1960s Gun Metal Pocket Watch Chronograph for the Gpo

1960s gun metal pocket watch chronograph for the GPO.

This watch was issued to GPO staff in the UK around the 1960's and was used for clocks. The British Post Office (GPO) used such master clocks in their electromechanical telephone exchanges to generate the call timing pulses necessary to charge telephone subscribers for their calls, and to control sequences of events such as the forcible clearing of connections where the calling subscriber

failed to hang up after the called subscriber had done so.

The watch has a stem-winding movement which is working nicely. Here is the GPO’s description of the watch at the time…

“Watch No. 1 is a 24-hour, high-grade, keyless, lever timepiece with a stop-watch facility of the centre-seconds fly-back type. A minutes register which steps each time the centre-seconds hand reaches the 300 mark is provided at the top of the dial and integrates the revolutions of the centre-seconds hand up to a maximum of 30 minutes. The operation of the stop-watch facility is controlled by a plunger protruding through the winding button. With the main spring tensioned, the first depression of the plunger sets the centre-seconds hand in motion. A second successive depression stops the centre-seconds hand and a third successive depression restores the centre-seconds hand and the minutes register to zero.”

The watch measures 50mm diameter excluding the winding stem and the loop. The case is gun metal with gold highlights.

The watch glass has a 7mm scratch but otherwise is in lovely condition.

The dial is in lovely condition.

The watch comes in a new presentation box.

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All of our watches are checked over before listing, and are also checked for accuracy which is usually within around +/- two to three minutes over 24 hours (unless otherwise stated), which is considered respectable for a vintage watch.

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