabic five-minute/second figures outside and centre-seconds. There are no inscriptions on the dial.

The movement is housed in a mahogany deck box with a hinged lid opening 180°. The box has a flip-catch to lock it. The box lid is lined with green baize and has a brass label-holder (empty). The watch sits in a circular green baize-lined aperture in the base of the box and can be seen through a circular porthole glass window when the lid is closed. The underside of the box is covered in green baize.

E. M. T. was a Swiss maker of high-grade commercial lever-escapement pocket watches, which during and after the Second World War, were obtained by the UK Government and re-cased in stainless steel to meet demands. They were additionally housed in wooden deck watch boxes manufactured by the Admiralty chronometer workshops. In the 1950s and 1960s many were sent to Karachi for use by the Pakistan Navy, with others being dispersed to India, Egypt and the Republic of Ireland.

Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London