The Breitling Watch Source Forums

This post viewtopic.php?f=3&t=56172 reminded me that I still had to do this as well

The watch pictured used to belong to the young man, John, standing proudly in front of his plane.

John was eager to to serve in WWII and enlisted at the age of 17 with his parents permission . He served with the 8Th Air force , 392nd bomb group as a flight engineer and after flying many missions over Germany he participated in the 'D-Day' invasion. He named his crew's plane 'My Prayer' and this plane survived and made it back home to the USA after the war.

John passed away in 2002 age 78

http://www.8thafhs.org/bomber/392bg.htm

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"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

thanks for posting this, Renè. great provenance - and a nice way of honoring one of the men that helped to save this world from the abyss.

I love the pieces with some military provenance. I've had a few of them and have even reunited three to remaining family members. I had a gold Universal Geneve that was owned by a Lt Commander in the USN that was on the submarine that picked up George Bush (the first President Bush) from the Pacific after he was shot down in WWII. All the remaining members of the submarine crew were invited to Bush's inauguration and Bush was a personal friend. I found the son of the watches original owner in Atlanta and
returned the watch to him. Needless to say he was thrilled and had no idea how it got away from the family.

Also bought a three register Girard-Perragaux chronograph from a seller in Italy that was engraved on the back to a WWII RCAF pilot in 1942. I tracked his family down in Montreal, Canada and arranged to get the watch back to them. It was sort of ironic that the original owners home in Montreal is now the Italian Consulate.

I picked up a small, gold plated, Pierce watch circa 1940's that was also engraved on the back and found the original owners wife and returned that one to his son. The original owner was a USN Hellcat carrier pilot in WWII and was on the first carrier attack on the Japanese homeland. I even found a copy of his Navy Squadron book which was evidently as rare as the watch and sent that to the son also.

Most of the engraved watches I come across I at least try to find the original families and some have had absolutely no interest in the watches. Go figure. Most will discount engraved watches as not being pristeen or original but I have always been attracted to the pieces with a little history to them and that look like it too.

I'm very impressed with your story and your sentimentality. Well done.

great posts!! perhaps others will chime in with some cool provenance anecdotes...

Great story Rene and a great connection to one of the greatest generation.

FYI - Your picture shows John(?) standing next to a C-47.

B-24, 42-51194, CI*W, "MY PRAYER", 392nd Bomb Group, 576th Bomb Squadron

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Breitling Navitimer: Black Dial
OMEGA Speedmaster Professional
Steinhart Nav.B-Chrono II
Elgin-Hamilton 37500 (Aircraft Clock)

Great pic, do you mind if I 'steal' it from you ?

Yes, John was his real name , I left out his last name for privacy reasons

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"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

The pic came from here, http://www.b24.net/aircraft/disposit.htm (Do a search (Ctrl F) for 42-51194 or My Prayer)

_________________
Breitling Navitimer: Black Dial
OMEGA Speedmaster Professional
Steinhart Nav.B-Chrono II
Elgin-Hamilton 37500 (Aircraft Clock)

Brilliant work chaps take a bow