NAWCC
day was bittersweet for Hoel, knowing that the real heroes were the
ones who paid the ultimate price for their country.
Watch info: WWII, circa 1940s, chronograph wristwatch. Case
is stainless steel with spring lugs, manual winding two-button chronograph. Round metal dial with luminous (radium) Arabic numerals
and hands with center sweep seconds hand. Outer rim has a black
“TELEMETER” scale graduated 2 miles to 12 miles, for calculating
the speed of sound in miles per hour. In the center is a red spiral
or “Snail Tachometer Scale” first patented in 1917 by Amez-Droz
(patent number 39276), graduated from 600 mph to 60 mph, for
calculating miles per hour over a fixed mile. Two chronograph
dials: one at 3 o’clock to register up to 45 minutes and a “running
seconds” dial at 9. Incorporating an in-house Caliber 42 movement
manufactured by Excelsior Park, Gallet’s sister company, it has a
“crown wheel” design, 14 lignes, 18,000 BPH, and 17 jewels.
Warren H. Greenawalt Jr., following in the footsteps of his
father, enlisted in the Navy in May 1943. He was trained at the
Navy Training Station in Sampson, NY, and went on to aviation
machinist school.
Some months later, Greenawalt found himself stationed on
Tinian, a small Pacific Island, as a “Plane Captain” of a JRB-4 twin
engine Beechcraft. His duties consisted of maintaining and piloting
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the craft, and he frequently flew the plane to the island of Guam for
meetings with Admiral Nimitz.
On one such trip Greenawalt and his crew brought over some
crates of tomatoes to share with the men of the aircraft carrier Boxer.
In return for the tomatoes, Greenawalt received the Charles Nicolet
Tramelan on display.
Some of Greenawalt’s more memorable war experiences
include witnessing the Indianapolis deliver the atomic bomb and
seeing the crew of the Enola Gay cloistered from contact behind
fences to avoid letting slip any information about the dropping of
the atomic bomb.
Watch info: WWII, circa 1940s chronograph wristwatch. Case
is stainless steel with spring lugs, manual winding two-button chronograph. Round metal dial with Arabic numerals and original blue
steeled hands with center sweep seconds hand. Outer rim of dial has
a “TACHOMETER” or “TACHYMETER” scale in blue graduated
from 1,000 mph to 60 mph, for calculating miles per hour over a
fixed mile. There is also a “TELEMETER” in black, graduated
from 2 miles to 20 miles for calculating distance of sound in miles
per hour. Two chronograph dials: one at 3 o’clock to register up to
45 minutes and a “running seconds” dial at 9 o’clock. The CharlesNicolet–Tramelan chronograph incorporates a Landeron Caliber