WEMPE RLM B-Uhr Flieger Pilot WWII Watch .This watch was professionally fully serviced before being offered. Five manufacturers – four German and one Swiss – supplied the B-Uhren. In Germany, A. Lange & Söhne, Wempe, Lacher & Company/Durowe (Laco), and Walter Storz (Stowa) produced the watch. Wempe settled on the Thommen cal. 31, no. 1509 movement with fine regulation. Vinatge case in used condition -marking inside the cover in the back : B-Uhr / Bauart Thommen / Gerate-Nr 127-560 A1 / Werk-Nr BLT. 1509 / Anforderz FI23883 / Hersteller Wempe Hamburg Dial in vinatge condition / the hands was relumed Case diameter: , without crown 55mm, and thickness 15 mm Hands was filled with luminol Beautiful high quality leather strap was specifically made for this watch Watch travel box Shipping insured Look at the pics,that told more than 1000 words Will be send registered and insured Please look at my other watches too. The History of the Pilot Watch: "There are some watch designs that not only stand the test of time, but in the case of war, also transcend their original context to become a classic. Such a watch, the B-Uhr, the offspring of Germany and Switzerland’s leading watchmakers, has a noted history of design and production, but was employed for an infamous cause. The B-Uhren watches guided German bombers in their terrible campaigns of World War II with dropped bombs whistling through air to end in devastating consequence. The B-Uhr remains a formidable watch. In 1935, Adolf Hitler announced his plans to reconstitute Germany’s Air Force and officially created the Luftwaffe. Germany had been building its aviation forces, decidedly military in purpose and in violation of WWI’s Versailles Treaty, but this buildup had proceeded ostensibly for civilian purposes. With his power consolidated, Hitler shrugged off all pretense and announced Germany’s resumption of military procurement. Prior to 1935, the Heinkel He 111 bomber supposedly existed as a transport plane just as the National Socialist Party supposedly sought to establish peace and prosperity. Though few (including watchmakers) knew it at the time, Germany was preparing for war. Schematic-WFThe RLM (Reichs-Luftfahrtministerium), responsible for aircraft development, also sought a commensurate time piece for its bomber navigators. The 1935 conceptual designs first specified an hour angle indication like the Lindbergh watch (see here), but this specification was dropped, and standard criteria emerged, making the B-Uhr instantly recognizable. These watches were big. 55mm big. The size accommodated large hand-wound movements typically used in pocket watches, but the B-Uhr was always to be a watch for the wrist. Each one used a Breguet balance spring. Inside, the movement was surrounded by an iron core, making the B-Uhr anti-magnetic – a must for aviation. To correct for time discrepancies, the movements were capable of stopping the central seconds hand by pulling the crown, or hacking, and the oversized diamond or onion crown could be operated with gloves on the hand. A very long, double-riveted leather strap, long enough to go over the leather flight jacket, held the B-Uhr in place. The large size made them unambiguously legible and their black dials with white Arabic numerals further aided the task of precise reading. The flame-blued sword hands were covered in luminous material as was the distinguishing upwards-orientation triangle or arrow at the twelve o’clock position, accompanied by two dots on the Type A models. The initial Type A model had only an outer chapter ring, but the later type B (starting in 1941) had an outer ring for minutes/seconds and an inner ring for hours. Each case had FL23883 engraved on the left side. FL designated flieger, and 23 identified the watch as a navigation watch. The snap-off case back had the following identifying information on its inside: type (Bauart), production number (Gerät-Nr.), movement (Werk-Bez.), order number (Anforderz), and manufacturer (Hersteller). The RLM and its partner watch manufacturers produced a novel design, which would attain cult status. Vintage Laco B-uhr Vintage Laco B-Uhr Type B (watchuseek) B-Uhren is an abbreviation for Beobachtungs-uhren, literally Observation watches. B-Uhr is singular, and B-Uhren is plural. The B-Uhren were property of the Luftwaffe, not the navigators. The navigator was issued his watch before flight, and then returned the watch after completing the mission. Navigators received a signal beep from the airbase, which in turn set its chronometer to the standard time of the German Naval Observatory (Deutsche Seewarte), and if the navigator’s time was off, the hacking mechanism allowed for adjustment. An accurate watch was necessary for navigation, so all the B-Uhren watches were regulated and tested to the highest chronometer standards of the Deutsche Seewarte in Hamburg. Bomber navigators peered over the navigation table, their B-Uhren at the ready, and plotted course, copied astronomical fixes and noted events on the map. The B-Uhr was a consummate navigational aid. Stowa caseback Inside of Vintage B-Uhr case back made by Lacher & Co. (source: watchuseek) Five manufacturers – four German and one Swiss – supplied the B-Uhren. In Germany, A. Lange & Söhne, Wempe, Lacher & Company/Durowe (Laco), and Walter Storz (Stowa) produced the watch. Wempe and Stowa used Swiss movements; Wempe settled on the Thommen cal. 31, and Stowa used the Unitas cal. 2812. Lange used its big cal. 48 and then its cal. 48.1, and Laco used its (Durowe) cal. 5 – the only two companies to use in-house German movements. When Wempe purchased the Chronometerwerk in Hamburg in 1938, it gained a significant increase in production capacity, and to assist the limited production faced by Lange and Laco, Wempe assembled watches for them. To meet demand, Lange also sent ébauches and cases to a variety of other manufacturers for assembly and regulation. In smaller numbers, the Swiss International Watch Company IWC who supplied watches to both Axis and Allied forces, manufactured the B-Uhr (cal. 52T S.C.) for the Luftwaffe. These five companies were the only ones to make the B-Uhr.