german wristwatch

[jugendkrieger]

what kind of wristwatch is acceptable for reenacting

[Chris Carden]

well not a wristwatch, but your pants do have a pocket and a loop for attaching a pocketwatch and the fob(i think thats the term?). My unit leader does that, its pretty cool looking.

Im not quite sure about wrist watches though.

EDIT: I found this picture on my HD of a guy with a wrist watch on. Check it out.

[craigob]

Yardsales and fleamarkets, period looking wristwatches are around $10.00 - try for a square face and leather strap - or go to ebay and get a 1940 watch cheap -
chainwatches and fobs went out around the 20's


these are expensive but gives you an idea

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW

[Daniel]

Im not quite sure about wrist watches though.

They did use wrist watches and I think it was pretty common to. Never heard about Uhriii, the russians were crazy about these wrist watches that they picked from dead germans or POWs.

[tjelvar]

You see wristwathces from the 1930s ans 40s at different auction sites. My tip to you is to look at the pictures attatced to thoose auctions to get an idea over how those watches look like and then browse fleamarkets for them. Theese watches are in general more expensive at the auctions cause there the collectors go for them, at a fleamarket they are just an old rather ugly watch.

As a general idea the watches of the 1930s was rectangular and the ones from the 40s was circular. There is circular watches from the 30s to but I dont know how common they were. Wristwtches that is very old ie from the 20s dont have a thingie showing the seconds. ( Whatever they are called).

http://photobucket.com/albums/v230/tjel ... h1930s.jpg

A watch from the 30s


http://photobucket.com/albums/v230/tjel ... herone.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/v230/tjel ... m1040s.jpg

Watches from the 40s.

It might also be a good idea to buy a modern watch that is the correct style since the periond watches often are scratched etc out of many years wear.

Good watchhunting!

Fx "Junghans" is a german watchbrand, but there is many more. Also other europena watches must have been common, and probably also fx us ones. ( Im sure the Germans imported watches from other parts of the world also atleast before the war).

/tjelvar

ps/ Just want to add that Im not an expert over old watches I just started to browse for a period watch myself in some kind of half systematic way.

[Jon Das Reich]

If any of our guys cant find any 30's-40's wrist watches i tell them that these will do and at this price it doesnt matter if you knacker them up in the field

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/store ... from=image

[pzrwest]

I have this plain quartz wristwatch I am putting a black leather strap on it would this be close enough to use? Have attached a pic of it

[craigob]

That should be fine, as long as it looks right, Nothing looks worse than a digital or one of those huge things that can take a hammer being used on them

I have this plain quartz wristwatch I am putting a black leather strap on it would this be close enough to use? Have attached a pic of it

[pzrwest]

I have measured the watch and the measurements are as follows:
width(not includeing the stem) 34mm
length (overall not including the strap) 40mm
thickness 8mm
face diameter 26mm
So this is not a huge one more of a dress watch than those big huge sports types

[Panzermacher]

This is just a small Article on Watches I wrote some time ago, it is by no means a complete dissertation,btw I also wrote one dealing with Cameras.

