What is the difference between the Lemania military chronographs used by the Canadian Army and the British Dirty Dozen?

What is the difference between Canadian and British Lemania military chronographs?

The photo above is a Canadian military chronograph.

The photo above is a British military chronograph.

These two military watches are very similar, however the Canadian military watch does not feature the Department of War arrow (Broad Arrow).

Now let's take a look at the case back of the Canadian military watch.

The number CHS9 908 is engraved on the back of the case.

CHS stands for Canadian Hydrographic Service, and the number 9 represents a wristwatch.

This could have been a reference to either the Canadian Armed Forces or the Canadian Navy.
Since the case back has the Broad Arrow mark on it, I believe that the invisible case back was probably just a British military case back.
I believe this may have been carried by German soldiers who advanced into Berlin in 1945.
It is possible that the German soldiers acquired them from Canadian soldiers.

How Lemania military watches work

This is a very nice watch.
Lemania's monopusher chronograph has one button: press it once to start the stopwatch, twice to stop it, and three times to reset it.

It's a very rare and cool type.

Lemania was one of the most popular manufacturers of military watches of this period, and was particularly known for its chronographs for pilots.

If it does have Canadian military markings engraved on it, it makes sense that there would be no military arrows on the dial.

Are Canadian military items rare?

When it comes to Lemania military chronographs, the British Army is the first to come to mind.
So if you can find a watch that doesn't have the Canadian Dirty Dozen markings, consider yourself very lucky (^ω^)

By the way, I have a military watch of this style made by Lemania with Italian writing on it, but I don't think there are any in Japan that have it because the production numbers for this style of watch are probably extremely small.

It is written in Italian and says "Italian Marine Institute", so I imagine it is a model that was probably issued to people at the marine institute, rather than to military personnel.

I believe the appeal of vintage watches is that they are much deeper than you realize, and at the same time, you get to discover a piece that is just for you.

If you would like to experience more of the charm of vintage watches, please feel free to contact us ^ ^