1953 RAF Pilot’s Watch Military 6645/101000/6B/542 British Ministry of “Fat Arrow” Tritium Dial Completely Original Military Provenance

We have been lucky enough to acquire this watch from an RAF family based in Northern Ireland. It was owned by the uncle of the seller who was in the RAF and then passed to his nephew when he, too, joined the RAF. Bought from the nephew, this “Omega 53 Fat Arrow” RAF pilots watch was worn by the him during his own RAF service and is in absolutely superb original condition. It has sat on top of a wardrobe for twenty-five years until recently, when we acquired it and sensitively brought it back to full working condition. The movement is pristine and running perfectly and the case is in superb condition. This watch is cased in soft iron to prevent magnetism from the aircraft instruments affecting its crucial performance during military operations . These watches were only commissioned by and made in 1953 when the British Ministry if Defence procured a limited number (5,900) of them in that year for their RAF pilots. They were originally produced with “Thin Arrow” Radium dials but these proved to be dangerously radioactive when stock-piled, so the MOD recalled them and redialled them with the safer Tritium (hence the “T” in the circle) “Fat Arrow” dials.

There is some natural loss of original lume paint to the hour hand but we have left this watch exactly as it was (apart from servicing it) to preserve its history and integrity. If the buyer wants it, we can have the lume in this hand sensitively restored with non-glowing new old stock lume to match.

To find a fully serviced one of these with RAF history is a real find!