IWC B-Uhr Revision

When was the last time you saw an IWC B-Uhr Cal 52T H6 SC taken apart, probably never, at least I couldn't find any pictures on the net.
So for your pleasure here is one that needed to be repaired.

The mainspring of my IWC B-Uhr was broken, so the watch was sent to the watchmakers of my confidence;-) with the request to take lots of pictures ... It was worth it!
The Maltese Cross/Stop-works and the friction spring of the sweep second hand also had to be repaired.
Under the dial, which by the way was made by Singer, (who amongst others, supplied Rolex) there was a piece of paper/ note which says "Gräfenhainichen", this being carefully coated with Zapon /clear- varnish. The meaning of that we don't know yet, we are still working on it, for sure though, the town Gräfenhainichen is a small rural town ca. 25 km southwest of Wittenberg, southeast of Dessau and northeast of Bitterfeld on the edge of the Düben Heath (Dübener Heide)
https://www.google.de/maps/place/Gr%...236659f806e0c0

What was there in WW2. respective to the watch?

As far as I know, there are no pictures on the net of a disassembled B-Uhr, so maybe here's a Premiere!
Dial
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps6ik7j1y4.jpg
Caseback
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...psv6zkgukr.jpg
Movement before disassembly
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps8hvyngt2.jpg
Inside back case-lid
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps6so1lrxj.jpg
Movement
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps4rhzqgv5.jpg
Movement without bridge
[http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...pslstbmgr4.jpg
Bridge and centre seconds wheel and pinion
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...psss0ltnit.jpg
Barrel Assy with Stop Works/Maltese-Cross and broken Mainspring
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...psttsltd1e.jpg
Movement under the dial
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps7ifdwv0s.jpg
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps0lsaykxq.jpg
Underneath the dial
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps4hibwwxs.jpg

Hope you enjoyed seeing the movement apart, as much as I did when I first saw the pictures.

Best Regards
Jimmy

Thanks for these, great to see.

As a wild guess could the dial have been printed in Grafenhainichen, as it had an established printing industry?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alfat33

Thanks for these, great to see.

As a wild guess could the dial have been printed in Grafenhainichen, as it had an established printing industry?

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Well that's a great lead to work on and I thank you for it.

I'd love to hear what you find out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alfat33

I'd love to hear what you find out.

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I'll keep the thread updated on this ;-)

You may find this interesting. Especially the s/n.

http://www.iwc.com/forum/en/discussion/60097/

Yes very interesting...I wrote it ;-)

Jimmy

Cool pics

Very nice pictures thanks or the post

Very interesting pictures Jimmy, not sure on the note, maybe as mentioned the dial was from there or maybe something personal to the assembler of the watch?!
i am sure this will be used as a reference thread in the future.


mike

Wow is all I can say. Thanks for sharing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geronimo

I'll keep the thread updated on this ;-)

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Did you manage to find out anything about the dial? My research is limited to Google so all I can do is confirm that there were lots of printing firms around there and also a Junkers factory or facility.

Nice one!

Nice piece. Am starting to like these pilots!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pottifar

Nice one!

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by alfat33

I'd love to hear what you find out.

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Well Gentlemen, the puzzle has been solved !!!
.My watchmaker got in contact with the person in charge of the town archives of Gräfenheinichen, they dug into their files for information on O.Gräfe...
They gave him the name and tel. no. of his successor, and he was surprised that O Gräfes successor was awaiting his tel call. Apparantly the town archives had got in contact with him shortly after speaking to my watchmaker.

This is what was told:
Otto Gräfe (as on the piece of paper O.Gräfe) was indeed a watchmaker and jewler in that town, he was repairing watches for the Wehrmacht/Luftwaffe untill around 1944, he decided to join the SS, which was his downfall. He was sent to Stalingrad, where he died.
The successor spoke of an old box somewhere in the basement/cellar where, if he remembered rightly, were a few tools and watch parts, still stored from the war years.
Watch this space...the best is yet to come !

Jimmy

Wow, that's quite a discovery! I'm surprised you aren't on the first flight over :). Now we want pictures of the toolbox.

