IWC B-Uhr Revision

[Nagraboy]

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

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

[Geronimo]

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

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

[Carlton-Browne]

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

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.