Early Alpina Watch

Alpina  
Silver 800  
ca. 1915  WW1  
Manual wind  
Movement cal. AS 625 base  
15 jewels   
Swiss made   
± 32.3 x 32.3 mm

Most early trench watches date from the First World War. Soldiers began soldering wires onto pocket watches, allowing them to be worn on the wrist and making the watches much more accessible. This didn’t go unnoticed by the watch industry, and soon trench watches came into production, but also for the ladies. They got nicknamed wristlets, which might have made them sound a bit feminine to some insecure gentlemen, who almost fearfully continued to use their rather old-fashioned pocket watch for fear of being doomed less manly. Nowadays this is definitely not an issue as most trench watches are considered military, often worn by officers. 
This is a good size handsome, 800 silver cushion shape gentleman’s watch. The crown is an onion shape, as is common on trench watches. The manual wind Swiss caliber AS 625 base movement stems from the huge Swiss ebauche watch factory A. Schild.
A. Schild manufactured heaps of movements for a large number of watch brands. They produced good quality, reliable, durable movements. The dial looks amazing, with a red 12 o’clock for easy orientation. The numerals are clearly Art Nouveau influenced especially the 8 stands out. The watch hands are blued steel, yet in this case they have a purple hue, this result was achieved by controlled heating. When the steel is exposed to heat, it oxidizes and changes color depending on the temperature applied.
There is evidence that arm-watches/wristlets/trench watches were invented much, much earlier, but the popularity sparked during WWI, driven by necessity and ease of use. Each watch begins again with a blank page, for you to fill in…