The WW2 Omega Weems Mk VIIA 6B/159 RAF Issue pilot & Navigators watch - A special example

Bill Penaluna
Jul 1
6 min read

The ‘Weems’ Mk VIIA 6B/159 wristwatches were issued to pilots and navigators in the RAF during WW2 and are one of the most highly prized watches for military watch collectors.

2000 Omega examples were issued from 1940, but numbers are even scarcer after many examples were damaged or lost during service and in particular during the Battle Of Britain.

In popular culture, the Omega Weems has gained a cult following due to Tom Hardy wearing a replica example in Christopher Nolans 2017 WW2 film, Dunkirk. This features prominently on his wrist as he flys over the beaches in his Spitfire.

Procurement

The RAF procurement and expansion schemes spanning from 1934 to 1939, provided the opportunity for forward planning, to allow the RAF to gear up ready for conflict. When war was declared in 1939, this process was further accelerated.

A vital item which needed to be manufactured was a watch for pilots and navigators, to assist with accurate navigation via dead reckoning. Dead reckoning was of crucial importance, allowing an educated guess of location without GPS. It estimates a current position by advancing a known position based on elapsed time, speed and course.

Cross pond collaboration

British and US air forces held combined meetings to nail down the design of the American A-11 Issue watch. The British equivalent was to be sourced for the RAF and labelled the 6B/159, another attractive and famous pilot watch.

The watch was to have a hacking to pause the seconds hand. It was also to have the 'Weems' second setting rotating bezel which had aided avigation for about 10 years prior.

The Air Ministry deemed the American A-11 Weems model too small to be easily seen in testing conditions. It was indeed true that it was a petite size at only 27mm case diameter. Longines had produced a larger 34mm version since 1937 which the Air Ministry much preferred.

Specifications

The British 'Weems/ 6B/159 Mk. VIIA needed to meet the strict requirements below:

The movement needed to be wound by the crown.

The movement should have a minimum power reserve of 36 hours.

The hands should be made of thermally blued steel (to allow contrast) and the case should have a rotating lunette (bezel).

The case could be made from steel, chrome over hardened brass.

The dial needed to be light silver or white.

The timekeeping needed to meet the following requirements: after three hours +/- 3 seconds, after six hours +/- 5 seconds, after twelve hours +/- 8 seconds and after 24 hours +/- 15 seconds.

When production was complete, approximately 7000 Weems 6B/159 watches were delivered to the Air Ministry. They were individually numbered in the format xxxx(Serial)/40(Year) on the case back. These watches were ordered in early 1940, with the earliest being delivered by the middle of 1940.

Five manufacturers were able to meet the specification, which unsprisingly were major Swiss brands; Omega, Longines, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Movado and Zenith.

There was some commonality in parts with Omega, Zenith and Movado using the same case design.

The Longines Weems is thought to be the most common, and the Movado the least common with the lowest production numbers.

The Omega 'Weems'

On January 5th, 1940, 2000 units were requested by the Air Ministry from Omega, as shown in the note below. These were delivered to Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co Ltd, London, on the 10th of Match 1940.

The watches were originally supplied on a leather strap, which was sown on to the fixed bar lugs.

The reference CK2129 has the Cal 23.4 SC movement. With the Zenith and Movado Weems having the same case and similar dials, the standout feature of the Omega is the handset. The thermally blued hands are of spade and whip style, with the thin needle pointed second hand, with the lollipop counterbalance.

The case serial numbers for the Omega Weems have been observed to range between 3634/40 and 5580/40.

***The original order sheet - Courtesy of Konrad Knirims book***

A Special Example

The 'Weems' was a watch designed to serve a purpose and be used. Their history, combined with their age makes well preserved examples difficult to find. Important aspects such as dials may have been replaced, with winding or locking crowns missing and bezels damaged, replaced, or missing.

The Air Ministry issued markings to the rear can also be missing. This often occurred after people kept the watch after the war and didn't want it to be traced.

Records of issue also no longer exist after a fire destroyed a large amount of military documents. It is therefore impossible to know who wore these watches during the war.

The only way to know who the watch accompanied, is to source a watch from the family of the original owner.

Yet, we have managed to acquire a truly special example. One which is cosmetically good, original and can be traced to its original wearer.

Clifford Wearden

Clifford Kirkham Wearden was born on 15th August 1920. At the time of his birth, his parents lived in Preseton, Lancashire, where his father worked as a Plumber for English Electric Co Ltd.

Prior to the war, Clifford was a student, still residing with his parents in Preston.

The exact date that he enlisted in the Fleet Air Arm is not yet known and will be contained in his serviced records from the MOD. He first appears in the Navy List of February 1942 as a Temporary Sub Lieutenant and was listed as obtaining the rank on 15th August 1941 (his 21st birthday) and subsequently listed as qualifying for pilots duties, indicating he had passed his pilots training by this stage.

His early career is currently unknown and will be unveiled by the release of his service papers, which we have applied for. We do know from a later recounting of his service, that both Clifford and his close friend David James (also a Fleet Air Arm Pilot) were deployed upon HMS Implacable (R86) from her commission on 28th August 1944.

HMS Implacable was assigned to the Home Fleet and attacked targets in Norway for the rest of the year. She has taken part in operations to locate Tirpitz and in late October, she participated in Operation Athletic off the Norweigian coast. This saw her aircraft sink six ships and damage a German Submarine, for the loss of one Barracuda, while conducting the Royal Navy's last wartime torpedo attack.

She was later assigned to the British Pacific Fleet. On her journey to Australia she had two hangars and a flight deck packed with aircraft with the intention of fighting the Japanese in the far east. The ship arrived in Australia on VE-Day, with celebrations on board muted, with both David and Clifford quoted as saying "We still had the Japanese to fight".

HMS Implacable arrived at the BPF's main operating base at Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands, on 29th May 1945. A week later the flag was hoisted in preperation for Operation Inmate, an attack on the Japanese naval base at Truk, in the Caroline Islands. Truk was once the most important of the Japanese fleets pacific anchorages, but by this period it was a graveyard of ships due to US air assaults.

113 offensive sorties were flown over the two days of the attack from 14th June 1945, with only one loss of a Seafire to enemy action.

On July 17th Eight fireflies and a dozen seafires were launched against targets north of Tokyo. They also attacked the next day, with the most successful attack coming on the 25th July when they hit Osaka and the inland Sea, crippling the escort carrier Kaiyo. They also sunk the escort Okinawa near Maizuru.

Operations were halted due to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima until 9th August.

In total the ships aircraft flew over 1000 sorties since her arrival the previous month. It was also the only ship in the British fleet to survive a Kamikaze attack.

During the operations of July and August 1945, Clifford and David would have been active and flying many of these sorties. Later in life Clifford recalled for a local newspaper that whilst flying top cover and observing the bombers below, he spotted a Japanese Dam "with thoughts of the Dambusters in my mind, I decided to attack it and went over Japan after the others had gone. I did a dive bombing attack and put two bombs on either side of the dam, but I never knew if our bombs were big enough to break it".

With a two year gap in Clifford's service, due to be filled in by his service records, there is much more information to come.

Clifford's Omega 'Weems'

Throughout his service Clifford had this trusty Omega Weems on his wrist. This watch survived Kamakazi attacks and daring bombing raids, whilst also being in Japan at the time the world as we knew it changed, with the dropping of the Atomic bomb.