The British armed forces were slow to embrace change, and consequently, when war loomed once more in 1939, the War Department was caught ill-prepared. Pocket watches were hurriedly purchased by the procurement office from numerous Swiss makers and from commercial retailers, in anticipation of the shortages that were likely to follow. Most of these pocket watches were regarded as “General Service” timepieces and classified as “Temporary Pattern”. While more appropriate watches were not yet available to the Army in sufficient numbers these “GSTP” pocket watches had to suffice, becoming the workhorses of the Army’s horological instruments. “General Service” watches were exactly that. They fulfilled the role of the contemporary timekeeper for routine duties such as those perfomed, for example, by radio operators and drivers. Each Swiss-produced GSTP watch had a 15 jewel movement, luminous black or white dial and subsidiary seconds dial. Cases were normally provided with snap backs, although some do have screw backs. This particular Leonidas pocket watch is a typical example of the standard British Army GSTP.
