IT TOOK 6 MONTHS TO RESTORE TWO OF THESE
FRENCH (SWISS MADE) MILITARY LANCET
WRIST WATCHES ACQUIRED FROM VIETNAM.

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NEARLY READY TO WEAR
BEING
RESTORED & OVERHAULED

HERE ARE ALL THREE
VINTAGE
FRENCH LANCET
WATCHES

THE TOP LEFT IS THE THIRD
LANCET WE HAVE FOUND IN VIETNAM
CASE IS WORN & DIAL FADED
PROOF IT HAS LANGUISHED IN THE HUMID
JUNGLES OF VIETNAM FOR 60 TO 70 YEARS.
THE DIALS IS BUT A FAINT IMAGE
OF WHAT IT ONCE WAS
BUT WE WILL GET IT MINTY!

Paratroops of the Légion Étrangère

1st Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment was born on 1 July 1948 and embarked on the "Shepherd" October 24 at Mers El-Kebir and arrived in Indochina on November 12 in Haiphong.

Though the regiment was stationed throughout the Indochina War theater, the main battles will take place in Tonkin (northern Vietnam).

On the 17 and 18 of September 1950, the battalion jumped at That Khe to rescue French forces in Cao Bang (Battle of RC4) and was almost destroyed during the fighting taking place around Khe Dong [2] and was dissolved on December 31. It

Its losses included 21 officers, 46 NCOs and 420 legionaries whose commanding officer was the battalion commander Segrétain. Only a few survivors managed to reach the French lines, including the captain Jeanpierre, who would later, in Algeria, become the commanding officer of the 1st REP.

1st BEP was recreated 18 March 1951 from the remainder of the original battalion, along with reinforcements from the 2nd BEP and North Africa. The BEP then comprised 3 companies (CCB, 1st and 2nd Company) and Cipla (company Indochinese Foreign Legion paratrooper company-4e). A third company will be incorporated in November 1952.

On 1 September 1953 the 1st foreign company paratrooper heavy mortar (1st CEPML) was created from elements of the 1st and 2nd SEN. This unit was attached to the 1st BEP.

1st BEP was again annihilated on May 7, 1954 at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu: there were 316 killed at the end of fighting (not counting the prisoners who will not return from captivity).

(I will post a link to a web site you MUST READ about the atrocities of the Vietnamese against French Soldiers and civilians, including woman and children!) 

The 2nd REP remains the only foreign regiment of paratroopers.

The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (French: 1er Régiment Étranger de Parachutistes, 1er REP) was a Foreign Legion airborne unit of the French Army. It fought in the First Indochina War, Suez Crisis and Algerian War, but was disbanded after taking part in a putsch against the French government in 1961

 First Indochina War
*Battle of Route Coloniale 4
*Battle of Hoa Binh
*Operation Lorraine
*Battle of Na San
*Operation Castor
*Battle of Dien Bien Phu
Algerian War
Suez Crisis

Decorations
* Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures with 5 palms
* Cameróne 1863[1]
* Indochine 1949-1954
* AFN 1952-1962

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IT TOOK 6 ETA 900 MOVEMENTS AND 6 NOS BALANCE COMPLETE TO GATHER THE PARTS NECESSARY TO COMPLETE TWO LANCET ETA 900 MOVEMENTS AND SECURE PARTS IN THE EVENT WE REQUIRE THEM FOR WARRANTY WORK..

EACH LANCET WAS STRIPPED

LANCET L 49-8

BALANCE COMPLETE
HAS BALANCE STAFF AND HAIR SPRING

BRIDGE REMOVED
TO PULL WHEELS

STRIPPING IT DOWN

READY FOR TIMING

ETA 900 TOP

PLACED IN STEEL CASE

TOP END WITH SILICON THAT
WILL BE WIPED DOWN
FORMING A LIGHT SEAL
UNDER DIAL EDGES

STEEL CASE BACK

ASSEMBLED WATCH

WIRE LUG STEEL CASE NOW
IN EXCELLENT CONDITION

TRIPLE STEEL CASE

STEEL CROWN

POLISHED NICELY

NUMERALS AND HANDS RE-LUMED

RESTORED PERFECTLY
OUTLINED RAISED LUME NUMERALS
FRENCH COLORS
RED SUB-SECONDS REGISTER
RED PLANE
WITH
LANCET ABOVE IN RED
BLUE SECONDS SLASHES

ORIGINAL BLUED STEEL HANDS
WITH
RED TIPS
*
LUMED ENDS

***********************************

GENUINE CROCODILE OPEN END HAVANA STRAP
{HAVANA IS HE COLOR}

TURNED EDGE CROC

BAM
WHAT A LOOKER

THE HAVANA CROCODILE
WATCH STRAP FROM PARIS
WAS FAMOUS IN THE
1940 AND 1950'S



DUAL KEEPERS



IN THE NATURAL IT
IS PURELY NATURAL



I USED A PIC FROM ANOTHER WATCH
I PLACED A WIRE LUG STRAP ON TO SHOW
DETAILS. THESE STRAPS HAVE A STEEL
LOCK AND THEN THE GLUED EDGES

WITH THE FOLD OVER

THE BLUE COMES OFF

DUAL BUTTONS

********************************************************

During the First Indochina War (1946–54), the Legion saw its numbers swell due to the incorporation of Second World War veterans who couldn't adapt to civilian life. Even so, although the Legion distinguished itself, it also took a heavy toll during the war: constantly being deployed in operations, it even reached the point that whole units were annihilated in combat, in what was a traditional Legion battlefield. Units of the Legion were also involved in the defense of Dien Bien Phu and lost a large number of men in the battle.

