Oyster Watch Co., Junior Sport, ref. 3136, a stainless steel wrist watch, no. 164954, circa 1942, manual wind movement, 15 jewels, champagne dial, Arabic numerals, luminous pointed baton hands, centre seconds hand, screw down case back, engraved Capt. A. Blanchard, R. Signals, screw down crown, on an unsigned brown leather strap, case back, dial and crown signed, diameter 30mm The Oyster Watch Co. was, like Tudor, one of Rolex's subsidiary brands. The reference 3136 was powered by a FHF30 movement, later renamed Rolex calibre 59. These 30mm watches were a popular private purchase either by or for Allied servicemen in WWII. The recipient of this watch, Captain Alfred Ernest Blanchard - Royal Corp of Signals, a soldier from Grimsby, was captured in Malaya on 15/02/1942 and died in Thailand on 22/09/1943, age 39 as a prisoner-of-war building the Burma Railway.
