Benrus WWII field watch

[Doug C]

Hi I have the Benrus watch that they made as a commemorative reissue of their WWII model. It's a good quality watch, from what little I know of watches in general. But it is a 17 jewel daily wind up timepiece.. no battery. Had it a few years and the glass (bezel?) has needed to be replaced for some time now, not only has it been terribly dull from small scratches and actually cracked around part of the mounting area but the other day it actually fell out... and I lost it. Well in the process the hands of the dial got bent up pretty good to. I like it a lot and want to get it repaired but would like to source the components myself if possible. Is there a place I can order replacement parts from?

 

[unitone]

Ofrei has what you need

Those are neat watches and worth restoring, imo, though it may be cheaper to buy another one from ebay or from various watch fora. Especially if the dial is really messed up. You could be looking at a couple hundred dollars (or more!) to restore a dial.

For everything but the dial, you could try a local watchmaker, they may have what you need. The crystal and hands are pretty generic and were used on many different watches.

This place has many, many parts too, but you'll have to research what you need exactly:
http://www.ofrei.com/

Incidentally, it's a vietnam era reissue of the GG W 113. Some samples here:
http://www.50717.com/us/gg-w-113.html

 

[Doug C]

Thanks so much unitone for the info. I was searching for "benrus bezel" instead of crystal... not sure where I got that from. Anyway there are some crystals available through ebay but I need to figure out which one I need (model number). BTW, my dial face is in good to perfect condition, the hands are a differnt story though. I will have a look at the links you gave. As for the watch being a vietnam reissue... I'm not necessarily sure it is. The one I have is stainless in color as opposed to the common OD vietnam ones, though there may have been both for all I know, However - it was (is) advertised as a "Benrus WWII commemorative watch" and was reissued to coincide with the 50th anniversary of D-day. I imagine the watches from both eras are basically the same though? Anyway here's the one I have - hope I can get it back on wrist soon :

http://www.uswings.com/watches.asp

.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

They may be "WWII commemorative" and resemble some WWII watches, but they look more like the Vietnam era military watches. As far as I understand, the United States used three basic watches in the armed forces during World War II . The infantry used a (not always water-proof) watch with subsidiary seconds, with a black or white dial. This watch did not have hacking seconds; meaning you could not set it to the second like you could with some other military watches. The USAAF and USN used the A-11, and latter the A-17. Both were waterproof and could be set to the second with a "hacking" movement. Of the two the A-17 would be closer to the Benrus commemorative. Correct me forumites if I am wrong, but this is what I have figured out as best I can tell.

That said, I love the Benrus Commemorative, and I may get one sometime.
Hope you get it fixed up!

 

[Doug C]

I've looked at the A-17s and the ones I've seen have all had a row of notches around the perameter of the body (like around the edge of a quarter), mine is not like that. Also the crown on mine is different than those A-17s. Mine DOES have the hack feature btw... yet it IS actually a MIL-W-46374... ingraved on the back. I'm not sure how close to the WWII version benrus entended this to be but I alway though it was their version of the A-10. Anyways thanks for the info and help too.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

There are several variations of the A-17:http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Vintage-Bu...ViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item255841605b Some A-11's have the "coin" edge too. Really though, looking at the link Unitone posted I would say the Benrus commemoratives are a close copy of Vietnam era watches. Same hands, same numbering on the dial. Even the backs are similar.

What really appeals to me about the Benrus is that it resembles 1940's-70's military watches, it is mechanical, and it is not too big. I think I will have to start looking for one...

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Correction on what I said earlier: I believe the A-17 was not in use until the 50's, thus post World War II.

 

[Godfrey]

I had exacly the same problems with my Benrus face as Doug C. Luckily I had mine into a watch repair place asap. The guy who fixed it said that the works were very high quality swiss however the whole thing had been let down by a poor quality case and glass. Glass has been replaced buy something far more superior and its now better than new.

 

[Doug C]

Godfrey - Did they replace the crystal with a better (glass) one ? I think the original is plastic.. no? And was the replacement a common item that the repair shop kept on hand or did it have to be ordered ? Finally, how much did they charge you ?

 

[Godfrey]

The first one was plastic and the replacement is glass. I think it took a bit of time for the guy to find the right glass - it was a bit of a labour of love. It is apparently not a standard size. The watch was fixed (had a few mechanical issues) and glass replaced for about $200 Aust. Dollars. Would probably been cheaper to buy a new one - but to be honest its in a far better state than when I got it.

 

[Doug C]

Would probably been cheaper to buy a new one -

yea, that's what I've been fearing. And it's a shame too because it's such a decent watch to begin with.