Important Modern and Vintage Timepieces

New York, Jun 08, 2011

LOT 302

IWC - B-Uhr - World War II - German Air Force (Luftwaffe) International Watch Co., movement No. 1014550, case No. 1033890, Ref. 431, request No. Fl 23883. Made in 1940 for the German Air Force. Very fine and extremely rare, oversized, center seconds, anti-magnetic, anti-corrosion stainless steel military pilot?s wristwatch with indirect seconds and a very long aviator?s leather strap. Accompanied by an IWC service warranty dated November 28th, 2006 along with correspondence of authenticity with detailed technical descriptions.

USD 40,000 - 60,000

CHF 35,000 - 50,000 / EUR 27,000 - 40,000

Sold: USD 47,500

C. Four-body, matte gray, inclined bezel, concave lugs, large winding crown, stainless steel anti-magnetic lunette to protect the movement against magnetic fields, snap-on case back, band engraved ?FL 23883.? D. Black with luminous Arabic numerals and baton indexes, outer minute track. Luminous blued steel lozenge hands. M. Cal 52 SC, gilt brass, 15 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, bimetallic balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, micrometer regulator, hack mechanism. Case and movement signed. Diam. 55 mm. Thickness 17 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2

Very good
Movement: 2*

Very good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

Die Grosse Fliegeruhr: this model is one of the watches delivered to the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, supplying their pilots with a wristwatch that was accurate, robust, and easy to read during missions. A good example of their first use is the ?Battle of Britain? 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 correct for the 1940 ?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.): 1014550 - (Anforderz, German for Classification Number): FL 23883. The FL 23883 number indicates the watch?s assignation. ?FL? stands for flight qualified; the first two numbers indicate the department the watch was assigned to. 22 was the flight control department, 25 was 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), the caliber was 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. The present watch comes in very good condition after a service by IWC in 2006 and is accompanied by reissued certificate of authenticity. Additionally, the watch comes with a letter, dated December 22, 1975, from IWC describing the watch and mentioning potential collectable interest.