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Circa 1942/3
Sold
10 inches (25.5cm) diameter
An extremely rare Second World War US Air Force Sector clock. CASE Black Bakelite circular case, the bezel with Bakelite hinge on the left side and milled Bakelite securing knob to the right, metal back DIAL Paper dial with red, blue & yellow five-minute and quarter sectors, 12 and 24-hour chapters in circles, black painted hands, signed MADE BY SETH THOMAS IN U.S.A. at the base MOVEMENT Simple going barrel movement with platform lever escapement U.S. Army Air Force Sector Clocks The USAAF IXth Air Force operated jointly with the RAF’s 2nd Tactical Air Force in the Allied Expeditionary force from D-Day onwards, and they too used the sector method of plotting aircraft movements. The American sector clock is based on the same model as the US Navy bulkhead (ship’s) clock made by Seth Thomas, but their dials have the five minute coloured segments of an RAF clock. They are smaller than the RAF examples, just 10 inches in diameter and 3 inches deep, with Bakelite cases. The hinges bezel has a milled Bakelite knob to the right side that screws down into a slot in the flange of the lower case. THE USE OF THE CLOCK The USAAF sector clocks were used in tracking the movements of enemy aircraft form the information gathered from observers in the field and from mobile radars. The clock looks very different from the RAF examples but it has the same sequence of colours (red, yellow, blue) and is used in the 5-minute segments for each quarter of an hour. The Allied expeditionary Air Force was a vital supporting mobile unit operating from close behind the front line as it moved across Europe. Its HQ’s operated from tents and the clocks were transported in oak boxes. Because these sector clocks were based on the U.S. Navy bulkhead clock they were moderately waterproof, which was essential in a tent-bound existence in the field in a European winter!