Deutsches Heer Uhrband
The German Army had special pocket and wristwatches for their Officers & NCO's and special function troops. These were manufactured according to given specifications by the wehrmacht, Manufacturers with Contracts from the Wehrmacht included (Assmann, Arsa, Aipina, Bueren, Junghans, Kienzle, Longines, a.s.o, Minerva, Mulco, Omega, Record, Silvana, Titus & Zenith). The pocket as well as the wristwatch had screwed backs and were shock resistant. The dial face was black with a small second hand with radium digits and hands. The back was marked "D.H." (Deutsches Heer), with the case number. The watches were issued and written into the soldier's book, and also sold to army personnel from the Kaserne.
Choosing your time peice
German War time specifications for watches included these five points
Black dial face
Smaller seconds radium face
Bezell measurement (on average) 38mm, 45mm for pocket watches
Fixed "Bale" type lugs (these are much sturdier than pins for attaching straps)
Screw backed (not hinged)
In essance if you are a Reenactor wishing to add an Uhrband to you impression remember these points.....As an EM you wouldn't have been "issued" a watch, so a private purchase was necessary...
Just about ANY period watch will do including white & creamed coloured faces as many watches would have been commercially available before the war. (Total Production going to the Wehrmacht during the War)
Commercially available watches Were plentiful for those more resoarceful Landser. Kienzle was Germanies Largest Clock Manufacturer from 1871 & by 1939 were producing 4.5 million wrist watches alone & supplied the Armed Forces with 60% of the total required.They also produced 1 million watches each year for the Kaiser's army in WW1
Many Zenith,Omega & Kienzle watches produced until the 1950's remained virtually unchanged & many can still be found on ebay quite cheaply as the owners are unaware of their significance.....
Use of time peices
Aside from the obvious uses of a watch they were important for Launching attacks,cut off times for fire support or iniating fire support & sentry changes or even used as a compass in emergencies...This is achieved by placing the sun between the 12 o'clock position & the hour hand...the hour hand will indicate "north"
Atillery
The Army and Navy artillery used pocket chronographs and stopwatches for measuring the distance of enemy artillery by measuring the time between the Barrel Flash, the light from the firing (velocity of light) and the 'Exit sound' (velocity of sound) & also Direct navigational bearings provided by "spotters", Without actually getting into the science of locating enemy artillery here is a brief discription of the speed/time measurement used: At 21 degrees C (70°F), you should get 344 meters per second, or 1129 ft per second. At freezing, the numbers are 331 m/s or 1087 ft/s, with every degree above zero the "Speed of sound" should increase by .6 m/s
e.g Eastern Front December 3rd 1941 mean average temp is 0 degrees An artillery "spotter" observes a mortar firing.....time is noted....some 13 secounds later the sound of the mortar leaving the tube is heard: 13 seconds X 331 m/s = 4303 m distant this coupled with the compass bearing & other "spotters" raw data will give the Artillery the required location
Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe had even more specialized watches for their aircrew, German Bomber & Transport crew during WW2 were the only Pilots trained to fly blind in inclement weather, Needing extremely high navigational techniques led to the need of a watch with 1/100 & 1/1000 of a second capabilities, these you may have seen, have up to 3 smaller seconds radium faces, with overcast or rainy conditions, navigation to a given point was accomplished through calculating aircraft speed & bearing, Time was used to make critical direction changes to the next way point etc......
Specialist navy
Unterseeboot officers used a multitude of clocks & stop watches for the same reasons & to calculate angles of attack v's time of interception for torpedo runs....

[Panzermacher]

here's a book,ther's 2 volumns..

Title: GERMAN MILITARY TIMEPIECES OF WORLD WAR II, VOL.1.
Author: Ulric of England Research Unit.

Description: 1996. 48pp, over 90 photos, 8.25x12, details most important military timepieces including special chronographs of Luftwaffe & Kriegsmarine deck watches, German Army Service/contract watches & many more described SC. NEW. Item # 100565 $19.99

http://www.idsabooks.com/cgi-bin/idb455/100565.html

[Cigarboy]

I paid $600USD for a MINT Zenith wristwatch with the correct black face and the DH serial number on the back.

Zenith is the most well known watch made for the German army at the time. It's the same movement of an old Rolex. I don't use my watch in the field as it would damage the finish.


http://www.webspawner.com/users/germanwatch/

Anyhow, happy hunting.

[jamie]

Hello!

I send a photos taked with the mobile, so sorry for the bad quality.

The duty watch is an Helios, as most of the WH production was made in Switzerland for the army till 1944.
The out of duty or higher class is a 30´s British made for the well known in the era ,Smith-Ferry very extended all around Europe.

I dont know if its clearly showed the number at the back. " stahlboden", then wasserdicht, and D 16414 H for the Dienst Heer and soldbuch number.

Hope helps,

Jamie

[jamie]

Sorry I forget one...

Ah! and the Helios is quite hard, survived a war and all our "exercises"

Jamie

[Askold]

Go to Zellers or Wall-Mart. They have whole bunch of cheap watches that have that "victorian" or "1940's" look. White or black face, preferably with arabic numerals as opposed to roman.