1940' s Wempe B-Uhr

Inventory number: WW1809042

Produced circa the 1940s, 55mm, nickel-plated brass, manual-winding caliber Tommen Cal. 31, 15 jewels, 18000 vph.  A pilot’s navigation wristwatch. Double-colored luminous hour markers.

Functions: hours, minutes, a pilot’s navigation wristwatch. 

Engraved “FL23883” on the case edge. FL stands for “Fliegnummer” which translates to flying number. 23 designed the watch as a device for flight monitoring and 883 was assigned by the German Testing Office for Aeronautics.

Historical Background

In 1935, Adolf Hitler announced his plans to reconstitute Germany’s Air Force and officially created the Luftwaffe. B-Uhren is an abbreviation for Beobachtungs-Uhren, literally Observation watches. B-Uhr is singular, and B-Uhren is plural. Four German manufacturers A. Lange & Söhne, Wempe, Lacher & Co/Durowe (Laco), and Walter Storz (Stowa) produced the B-Uhren watches. Wempe started its production from 1938 to the end of the Second World War with a volume of 100-120 pieces per year. After the war, these B-Uhren have remained less than 10,000 pieces. The B-Uhr was designed when Germany began to reequip its military, specifically the Luftwaffe, but few knew what aggression the watch would serve. Bred to equip the military navigator, the B-Uhr remains a marvel of clean design and simplicity.