Fratello On Air: Opportunities For The Watch Industry

Congratulations on the 13322 Mike! I actually also put a bid in for that lot, wild to listen today and hear who won it. Also loving the sidenote that there might be a dedicated article on the watch later.

As you can tell from my user name, the 30t2 is my jam, and I’m actually particularly fond of the UK market 13322s from Dennison, love the case shape, proportions, everything.

Some unsollicited information because I’m excited to see other people excited about the 13322: the steel and 9ct gold versions are very common in the UK, and have hereto been very affordable (that might change now that you’re shining the light into this corner!), I think also partially due to the unmodern case size of 33mm. But they wear beautifully! Silver wristwatches are super rare, and the 13322 is the only one I really have ever seen/heard about. Every other silver watch I’ve seen have been pocket watches. I’ve only seen one other Silver 13322 go up for sale online in the last 12 months – went for a similar price which I won’t disclose here. The steel 13322s in my experience are often in good shape, the 9ct golds are more of a mixed bag with polishing and elongated/worn lug holes being a common problem.

To my understanding it’s true that Dennison put other brands’ movements, into the 13322, the Longines movement that was used needed a spacer to fit whereas the 30t2 fits the case exactly.

The 30t2 was made in central and small second versions, and Dennison used both versions with the 13322. Since the central seconds version has an additional bridge to bring the seconds hand onto the central axis it’s thicker, and so Dennison used two different casebacks – a flat one and a more bulbous one. Both casebacks have the same 13322 reference on the inside though, and Dennison doesn’t seem to have used any additional index or anything to differentiate the two.

The steel 13322 with the more bulbous caseback can often be found housing the movement/dial/hands from the RAF CK2292 (blued spade hands, railroad track), which is an absolute stunner. The original CK2292s were housed in a “monkey metal” case with long lugs which you also see for sale sometimes, but the quality was very poor. I’m still not sure if all of the 13322s with this dial are recases or army surplus or if Dennison saw the design and just ordered a bunch more with the same design as those requested by the RAF, but I’d say the ratio of RAF dials in 13322s vs in official HS^8 cases is somewhere in 3:1 territory at auctions.

Speaking of the RAF, your movement is nickel plated which was done during the war because copper was a strategic resource. During most of its run the 30t2 plus its descendants were made with a beautiful rose gold toned copper plating which I personally generally prefer, though the silvery nickel plating in a silver case in this case is so fitting it might be an exception to my preference! Definitely a good confirmation of age too since the nickel versions were only made during the war.