The Lost Watch of D-Day it is called; the watch Tom Rice lost during his heroic jump on 6 June 1944 during Operation Overlord. You can now buy a stylish remake of this watch. And the price will surprise you....
Vintage-inspired watches are hot. So are models inspired by the famous mil-spec A-11. As the name suggests, these are watches developed for the military. After all, knowing exactly what time it is is quite essential for a soldier. During World War II, the US Army therefore equipped its forces with a reliable timepiece, featuring a black dial with white indexes to promote legibility in difficult conditions.
To that end, the US military entered into contracts with several manufacturers, such as Elgin, Bulova and Waltham, but Tom Rice wore a US Navy Spec 88-W-800 built by Hamilton during his D-Day jump. This spec had as an additional requirement a radium luminous dial for optimum legibility at night and also had a slightly different dial design than the standard A-11s.
Netherlands
By the way, Platoon Sergeant Tom Rice (101st Airborne Division) is a more or less well-known name in the Netherlands. The US veteran jumped over the Netherlands on 17 September 1944 for the Allied liberation operation Market Garden. However, he gained national fame during the 75th anniversary of this operation in 2019, when Rice made the same parachute jump again... at the age of 98! The same year, he also repeated his historic jump over France, part of Operation Overlord. Tom Rice died in November 2022, at the age of 101.
Lost
What remains are the memories. Including that of his watch, The Lost Watch of D-Day. He lost that watch while jumping from his Douglas C-47 Skytrain, which was hit by German AA guns just before the jump. In the chaos, Rice manages to work his way out of the C-47 and manages to detach himself from the plane and open his parachute. He landed safely, regrouped and successfully joined the fight at 'Hell's Corner'. Rice eventually comes out unscathed, but without his A-11 watch.
Icon
75 years later, the watch brand Praesidus born. 'Assembled in the USA with imported parts', as the back of the watch makes clear. They got wind of the story of Tom Rice and his lost watch and decided to make this 'Lost Watch' an icon for those who want to commemorate D-Day, and the bravery of those who jumped that night.
And now
A successful mission, as far as we are concerned. Although slightly larger than the original (you can choose between ø 38 or 42mm), the looks of this watch are identical in every detail to the one Tom Rice lost on that particular day. The same goes for the army-green canvas strap. The main changes are mostly improvements. The perfectly curved glass is now made of scratch-resistant sapphire, the sand-blasted case is now water-resistant (up to 5 atm), unlike back then, and inside it ticks a modern, sturdy and very precise automatic movement of Seiko (NH35).
A watch that is also extremely comfortable to wear and is easy to read even in the dark thanks to the luminous hands and indexes.
Price
In short, a stylish homage to the tens of thousands of watches that were produced and worn during a dark period in our history. WITHOUT brand name on the dial, as it should be (and which regularly elicits questions from people who see the watch). And all for sale... for just $349.
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