Important Collectors Watches, Pocket ...
Hong Kong, Jun 08, 2008
LOT 405
Die Grosse Fliegeruhr International Watch Co., movement No. 1014651, case No. 1033991, Ref. 431. Made in 1940 a limited series of 1000 examples for the German Air Force, delivered on November 11th, 1940 to Siegfried Heindorf, Berlin. Very fine and extremely rare, oversized, anti-magnetic, anti-corrosion stainless steel military pilot?s wristwatch with indirect seconds and the original IWC aviator?s leather strap. Accompanied by the IWC Extract from the Archives.
HKD 280,000 - 300,000
USD 36,000 - 40,000 / EUR 22,000 - 25,000
Sold: HKD 336,000
C. Three-body, matte gray, inclined bezel, concave lugs, large winding crown, stainless steel anti-magnetic cap to protect the movement against magnetic fields, snap-on case back, band engraved with ?FL 23883?. D. Black with luminous Arabic numerals and baton indexes, outer minute division. Luminous blued steel lozenge hands. M. Cal 52SC, gilt brass, straight-line lever escapement, bimetallic balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator. Case and movement signed. Diam. 55 mm. Thickness 17 mm.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AAA |
Excellent |
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 3* |
Good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 3-01 |
Good HANDS Original |
Notes
This model is one of the watches delivered to the German Air Force, the well-know Luftwaffe, to supply their pilots with an accurate, robust, easy to read wristwatch during the missions. A good example of their first use is the ?Battle of England? or operation ?Sea-Lion? (August 1940-May 1941). Only movement numbers between 1.013.801 and 1.015.000 and case numbers between 1.033.201 and 1.034.200 are considered as right for the 1940 ?Die Grosse Fliegeruhr?. The inside case back is engraved: - B-Uhr: Beobachtungs-Uhr, German for Navigation Watch - Bauart, German for Manufacture: IWC - Werk Nr, German for Movement No.: 1014651 - Anforderz, German for Classification Number: FL 23883 The last number, FL 23883, indicates the watch?s assignation. In fact the ?FL? letters stand for flight qualified and the first two numbers indicate which department the watch was assigned. 22 was the flight control department, 25 was the radio surveillance and 23 was the code number for the navigation department. The following numbers were given by the D.V.L. (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt Luftfahart), the German Aviation Research Institute.
Cal. 52: Produced in 1,200 examples in 19???, (height 6 mm), caliber designed in keeping with ?Observatory? watch quality and accuracy. Only 1,000 examples were delivered to the German Air Force, the remaining 200 were used for English deck watches. This caliber is considered to be the largest caliber made by IWC.