The Battle of Route Coloniale 4 was a battle of the First Indochina War. The battle lasted from 30 September to 18 October 1950. The French won the first battle of the RC4 on 9 October 1947.

Route Coloniale 4 (RC4, also known as Highway 4) is a road in Vietnam, bordering the Chinese border from Hanoi to Cao Bang. It is famous for a French military disaster in 1950 in which several units of the French army, including some battalions of the Foreign Legion, were decimated by the Viet Minh and essentially ceased to exist as fighting units.

 During the French Indochina War (1945–1954), French forces attempted to re-establish colonial control of Vietnam, while nationalist forces led by Ho Chi Minh fought for independence.

Initially, the Vietnamese guerrilla forces, the Viet Minh, were unsuccessful in dealing with the better -trained and -equipped French forces. Their situation improved in 1949 after the Chinese Communist army of Mao Zedong defeated the Nationalist army led by Chiang Kai-Shek. This gave the communist Viet Minh a safe haven for organization and training, as well as an initially sympathetic ally to provide them with arms and logistical support.

Vo Nguyen Giap, the military leader of the Viet Minh, launched an offensive against the French in early 1950. From February to April, his operation Le Hong Phong I raged through the Red River Valley, largely giving the Viet Minh control of northwestern Tonkin, near the Chinese border. The area became a Viet Minh stronghold, except for the RC4 highway.

On 25 May, 2,500 Viet Minh troops overwhelmed the French fortress at Dong Khé, which lay at the strategic center of RC4, thus cutting the supply line between the French positions at Cao Bang and Lang Son. French parachutists retook Dong Khé on the evening of 27 May and a company of Legionnaires took charge of the fort.

On 25 May, 2,500 Viet Minh troops overwhelmed the French fortress at Dong Khé, which lay at the strategic center of RC4, thus cutting the supply line between the French positions at Cao Bang and Lang Son. French parachutists retook Dong Khé on the evening of 27 May and a company of Legionnaires took charge of the fort.

Flag of France

Standard of the Kingdom of France

Cross of Lorraine,symbol of Free French Forces.

Free French Forces Adrian helmet with the Cross of Lorraine replacing the 1939-1940 French Republic "RF" emblem.

Free French Naval ensign and French Naval Honour Jack.

The French flag with the Cross of Lorraine, emblem of the Free French.

France, along with the United Kingdom, was one of the first participants in World War II after declaring war on Germany following its invasion of Poland in 1939. After the Phoney War from 1939 to 1940, the Germans conducted a brilliant campaign in the Low Countries and, in the Battle of France, managed to inflict defeat on the Allied forces. France formally surrendered to Germany and Italy—who invaded in late campaign—on 25 June 1940, and a collaborationist government, the French State, was established. On 18 June 1940, as an answer to Pétain's own June 17 appeal to "cease the fight" and to obey him on the French national radio, Charles de Gaulle gave a memorable speech to the French people on the English speaking London emitting BBC Radio, telling them that "France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war" (the battle of France and World War II respectively). De Gaulle did not recognize the legitimacy of the Vichy government and went on to found the Free France (La France Libre) as the true government of France.

The number of Free French troops grew with Allied success in North Africa and subsequent rallying of the Army of Africa which pursued the fight against the Axis fighting in many campaigns and eventually invading Italy, occupied France and Germany from 1944 to 1945. On 23 October 1944, Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union officially recognized de Gaulle's regime as the provisional government of France (GPRF) which replaced the in-exile French State (relocated at Sigmarigen, a short-living City State in western Germany) and preceded the Fourth Republic (1946).

Recruitment in liberated France led to notable enlargements of the French armies. By the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, France had 1,250,000 troops, 10 divisions of which were fighting in Germany. An expeditionary corps was created to liberate French Indochina then occupied by the Japanese. During the course of the war, French military losses totaled 212,000 dead, of which 92,000 were killed through the end of the campaign of 1940, 58,000 from 1940 to 1945 in other campaigns, 24,000 lost while serving in the French resistance, and a further 38,000 lost while serving with the German Army.

e Free French forces were drawn mostly from the French colonial empire, rather than from metropolitan France. French nationals from the tropical African colonies formed a large part of the forces at the beginning, as were nationals from French Algeria. Later, many combatants were drawn from the native populations of French colonies. Sixty-five percent were conscripts from French West Africa, primarily Senegal. Other contingents were natives of Morocco, Algeria, and Tahiti (the Tahitians served with particular distinction in the western Sahara). The Free French forces also included units of the Foreign Legion

Cross of Lorraine

Capitaine de corvette Thierry d'Argenlieu suggested the adoption of the Cross of Lorraine as a symbol of the Free French, both to recall the perseverance of Joan of Arc, whose symbol it had been, and as an answer to the Nazi swastika. In his general order ? 2 of 3 July 1940, Vice Admiral Émile Muselier, two days after assuming the post of chief of the naval and air forces of the Free French, created the bow flag displaying the French colors with a red cross of Lorraine, and a cockade, which also featured the cross of Lorraine