WW2 Cockpit Clock .. Spitfire??

[sundial]

Bought this from a Gloucester military dealer who described it as a Spitfire clock?? ... was not working .. now serviced and keeping good time ... watchmaker said it has an ABEC escapement and that movement is probably a Smiths ... has bezel wind ... unfortunately watchmaker could not replace the slot-worn screws in the bezel ... did not ask him to replace the glass ... so is as found with 65 years wabi

Dial is engraved with following but is difficult to photograph through the discoloured glass

MK IIA 594/43 (across the centre of the dial)

and
6A/1002
ONE DAY

across bottom of dial between 8 and 4

Rear of case stamped AM




These are camera phone pix.


Cheers

dunk

[Page]

That looks the part, have no idea if it's correct or not.
Found this interesting site spitfirespares.com...

Would like to find one of these....



Martin

[inspector gadget]

It looks like its a possible this one has dummy hands on the front which seems like an elapsed flight time setup..

http://home.earthlink.net/~firedog46/spitfire.html

[sundial]

I just checked to see if this "bezel wind" 6A/1002 "ONE DAY" Cockpit Clock is listed in Konrad Knirim's British Military Timepieces book. There is one listed and illustrated but it has 'dummy hands' turned by means of a central knob on the glass which would enable elapsed time to be measured. Mine does not have the dummy hands function. Still uncertain as to which type of plane my clock would have been used in. Book states the movement is 36 hours.

Cheers

dunk

[ramc181]

Clock, Mk.IIA (Specification No. G.420):
6A/1002: Lumious dial and hands.
6A/1003: Non-luminous dial and hands.
6A/1274: Flourescent dial and hands.

25. The clock Mk. IIA has a self-starting 36-hour movement which is enclosed in an aluminium alloy or a moulded material case having a brass or moulded material bezel, and is wound by clockwise rotation of the bezel. The hour and minute hands which are of the perforated type, are set by rotating the bezel which can be released from the winding mechanism by moving a spring-loaded lever, situated at the side of the case. The lever returns automatically to the winding position when released.

26. A dummy hour hand painted in red on the inside of the cover glass, which is in some instances of transparent synthetic material, can be set by rotating the bezel. A dummy minute hand, finished red, is also provided under the cover glass, and may be set by means of a knurled knob. A regulator is provided and is adjustable from the outside of the case. In some instances the clock is provided with a luminised dial and hands. In all other respects the clock Mk. IIA is similar to the clock Mk.II.

Source: Air Publication 1275 (1941)

May be fitted to Spitfire MkI-IX and MkXIV, amongst other types.

All the best,
PB

[sundial]

The MkIIA , AP1275 March 41, 25 & 26 specification actually appears in the book. Maybe there are some MkIIA clocks without dummy hands because Konrad Knirim's book also gives the specification of the Mark IIB clocks Luminous G420 6A/1072 .... Non-luminous G420 6A/1073 and Fluorescent G420 6A/ 1700 ( all knob wound as distinct from bezel wound) and it states they have red painted dummy and minute hands (AP1275 March 1941, 27) . But , on the opposite page there are two variants of the Mk IIB clocks illustrated without the dummy hands. If these were available then non-dummy hand versions of the Mk 2A 6A/1002 might have been manufactured as well ... as distinct from having the dummy hand cover glass replaced. And maybe my clock could have been in a Spitfire?

Only had the book for less than one day and is already proving to be very useful :D

Cheers

dunk

Ja ja das ist eine sehr schonen spuckenfeuercockpitclocken

Maybe you could mount it on a nice piece of wood for display in your house. I've done that with a Russian aircraft clock.

[sundial]

Forensic exercise to photograph cockpit clock's illegible dial stamps via INFRARED illumination using an IR camera










BW, dunk

[Carlton-Browne]

That's interesting Dunk. Do you have a "before" picture taken with a normal camera?

[sundial]

That's interesting Dunk. Do you have a "before" picture taken with a normal camera?

Only have the Photobucket watermarked phone camera images taken 15 years ago. I will photograph the cockpit clock with a regular camera and post more pics – which should show how the acrylic 'glass' has deteriorated over 81-ish years. I'm amazed how IR light can penetrate through the hazy acrylic. Initially I used a 6-element Canon FD 50/3.5 macro lens hitched up to the full spectrum converted Leica T APS-C ICL camera but results were not so good. Subsequently used a 4-element Leica100/4 Macro Elmar lens which gave much better results. Simpler lenses work better for IR photography and same applies for UV photography.

There are some responses to the IR pix on MWR forum

BW, dunk

[Chris_in_the_UK]

Interesting Dunk - I am correct in saying these are not visible/legible without doing this?

[sundial]

Interesting Dunk - I am correct in saying these are not visible/legible without doing this?

The two "black on black" stamps difficult to see and one very difficult to see unless viewed obliquely with artificial light, e.g., torchlight. Impossible to photograph clearly with visible light.

Very clearly visible on IR camera's monitor (& in viewfinder) when illuminated with near-coaxial IR light beam using the IR illuminator.

IR 720nm beam not visible to the naked eye – but is visible to camera's 720nm sensitive sensor.

Lens used with 720nm 'PASS' filter which excludes all other wavelengths. Filter is opaque to the human eye.

720nm penetrates the clock's discoloured/hazy acrylic glass.

Camera's custom white balance setting used and the DNG (RAW) IR image processed as monochrome

[Chris_in_the_UK]

The two "black on black" stamps difficult to see and one very difficult to see unless viewed obliquely with artificial light, e.g., torchlight. Impossible to photograph clearly with visible light.

Very clearly visible on IR camera's monitor (& in viewfinder) when illuminated with near-coaxial IR light beam using the IR illuminator.

IR 720nm beam not visible to the naked eye – but is visible to camera's 720nm sensitive sensor.

Lens used with 720nm 'PASS' filter which excludes all other wavelengths. Filter is opaque to the human eye.

720nm penetrates the clock's discoloured/hazy acrylic glass.

Camera's custom white balance setting used and the DNG (RAW) IR image processed as monochrome

Thanks Dunk