19 set Bakelite watch holder advice

[David Dunlop]

The Mk II 19-Set was likely in full service at the peak of use for the military issue pocket watch. Ron's postings are an excellent example of the pocket watch working at its best with the Mk II set.

If you look at the Power Plug directly above the watch holder in Ron's Carrier configuration, you can see the short 'dogbone' power socket connector runs straight up and down. To release it from the radio, the spring clip on the wireless set plug is pulled down, meaning the two ends of the spring clip are oriented horizontally into the sides of the plug assembly.

If this set was in standard configuration, with the PSU sitting to the immediate left of the wireless set, the dogbone would also be horizontal in position. in this position, to lock the wireless end of the dogbone in place, the spring clip must be relocated such that its two ends have to engage the sides of the power plug on the wireless set vertically and when released, the clip swings to the right, up against the handle assembly for the wirelsss.

However, in that position, the wire spring clip on the lower part of the power plug sticks out enough that when a pocket watch is in the holder, the stem ball winder and lanyard ring interfere with any movement of the spring clip. This caused more than its share of broken watch holders and enough wireless operator frustration that the problem was duly noted in the Wireless Set No. 19 Mk III having the watch holder relocated to the centre front of the new PSU. I suspect the designers realized this would be a bit of an issue in a handful of installations, but were also aware of the decline in use of the pocket watch, so the trade off was acceptable.

Thanks for posting those pictures, Ron.


David