Ladies & Gentleman
I would very much like to introduce myself to you all and share with you a new find which I am sure you will appreciate.
My name is Christopher Herbert and I am based in London, England. I am an avid and relatively seasoned collector of vintage military watches and clocks and other special and rare collectibles primarily originating from the Second World War onwards.
I caught the bug for collecting military watches sometime ago and my addiction has steadily increased throughout the years.
The watch I would like to share with you all is a very rare and all original IWC B-Uhr WW2 Luftwaffe Observers Wristwatch c.1940.
Historical Background
In 1935, with the storm clouds of war gathering over Europe, Adolf Hitler announced his plans to reconstitute Germany’s Air Force and officially created the Luftwaffe.
The German Air Ministry (Reichs-Luftfahrtministerium), who were responsible for aircraft production, began to design a suitable timepiece for its bomber navigators. Pilots required extremely accurate watches for navigational purposes. The watches needed to be precise, robust and easily read. This lead to the iconic B-Uhr design being conceived.
These watches were very large in size (55mm) and were made to a standard specification. The movements were uniformly cased in a grey varnished, brass or steel housing with a snap on back cover. The dial faces were black with large luminous Arabic numerals and minute and second indicators. The hands were coated with radium so the watch would glow in the dark. The outer casing had FL23883 engraved on the left hand side. FL designated flieger, and 23 identified the watch as a navigation watch.
There were five manufacturers who supplied the B-Uhren. The four German makers were A.Lange & Sohne, Wempe, Laco and Stowa The fifth maker was the Swiss International Watch Company (IWC), who supplied watches to both Axis and Allied forces throughout the war.
These watches were not actually issued personally to aircrew in the usual sense. Instead one was supplied to the navigator of the bomber crew before every mission or raid. It would then be returned to the stores following their return.
The IWC B-Uhr is considered to be the rarest and most highly prized of all the B-Uhren. IWC only produced 1,000 of these watches, which were shipped to IWC’s Berlin agent, Siegfried Heindorf, in 1940. Due to the heavy losses sustained by the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, it is assumed that very few survived the war.
Remarkably, the watch was examined by IWC themselves at their Museum in Schaffhausen in 2012. They certified the watch as being completely genuine and correct and awarded it with a Certificate of Authenticity.
I very much hope you enjoy my post and I would love to hear all your thoughts and comments in regard to this grand old lady.
Best regards,
Christopher Herbert
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