As at the moment there is debatable BOAC Mk. 11 offered on the internet, it might be the time to give some hints how to avoid bad investments (all original BOAC are really expensive)
BOAC dials have no Broad Arrow. For sure a "white 12" dial without the Broad Arrow is correct. We lack documents whether BOAC (as the RAF did) during service took the "white 12" dials off und replaced them by dials with the well known design without the 12 given as figure and instead a triangle at the 12 o'clock position. The same applies to the hands.
BOAC movements have no Broad Arrow on the movement.
There are two different markings on the back of BOACs known. One says BOAC Property followed by the movement No. originally mounted in this watch. Maybe as with RAF Mk. 11 the movement originally mounted during service was swapped into another watch. But the movement should come from a range known to be BOAC (and there are not that many movements originally sold to BOAC). The other marking scheme known is BOAC CS 131/83/xxx (xxx standing for a two or three digit ID-number). These appear to be older than those marked BOAC Property followed by the movement No. So normally they have movements with movement Nos. below 1,400,000. With these as well the movement should show a movement No. from ranges known to be BOAC.
The case shouldn't be polished, but satin-finish and the edges of the case should be sharp and not round after having been polished several times.
When hunting a BOAC one should keep these features in mind, otherwise one could end up with a watch paid for more than it is worth.
Regards
Thomas Koenig
