WWll German Pilot Watch. Rare 1000 Made

  • 4100.00 £
  • Published date: February 24, 2024
    • Bures, Suffolk, United Kingdom

WWll German Pilot Watch. Rare 1000 Made


⭕ Rare and most collectable of the famed WWll GermanB-Uhrs, the IWC version. These watches are commonly known asB-Uhrs short for Beobachtungsuhr or observers watch. Correct translation would be Navigators watch& were used by the navigator to perform navigational calculations. These IWC watches have the highest quality movement ever. Fitted in a B-Uhrs wristwatch, it is a calibre 52t marine chronometer quality, with a cut Guillaume balance equipped with heavy gold adjusting screws. It has 16 jewels, most of them in chatons and the seconds hand is direct driven. The balance spring has a breguet terminal curve and the balance cock is fitted with a swans neck micrometer regulator. It has a hacking system operated by the winding crown when pulled to the hand setting position a small spring pushes against the 4th wheel and stops balance. Only 1000 of these watches were made & shipped to IWCs Berlin agent, Siegfried Heindorf, in 1940. Knowing that the heaviest Luftwaffe bomber losses were during the second half of 1940 (Battle of Britain), it seems reasonable to assume that not many survived. The case is unlike all other B-Uhrs watches, its made from stainless steel with a separate antimagnetic movement cover. It has the specification number FL23883 engraved on the case side opposite the winding crown. And inside the case back the full history is also engraved, this shows the maker, IWC, the specification number FL23XXX & the movement number 1014XXX. The dial is unique style to IWC with a large triangle & 2 dots at 12 & the remainder of the hours as large luminous Arabic numerals, however, unlike all other makers, the 6 & 9 are open. The blued steel hands, including the sweep seconds, have heavy luminous radium paint. These watches were not issued in the same way as in the Allied forces, rather a bomber navigator would be supplied with one prior to a raid & it would be returned to the stores after the mission was debriefed. Diameter 55mm; lug to lug 66mm; height 17 mm

Phone number ✆ 01394 508121
Bures, Suffolk

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