In reply to Wayne, He sounds by FifthAvenueRes…
[quote=FifthAvenueRestorations]
Wayne,
He sounds cornfused.
The 3818A was introduced in 1956 replacing the Type A-17A.
Bulova 3818A
http://www.mybulova.com/watches/1960-military-issue-2282
The first A-17A is dated to around 1948. http://www.mwrforum.net/forums/showthread.php?t=11308 according to Military spec data.
"After 1948, maybe 1949 (That's when Military Specifications [MIL-W-XXX] started to come out, replacing service specific specifications) but before 1952."
1948 - 1956 would place Bulova's Dog, the 'Type A-17A', in the midst of the Korean War conflict http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/TimeLine.htm which incidentally seemed like a continuation of WWII to Me.
[/quote]
Not so.
The 3818A was a General Purpose timepiece used by Ground Crew. It had 15 jewels as opposed to the 17 jewels in the A17-A, was dustproof but not waterproof like the A17-A.
The A17-A was for flight crew, and used for Navigational purposes, hence the case back nomenclature.
Made and distributed concurrently with the 3818A, that is why we see so many A17-A watches with movements post-dating 1956.
Movements would only be changed if they were totally junked, the Forces repairers had plenty of spares to do the job with, we have seen many such packets containing parts posted onsite and elsewhere. Below are a few, proving that the 10AK ORD watch was being repaired into the early 1950's and beyond. This shows movements were repaired, not just junked willy-nilly, and so the 10BNCH would also be repaired.
Also, the 3818A should actually be called the DTU-2/P, as the other name used is actually the specification number from "MIL-W-3818A". Milwatch collectors know them by the DTU-2/P name.
After all, we don't call the A17-A the "6433-A" from it's spec no. MIL-W-6433-A, do we? :-D
The quote used from the MWR forum is also a little out, as the milspecs quoted were released in December of 1948, were relating to the A17, which only Waltham made.
The revised specs were for the A17-A, for which a stock number was used. Stock numbers were used from 1952-on, giving us an earliest possible date.