Original 1965 Vietnam War 16mm Nylon Webbing Watch Strap – Very Rare in Unused/Unissued Condition

SKU: NAM/STR/ORIG

These straps were made in 1965 are the original U.S military issue Vietnam War strap used on all of the watches issued at that time. They are now very rare but were used on the watches in the final two images and all other Vietnam era watches such as Benrus, Westclox, Hamilton, Bulova etc.

We were surprised when we came across these original straps at a U.S military auction, the bidding was extremely fierce but fortunately, we managed to secure them. Where they had been for 57 years is hard to say but all were in the original boxes and sealed packaging. These straps are very important because whilst there is quite a lot of genuine Vietnam era watches available the straps are very difficult to find which is quite annoying to many collectors because whilst they can find an original watch they cannot find the correct 16mm strap. We only have a limited quantity because we attended a subsequent auction but the bidding was such that the prices were just not realistic.

The watches which used this strap were made by various companies as mentioned above and often carry the markings  “U. S. Wrist Watch (Non-Maintainable). Fed. Stock No. 6 Mfg Part No. 11K1185Q Cont. No. N150-7821 Date: Oct 1965”. The movement is frequently marked 7 Seven Jewels, and Model 11K1F, others such as the Benrus variants say DTU-2A/P MIL-W-3818B, The DTU-2A/P, was produced from around 1965 until 1969 and was the first watch of the MIL-W-3818B specification, all these had a 17 jewel, hacking movement, a 36-hour power reserve, and accuracy of +/- 30 seconds per day. The 7 jewel plastic watches in the second to last image were deemed disposable the 17 jewel watches in the final image were a step up and were fully maintainable hence these are fairly easy to find at Militaria sales/auctions or online and this is the correct strap for both the early plastic versions that were widely issued during the Vietnam war and also these later Vietnam watches.