Enjoyed this thread, thanks. What a great story

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geronimo

Well Gentlemen, the puzzle has been solved !!!
.My watchmaker got in contact with the person in charge of the town archives of Gräfenheinichen, they dug into their files for information on O.Gräfe...
They gave him the name and tel. no. of his successor, and he was surprised that O Gräfes successor was awaiting his tel call. Apparantly the town archives had got in contact with him shortly after speaking to my watchmaker.

This is what was told:
Otto Gräfe (as on the piece of paper O.Gräfe) was indeed a watchmaker and jewler in that town, he was repairing watches for the Wehrmacht/Luftwaffe untill around 1944, he decided to join the SS, which was his downfall. He was sent to Stalingrad, where he died.
The successor spoke of an old box somewhere in the basement/cellar where, if he remembered rightly, were a few tools and watch parts, still stored from the war years.
Watch this space...the best is yet to come !

Jimmy

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I think the successor is incorrect on some details here. There were no SS units involved at Stalingrad and the battle there was over by early 1943. Perhaps he meant after the Stalingrad defeat and was talking about events after the battle but further west?

Wonderful to see an original IWC wartime watch, thanks for posting :eagerness:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nagraboy

I think the successor is incorrect on some details here. There were no SS units involved at Stalingrad and the battle there was over by early 1943. Perhaps he meant after the Stalingrad defeat and was talking about events after the battle but further west?

Wonderful to see an original IWC wartime watch, thanks for posting :eagerness:

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Maybe the succsessor mixed things up in his mind, meaning Wehrmacht and transcribing it automatically to SS, Who knows ???

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geronimo

Maybe the succsessor mixed things up in his mind, meaning Wehrmacht and transcribing it automatically to SS, Who knows ???

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Indeed, plenty of opportunity for confusion. My wife first told me that her father was in the SS and it transpired that he was in the SA; being a civil servant (beamter) he had been pretty much given no choice but to join up. Mercifully he was taken POW in North Africa and had a fairly civilised war in the UK and Canada. Of course there were no SS in North Africa either; I believe at the specific stipulation of Rommel.

I'm looking forward to the updates on this one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geronimo

Well Gentlemen, the puzzle has been solved !!!
.My watchmaker got in contact with the person in charge of the town archives of Gräfenheinichen, they dug into their files for information on O.Gräfe...
They gave him the name and tel. no. of his successor, and he was surprised that O Gräfes successor was awaiting his tel call. Apparantly the town archives had got in contact with him shortly after speaking to my watchmaker.

This is what was told:
Otto Gräfe (as on the piece of paper O.Gräfe) was indeed a watchmaker and jewler in that town, he was repairing watches for the Wehrmacht/Luftwaffe untill around 1944, he decided to join the SS, which was his downfall. He was sent to Stalingrad, where he died.
The successor spoke of an old box somewhere in the basement/cellar where, if he remembered rightly, were a few tools and watch parts, still stored from the war years.
Watch this space...the best is yet to come !

Jimmy

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So any update on this fascinating story? Was there a secret stash of NOS B-Uhr parts?

Classic thread, very interesting

Stalingrad was the winter of 42/43, so maybe the Eastern Front rather than Stalingrad itself?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wonderful article and pictures. Great piece of social history.
Any info on the box?

Absolutely fascinating...

Mozza


Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geronimo

When was the last time you saw an IWC B-Uhr Cal 52T H6 SC taken apart, probably never, at least I couldn't find any pictures on the net.
So for your pleasure here is one that needed to be repaired.

The mainspring of my IWC B-Uhr was broken, so the watch was sent to the watchmakers of my confidence;-) with the request to take lots of pictures ... It was worth it!
The Maltese Cross/Stop-works and the friction spring of the sweep second hand also had to be repaired.
Under the dial, which by the way was made by Singer, (who amongst others, supplied Rolex) there was a piece of paper/ note which says "Gräfenhainichen", this being carefully coated with Zapon /clear- varnish. The meaning of that we don't know yet, we are still working on it, for sure though, the town Gräfenhainichen is a small rural town ca. 25 km southwest of Wittenberg, southeast of Dessau and northeast of Bitterfeld on the edge of the Düben Heath (Dübener Heide)



Best Regards
Jimmy

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Hi Geronimo, I've seen you have been back on the forum recently. You've got to put us out of our misery! [emoji848]Did you ever get to Gräfenhainichen?