closing tag is in template navbar
timefactors watches



TZ-UK Fundraiser
Results 1 to 26 of 26

Thread: IWC B-Uhr Revision

  1. #1
    Master Geronimo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Hannover, Germany
    Posts
    1,019

    IWC B-Uhr Revision

    When was the last time you saw an IWC B-Uhr Cal 52T H6 SC taken apart, probably never, at least I couldn't find any pictures on the net.
    So for your pleasure here is one that needed to be repaired.

    The mainspring of my IWC B-Uhr was broken, so the watch was sent to the watchmakers of my confidence;-) with the request to take lots of pictures ... It was worth it!
    The Maltese Cross/Stop-works and the friction spring of the sweep second hand also had to be repaired.
    Under the dial, which by the way was made by Singer, (who amongst others, supplied Rolex) there was a piece of paper/ note which says "Gräfenhainichen", this being carefully coated with Zapon /clear- varnish. The meaning of that we don't know yet, we are still working on it, for sure though, the town Gräfenhainichen is a small rural town ca. 25 km southwest of Wittenberg, southeast of Dessau and northeast of Bitterfeld on the edge of the Düben Heath (Dübener Heide)
    https://www.google.de/maps/place/Gr%...236659f806e0c0

    What was there in WW2. respective to the watch?

    As far as I know, there are no pictures on the net of a disassembled B-Uhr, so maybe here's a Premiere!
    Dial

    Caseback

    Movement before disassembly

    Inside back case-lid

    Movement

    Movement without bridge
    [
    Bridge and centre seconds wheel and pinion

    Barrel Assy with Stop Works/Maltese-Cross and broken Mainspring

    Movement under the dial


    Underneath the dial


    Hope you enjoyed seeing the movement apart, as much as I did when I first saw the pictures.

    Best Regards
    Jimmy

  2. #2
    Master alfat33's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    6,196
    Thanks for these, great to see.

    As a wild guess could the dial have been printed in Grafenhainichen, as it had an established printing industry?

  3. #3
    Master Geronimo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Hannover, Germany
    Posts
    1,019
    Quote Originally Posted by alfat33 View Post
    Thanks for these, great to see.

    As a wild guess could the dial have been printed in Grafenhainichen, as it had an established printing industry?
    Well that's a great lead to work on and I thank you for it.

  4. #4
    Master alfat33's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    6,196
    I'd love to hear what you find out.

  5. #5
    Master Geronimo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Hannover, Germany
    Posts
    1,019
    Quote Originally Posted by alfat33 View Post
    I'd love to hear what you find out.
    I'll keep the thread updated on this ;-)

  6. #6
    You may find this interesting. Especially the s/n.

    http://www.iwc.com/forum/en/discussion/60097/

  7. #7
    Master Geronimo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Hannover, Germany
    Posts
    1,019
    Yes very interesting...I wrote it ;-)

    Jimmy

  8. #8
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Lancashire
    Posts
    261
    Cool pics

  9. #9
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Reading
    Posts
    369
    Very nice pictures thanks or the post

  10. #10
    Grand Master
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    sussex uk
    Posts
    15,483
    Blog Entries
    1
    Very interesting pictures Jimmy, not sure on the note, maybe as mentioned the dial was from there or maybe something personal to the assembler of the watch?!
    i am sure this will be used as a reference thread in the future.


    mike

  11. #11
    Master TimeOut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    2,733
    Wow is all I can say. Thanks for sharing.

  12. #12
    Master alfat33's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    6,196
    Quote Originally Posted by Geronimo View Post
    I'll keep the thread updated on this ;-)
    Did you manage to find out anything about the dial? My research is limited to Google so all I can do is confirm that there were lots of printing firms around there and also a Junkers factory or facility.

  13. #13
    Apprentice
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Sweden
    Posts
    38
    Nice one!

  14. #14
    Journeyman
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Singapore/London
    Posts
    101

    B Uhr

    Nice piece. Am starting to like these pilots!



    Quote Originally Posted by Pottifar View Post
    Nice one!

  15. #15
    Master Geronimo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Hannover, Germany
    Posts
    1,019
    Quote Originally Posted by alfat33 View Post
    I'd love to hear what you find out.
    Well Gentlemen, the puzzle has been solved !!!
    .My watchmaker got in contact with the person in charge of the town archives of Gräfenheinichen, they dug into their files for information on O.Gräfe...
    They gave him the name and tel. no. of his successor, and he was surprised that O Gräfes successor was awaiting his tel call. Apparantly the town archives had got in contact with him shortly after speaking to my watchmaker.

    This is what was told:
    Otto Gräfe (as on the piece of paper O.Gräfe) was indeed a watchmaker and jewler in that town, he was repairing watches for the Wehrmacht/Luftwaffe untill around 1944, he decided to join the SS, which was his downfall. He was sent to Stalingrad, where he died.
    The successor spoke of an old box somewhere in the basement/cellar where, if he remembered rightly, were a few tools and watch parts, still stored from the war years.
    Watch this space...the best is yet to come !

    Jimmy

  16. #16
    Master alfat33's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    6,196
    Wow, that's quite a discovery! I'm surprised you aren't on the first flight over :). Now we want pictures of the toolbox.

