Timepieces of the Bundeswehr

[Gordon Craig]

The recent thread about the watch with the Leopard tank on the dial got me thinking about what timepieces were officially used by the Bundeswehr (BW). There was an obvious need for specialized watches in different branches of the BW. I’ll try to cover as many of them as I can with as much accuracy as I can. There are lots of comments and threads about BW timepieces on the watch collectors’ forums and on the internet in general. The trick is to figure out who knows what they are talking about and which statement is, or is not, backed up by fact. There is also limited information on military watches in print in book form.
In 1955 when the BW was being formed, the need for watches was immediately recognized, specifically, wrist watches for the air force. The first companies that were considered as watch suppliers to the BW were those which had supplied watches to the Wehrmacht during the Second World War (WWII). The first two that came to mind were Tutima Glasshütte/SAand Hanhart, Schwenningen am Neckar since they had provided Pilot’s Chronographs during WWII. Since Tutima was then located in the East German sector of the country they were not available to supply watches. Hanhart was located in West Germany and had begun supplying the French military with a pilot’s chronograph in 1948. The watch provided to the French was a slightly modified design of the double fly-back watch supplied to the Wehrmacht in WWII. The watch needed to be wound by the wearer. This same watch was supplied to the BW from 1957 (1956?) until 1962 when Hanhart ceased production of these watches due a shortage of parts. Markings on the back of the Hanhart Flyers Chronograph supplied to the BW were: first line 12-121-5208; (the NATO category for this type of watch "6645" is often omitted on BW watches) second line BUNDESEIGENTUM (FEDERAL PROPERTY).

[Gordon Craig]

The back of the Hanhart Chronograph.

[Gordon Craig]

Hanhart produced another watch called the Admiral’s Chronograph. These watches were used in the 1950s by medical services, doctors and officers of the BW but were a private purchase.
I was unable to find pictures of the Admiral’s Chrongraph as purchased by soldiers of the BW. The watch shown is one of the new replicas produced from the original drawings.

[Gordon Craig]

Another famous WWII maker of military watches, Jungmans Schramberg, began supplying wrist watches to the BW in 1959. They supplied two models: model J88/0110 in 1959, NSN 6645-12-120-935,1 and model J88/0111 in 1960. The main difference between the two watches was different finishes to the case. They appear to have been supplied with the same NSN. Jungmans ceased supplying watches to the BW sometime in the early 60s but I have not been able to find an exact date; probably due to a shortage of parts as with Hanhart.

[Gordon Craig]

The next company to supply watches to the BW was the firm of Heuer Leonidas. This is one of the better known BW watches -- the Heuer-Leonidas "double fly-back" Chronograph wristwatch produced for the BW Luftwaffe. It was also used by the air components of the Heer, the Marine and reportedly on board submarines as well. It is commonly referred to in the watch collecting community as the "Heuer Bund" or the "Bund Chronograph".
During WWII, both Heuer and Leonidas had been providers of specialized timepieces to the German military. Following the end of the war they both continued to sell watches but in the civilian market. On January 1st, 1964, Heuer acquired Leonidas and the company was renamed Heuer-Leonidas SA. For a short time, the company continued to sell watches under both the Leonidas and the Heuer brand names. Eventually, only watches bearing the Heuer name were sold. Leonidas and Heuer were not watch manufacturers. They purchased watch movements from other firms and assembled timepieces. The movements used in the Leonidas-Heuer Chronographs were made by the firm of Valjoux. The specific movements used were the high-grade Valjoux 22/222/230 movements. These movements needed to be hand wound. Some sources say that the BW chronograph was acquired by Heuer when they took over Leonidas. I have not been able to find confirmation of this statement. It is generally accepted that Heuer-Leonidas Chronographs were first supplied to the BW in 1967.
There are far too many different configurations of the BW chronograph to cover in this article. For instance, there are approximately 13 different dial configurations of the Heuer-Leonidas Chronograph alone and these minor differences are not of interest to a BW collector. To simplify matters, they will be broken into four main categories:
1-Leonidas branded dial;
2-Heuer branded dial;
3-Heuer STERNZEIT REGULIERT;
4-Sinn branded dials.

[Gordon Craig]

#1- Leonidas branded dial;
The earliest BW chronographs bore the brand name Leonidas on the dial. They can be identified by their distinctive look and the engraving on the back of the watch. The full word "BUNDESWEHR" is engraved on the first line with the NATO Stock Number (NSN) "6645-12-146-3774" engraved on the second line. All Heuer Leonidas BW chronograph cases follow this design but the movements in the Heuer branded dial chronographs will not fit in the Leonidas case. The watch movement is placed into the case, the back is then applied and the four screws through the ring fasten the watch together. The tightening of the screws compresses the gaskets in the watch to make it water tight to three atmospheres. All BW Leonidas-Heuer chronographs use the same NATO NSN regardless of the watch movement. The NATO NSN for the wrist strap is 6645-12-145-6415 and for the watch complete with strap is 6645-12-146-5081.
The top of the picture shows the Leonidas dial and the movement in this watch. The three movements below that are those used in the Heuer branded BW chronograph and are, from your left to right - Valjoux 23, Valjoux 222 and Valjoux 230. The operation of the "double fly-back" mechanism will be covered in the description of the Heuer branded chronographs. It is estimated that no more than 255 of the Leonidas branded watches were supplied to the BW.
(Picture of back of Leonidas Chronograph - L4bLeonidasBundeswehr)
Picture of the side of Leonidas Chronograph L4cLeonidasBundeswehr-picture folder
These watches were only provided for a short space of time and are very rare.

