VIRTUAL POCKET WATCH MUSEUM DAY 40, cal 67 KM

This post dedicated to my good friend, sailor and skipper - Gerard Kopatz and
to the memory of his father, a watchmaker at one time in the past.

Above and beyond most other series of watches, the Military timepieces made by
IWC have undergone much research and there are a number of true experts in
this field, who have both magnificent collections of the individual pieces (be
it pocket watch or wrist watch) and in addition amonst them a mass of
knowledge and details on these pieces.

As an overriding rule of thumb, I do not collect these military pieces, but as
Tonny writes, quote: " _I like these watches for my collection, not for the
use
they had or the symbols, but for what they are ; a piece of the history in
watchmaking and the technical skills to make a watch like that. " _

For this IWC historical legacy reason then too, I have recently decided that I
should make some place in my collection too for one or two of these pieces.

A detailed short synopsis of the history of these KM watches originally
written by J. King 24.04.01 was
translated by our good friend Jimmy and
posted here before. Below, a copy of that translation.

The Watch

Having decided that I needed to add these historic pieces to my collection,
the hunt was on to find and secure a KM. Previoulsy in the past, I had turned
down offers of owning these, and for sure if I was going to own one, it needed
to be a piece which had been de-nazified. In addition and certainly due to
some lively discussion with some of my collector friends over U-Boat Steel ,
for me it would also need to be one of the rarer full lume dialed watches, as
is Tonnys.

Fortunately, I was able to secure exactly such an example.

The watch unlike Tonny's still bears the KM mark on the dial.

The case back has had the offending national socialism stamps removed - yet
retained the type marker.

The movement is in relativly good condition, and is currently undergoing
service.

It came with a COA - Certificate of Authenticity which states that the watch
was delieverd on the 21st December 1943. Below, obviously edited to protect
the innocent.

I respect the opinion of Tonny and Mark and they cover the ethical aspects of
collecting military watches.

What I admire in these timepieces is limited to the horological properties. In
most cases they represented the top quality of what watch manufacturers could
offer. If they failed the lives of many were endangered.

The cal. 67 did play a role in the German Navy during WW II and were selected
because of their quality. Also after WW II, the deck watches played an
important role in the The "Bundes Marine". Ships had been modernised and
clocks on bord were electric. Except one! There was a master watch on bord in
case the electric power was shut down or jammed. It was kept in a wooden
container in a special room. Only the officer of duty was authorised to touch
the watch. It was a mechanical pocket watch and it was the task of the officer
of duty to wind it once per 24 hours, always at the same hour. A log book was
kept. And yes it was an IWC , cal
67.Regarding
its condition complete with wooden container, hang tag and original box, I
think that this one was ordered but never issued for service on board. On the
back of the watch and the wooden container the so called Nato Stock number or
'Versorgungsnummer' is applied. Among us is an IWC collector who served in the
Bundes Marine and experienced that the procedure of handling the master watch
was as described.

Regards,

Adrian,

(alwaysiwc)

Tonny and Mark both show a KM cal. 67 which was used on submarines. It did not
glow in dark because the greenish layer on the dial contained no radioactive
material but zincsulfide only. But it would glow- as Tonny describes- if the
watch was exposed to light for a short time. Therefore an uv lamp was on
board.. However there were also KM watches with a white dial and no lume on
the hands or indices. They were used on the war ships. Very few came back to
Germany for reasons you can imagine. Captains often had to sink the ship if it
could be captured by the enemy. However, a few watches were re-used after the
war in the Bundes Marine. It is unknown how many. Of course they had to be de-
nazified. The original dials were removed and a complete new dial without any
script, even no IWC logo, was mounted. The war markings on the back were
grinded away and a new Nato Stock Number was stamped on the back lid. As Tonny
writes, the back lid became very thin by that and nearly always it is not
completely smooth anymore but has dents. One of these extreme rare watches is
depicted
here.Regards,

Adrian,

(alwaysiwc).

Great treasures shown today gentlemen.......

What a selection of Warhorses

I'd like to add my KM. Sorry, I painted over swastika on the photo of case
back. I'm not sure about Swiss law, but according to Russian law I can't post
it. I bought this watch in Moscow from the guy who said that it belongs to his
grand father and he brought it from the war.

Roman, another great example!

Thank you Mark! I have another nice example of caliber 67. I got it with
original box and papers. The watch is engraved and was presented to the
employee of Georg Fisher AG for 25 years of his loyality to the company. I
think the people who visited watch fabrics could see machines from GF. As for
IWC I'm not sure about Merishausen, but it was definitely in Neuhausen.
Besides, I have seen it in other manufactures as well (at Zenith for example).

And sorry,
photo of caliber.

Unpacking a ref. 135 BUND

After a successful bid on a VEBEG auction, I am the lucky owner of this deck
watch from the 60s.

It is not perfect, but in good shape and with the authentic box.

The uncommon packing material could be interesting for some vintage collectors
on the forum and this rare watch as well.

And some questions:

Konrad Knirims datas do not include cal. 67 from the 50s.

www.knirim.de/iwccal67d.htm

But case and movement numbers point to 60s and 50s.

Information about this are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Regards

Heiko

That GF is amazing together with its box and papers !

Hebe, really intresting question you pose - hopefully the experts come with
answers.

Fantastic C.67 in original BUND box and packaging - amazing.

Hello Heiko,

A batch of post war cal. 67 deck watches was delivered to the Bundesamt,
Koblenz, Germany on December 1966. This was reference 135. It had a stainless
steel case and a metal dial. On the dial, which had a diameter of 141 mm., The
IWC logo was printed in italics. The military markings on the back of the case
were not uniform :

Jurgen King : "Some had the inscription Bw ( Bundeswehr or Federal Armed
Forces and the Nato Stock number 6645-12-144-3142 ( like your watch). But
there were also watches which only had the movement number on the case back,
without any military marking. Both variations are authentic and have been
delvered. The total number of this batch was 125 pieces"

Regards,

Adrian,

Alwaysiwc)