  17. #17
    Master Wexford's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    1,580
    Enjoyed this thread, thanks. What a great story

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Geronimo View Post
    Well Gentlemen, the puzzle has been solved !!!
    .My watchmaker got in contact with the person in charge of the town archives of Gräfenheinichen, they dug into their files for information on O.Gräfe...
    They gave him the name and tel. no. of his successor, and he was surprised that O Gräfes successor was awaiting his tel call. Apparantly the town archives had got in contact with him shortly after speaking to my watchmaker.

    This is what was told:
    Otto Gräfe (as on the piece of paper O.Gräfe) was indeed a watchmaker and jewler in that town, he was repairing watches for the Wehrmacht/Luftwaffe untill around 1944, he decided to join the SS, which was his downfall. He was sent to Stalingrad, where he died.
    The successor spoke of an old box somewhere in the basement/cellar where, if he remembered rightly, were a few tools and watch parts, still stored from the war years.
    Watch this space...the best is yet to come !

    Jimmy
    I think the successor is incorrect on some details here. There were no SS units involved at Stalingrad and the battle there was over by early 1943. Perhaps he meant after the Stalingrad defeat and was talking about events after the battle but further west?

    Wonderful to see an original IWC wartime watch, thanks for posting

  19. #19
    Master Geronimo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Hannover, Germany
    Posts
    1,019
    Quote Originally Posted by Nagraboy View Post
    I think the successor is incorrect on some details here. There were no SS units involved at Stalingrad and the battle there was over by early 1943. Perhaps he meant after the Stalingrad defeat and was talking about events after the battle but further west?

    Wonderful to see an original IWC wartime watch, thanks for posting
    Maybe the succsessor mixed things up in his mind, meaning Wehrmacht and transcribing it automatically to SS, Who knows ???

  20. #20
    Grand Master Carlton-Browne's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Berlin, London and sometimes Dublin
    Posts
    14,888
    Quote Originally Posted by Geronimo View Post
    Maybe the succsessor mixed things up in his mind, meaning Wehrmacht and transcribing it automatically to SS, Who knows ???
    Indeed, plenty of opportunity for confusion. My wife first told me that her father was in the SS and it transpired that he was in the SA; being a civil servant (beamter) he had been pretty much given no choice but to join up. Mercifully he was taken POW in North Africa and had a fairly civilised war in the UK and Canada. Of course there were no SS in North Africa either; I believe at the specific stipulation of Rommel.

    I'm looking forward to the updates on this one.

  21. #21
    Master alfat33's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    6,196
    Quote Originally Posted by Geronimo View Post
    Well Gentlemen, the puzzle has been solved !!!
    .My watchmaker got in contact with the person in charge of the town archives of Gräfenheinichen, they dug into their files for information on O.Gräfe...
    They gave him the name and tel. no. of his successor, and he was surprised that O Gräfes successor was awaiting his tel call. Apparantly the town archives had got in contact with him shortly after speaking to my watchmaker.

    This is what was told:
    Otto Gräfe (as on the piece of paper O.Gräfe) was indeed a watchmaker and jewler in that town, he was repairing watches for the Wehrmacht/Luftwaffe untill around 1944, he decided to join the SS, which was his downfall. He was sent to Stalingrad, where he died.
    The successor spoke of an old box somewhere in the basement/cellar where, if he remembered rightly, were a few tools and watch parts, still stored from the war years.
    Watch this space...the best is yet to come !

    Jimmy
    So any update on this fascinating story? Was there a secret stash of NOS B-Uhr parts?

  22. #22
    Master
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Yorkshireman at heart
    Posts
    3,110
    Blog Entries
    2
    Classic thread, very interesting

  23. #23
    Stalingrad was the winter of 42/43, so maybe the Eastern Front rather than Stalingrad itself?


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  24. #24
    Journeyman
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Surrey UK
    Posts
    59
    Wonderful article and pictures. Great piece of social history.
    Any info on the box?

  25. #25
    Craftsman Morrissey's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Sheffield
    Posts
    467
    Absolutely fascinating...

    Mozza


    Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

  26. #26
    Master alfat33's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    6,196
    Quote Originally Posted by Geronimo View Post
    When was the last time you saw an IWC B-Uhr Cal 52T H6 SC taken apart, probably never, at least I couldn't find any pictures on the net.
    So for your pleasure here is one that needed to be repaired.

    The mainspring of my IWC B-Uhr was broken, so the watch was sent to the watchmakers of my confidence;-) with the request to take lots of pictures ... It was worth it!
    The Maltese Cross/Stop-works and the friction spring of the sweep second hand also had to be repaired.
    Under the dial, which by the way was made by Singer, (who amongst others, supplied Rolex) there was a piece of paper/ note which says "Gräfenhainichen", this being carefully coated with Zapon /clear- varnish. The meaning of that we don't know yet, we are still working on it, for sure though, the town Gräfenhainichen is a small rural town ca. 25 km southwest of Wittenberg, southeast of Dessau and northeast of Bitterfeld on the edge of the Düben Heath (Dübener Heide)



    Best Regards
    Jimmy
    Hi Geronimo, I've seen you have been back on the forum recently. You've got to put us out of our misery! Did you ever get to Gräfenhainichen?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Do Not Sell My Personal Information