(I think I’d blogged this long ago, but apparently not; its recent resurfacing at MeFi reminds me to do it now.)

During World War II, Rolex extended a fairly amazing offer: British officers detained in German camps could order timepieces on credit, so Clive Nutting ordered one in March of 1943. Nutting was at Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany, which is now part of Poland, and — more importantly — was one of the organizers of the Great Escape. Owing to a backlog of orders by other British officers also in German hands, Rolex was unable to fill the order until June, but they acknowledged the order with a letter dated 30 March stating “This watch costs to-day in Switzerland FRs. 250,– but you must not even think of settlement during the war.”

In other words, don’t pay us ’til you get home. How cool is that? (Also, consider a world where POWs could get mail, order watches, etc.)

Nutting got the watch that summer, along with an invoice with a zero balance, and almost certainly used it for timing purposes as they planned the escape. Nutting kept the watch until his death, n 2001, at 90.

Scans of the correspondence with Rolex as well as pictures of the (restored) watch are available at TimeZone, long the best watchgeek site online.