[Gordon Craig]

#2- Heuer branded dial;
The Heuer branded dial chronographs use a slightly different movement than the Leonidas branded ones as shown above. These watch movements were supplied to Heuer by the firm of Sinn. The watches are know as the model TKZ 1550 SG. The MATERIALAMT DER LUFTWAFFE has published GAF T.O. 49 B 2-1 HLB 1-1 TECHNISCHES HANDBUCH, ARMBANDUHR MIT DOPPELSTOPPEINRICHTUNG, TKZ 1550 SG VERS. NR. 6645-12-146-5081, dated 2. MAI 1972 which is an updated version of a manual from 1967.

[Gordon Craig]

The dial face of the BW chronograph has some distinctive features. The sub dial on the left is a continuous second hand. The dial on the right is the "double fly-back" stop watch dial.
Picture of whole dial of mheuerf01
To make the sub dial stand out from the black dial face their surfaces are engraved with circular lines. Unfortunately, these engraved rings do not stand out very well in photographs.
The 3 H in the circle and the small T above the numeral 6 refer to the material used to make the hands and the numbers visible in the dark. The T stands for Tritium, an isotope of Hydrogen, which is indicated by the 3 H in the circle. 3H is the atomic weight of Tritium. Tritium is radioactive. The 3 H is in red to warn that these watches should not be worn in a radioactive area. Exactly why wearing these watches in a radioactive area is a problem is not indicated in any of the literature I have read to research this article. However, there was mention made that Tritium is used in the construction of thermonuclear weapons.

[Gordon Craig]

The Heuer dial at night.

[Gordon Craig]

Some other markings that may be found engraved on the side of the cases of these watches are the model number 1550 SG and the serial number. These are shown in the picture below.
The serial number may be found engraved on the back of the watch in some instances.

[Gordon Craig]

Operation of the Double Fly-Back mechanism
The term "double fly-back" refers to the movement of the stop watch dial. When the top button is pushed, the second hand on the right hand dial begins to move. Pushing the top button a second time makes the second hand on the stop watch dial return to zero and start counting time again. In a regular chronograph, the mechanism must be stopped before it can be reset and start counting again. In a fly-back chronograph, the mechanism can be reset while it is running.
Pushing the bottom buttons resets the chronograph mechanism to zero and stops the counting.

[Gordon Craig]

#3-Heuer STERNZEIT REGULIERT
Externally, this BW chronograph is identical to the previous one except for the words STERNZEIT REGULIERT (STAR TIME REGULATED) printed just above the six o’clock position on the dial. These words indicate that this watch operates in "sidereal time". Its NATO NSN is 6645-12-148-2298 and the Heuer model number is 1551 SGSZ. It comes in a leather case with a "surveying theodolite" 6675-12-140-9136 and a "astronomical direction finder" NATO NSN 6675-12-308-8782. The chronograph was used to get the time while observing the azimuth astronomic measurements. A sun year has 365 days, a sun day has 24 hours, because the earth moving around the sun in one year - a "sidereal" year - has 366 days starting in Spring and a sidereal day of 23 hours, 56 minutes and 3.5 seconds. So for fast astronavigation a watch or clock regulated in "sidereal" time saves the calculating effort. The only real difference between the normal 3H marked chronograph and the STERNZEIT REGULIERT marked one is that the 3H runs at 1800 bpm and the STERNZEIT REGULIERT has been adjusted to run at 1850 bpm. The number of these special watches produced is believed to have been no more than 50.

[Gordon Craig]

#4-Sinn branded dials.
These chronographs are identical to the Heuer branded ones. Why they were, or if they actually were, supplied with a Sinn branded dial is unknown to me. Sinn apparently reconditioned these watches at some time. It is not clear if this happened while they were still in used by the BW Luftwaffe or if it happened after the watches were sold as surplus.
Below is a picture of what the backs of all of these chronographs looks like.
This is the end of the information on watches used by the BW that needed to be hand wound except for one or two very specialized small production watches which I will post later. I will post the article on the automatic watches when it is completed.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Diver's wristwatches

BW Marine divers wore IWC Ocean model wristwatches. They are normally referred to as "Ocen Bund" watches. These watches are very rare and considering the number of divers in the BW Marine at any one time that is very logical.

There were three different Ocean Bund models.

1- Die Kampftaucheruhr - The wristwatch for Combat Divers;
The movement in this watch was a quartz model. Batteries were said to last for 3 years. Bundeswehr specifications required an accuracy of +/- 2 minutes a year. The dial, hands and bezel were tritium treated to glow in the dark hence the 3H symbol as was seen of previous watches. NSN 6645-12-199-5070. The watch itself was designed by Ferdinand Porsche.

[Gordon Craig]

2. Die Taucheruhr - The wristwatch for divers;
This version used an automatic movement (self winding). The Bundeswehr specifications appear to require the same rate standard of these models as that of the civilian Ocean 2000, which was 0 to +8 seconds per day. The average automatic watch will run for 2 days when not on the arm. Tritium was not used on the dials of these watches. Some other long glowing material was used that met DIN 76510 specs. There were a number of slightly different movements used in these watches and each was assigned a different NSN; The numbers were 6645-12-197-9681; 6645-12-196-8096; 6645-12-339-1536. These watches look the same as the other BW Ocean 2000 model but do not have the 3H symbol on the dial.