Sad sight (UZO).

[behblc]

A friend of mine sent me these jpegs.
A UZO which has been destroyed by neglect and ignorance over a long period of time.
Some how , God alone knows how it has ended up in two parts.
Can it be repaired - impossible to know.

The second jpeg shows what she should be like , for me its a sad look on how things can end up.

There is a dealer who trades in Portabello Road know as "Bermanse Bill" he makes a fortune ( or at least charges a fortune) for WW2 optics which have been cleaned to the metal and buffed up bright and gleaming into pieces of worthless ( pardon me saying it) ****e.
The buyers , people who want a " nice" binocular" to stand overlooking the Thames in the corner of their flat.
An expensive dust catcher - American dealers are increasingly at this as well.
Not every crime is punishable.

[behblc]

Sad Sight. (UZO).

An almost perfect example which went on eBay a few years ago - I kept the jpeg for reference purposes , as near perfect as you might find.

[phosphateb]

what is the code on the piece?

[behblc]

17850 ( blc) on the mint one ( as far as I can make out).
I don't have ajpeg of the number on the broken one.

[Ville Kosonen]

This is the only image I could find of one I had.
It had a cracked lense as you see.
Sold it on Ebay few years ago, sadly
But then I really needed money.
Bought it from local gun show for 73euros.

Please dont pour salt to my wounds

[behblc]

I remember your set.

I remember your set for sale , I missed it by about $10 , I share your sellers regret- been there as well.

[Valleysniper]

Sad Sight UZO

Hi behblc

Those photos of the UZO are mine, that I sent to a few collectors for advice on whether to take on as a restoration project to go with the 8 x 60 Kommandatenglas and 7 x 50 U-Bootglas I possess. (all I would have needed then was a conning tower)

Anyway the UZO were brought into a South Wales Antiques shop by an old bloke. They were bought by dealer and I had oppertunity of buying them. On examination by various people, including an Engineer and speaking to Terri Vacani it appears the following took place:-

The left hand ocular inner doublet lense appears to have separated so was "floating". It appears an attempt was made to open prism housing to get at lense without success (Terri vacani said this is a difficult job). Anyway what do you do next? Send it to an expert I hear you say? No, of course you hacksaw the brackets to the bending bar to make that very rare and sought after U-Boat UZO monocular, complete with sighting graticule present There are clear signs of hacksaw marks and then an attempt to re-solder with soft solder Of course soft solder is an ideal way of repairing a metal object weighing some 12Lbs in weight .

Anyway the concensus is that they can be repaired if done correctly. Once the optics have been removed totally, either new brackets can be machined and brazed/Silver soldered to body, or existing break could be joined. Both options would have to be done to exacting tolerences, and probably a jig made up. The ocular lenses of course could be re-cemented after polishing.

I decided against taking them on due to lack of specialist tools required and the fact have too many other projects on go. I passed them on to a collector who has taken them on, and I do hope he suceeds in restoring them. For what he paid for them the objective lenses alone are probably worth it, let alone prisms, eye cups etc still present.

He will probably read this so send me the pictures of the restoration as I would hate to see them stripped to bits on E-Bay (that was also a considered option). Also got those bits I asked you for?

I do know the serial number but will keep it to myself unless buyer wants to divulge it.

Out of interest, does anybody know approximately how many UZO were made?

Hugh