⭕ Here for your consideration is a magnificent and extremely rare, genuine authentic, Stowa B-Uhr, Type A, 1939-41 World War II German military, Luftwaffe, Pilot/Navigator, Aviation watch, stamped FL23XXX on the side. This stunning watch has a beautiful black dial, luminous Arabic numbers and markers, with manual wind movement.

Provenance - By descent to present owner, from a World War II pilot. This watch until recently had remained completely untouched for over 70 years. Its now just undergone a complete service, and is keeping extremely good time (six seconds a day) not bad for a 76 year old watch, and will come complete with this recent service invoice !!

The watch number which is engraved on the inside of the rear cover and is numbered 51XX. This matching number is also engraved on the movement. The dial is a type A produced between 1939-1941 and is in wonderful condition as are the original blue steel hands. This watch has just had a replacement plexiglass fitted, so could be used as a daily wearable watch.

It has a lovely clean Unitas calibre 2812 movement, finished in nickel plate with Geneva stripes. A fine swan neck regulation. The movement is in extremely good clean condition and is running very well. This watch winds smoothly and the stop second function is working correctly enabling synchronisation with other timepieces. The watch comes complete with four different interchangeable straps depending on your mood. The original straps were bulky and very long resulting in there being lots of spare strap left flopping around when on the wrist, due to the fact that they were made to fit over a leather padded flying jacket and gloves.

These genuine original type A Stowa B-uhr watches dont come onto the market very often. A fabulous opportunity for a collector to acquire a superb example of a watch which will only ever increase in value. Just a really wonderful piece of German WWII military history.

History of the German B-Uhr Watch (Observation watch) ...
As Germany prepared for war the German Ministry of Aviation responsible for aircraft development understood that being able to coordinate mass attacks combined with the use of cutting edge weaponry would ensure overwhelming results in their war efforts. As timing was a key element to unmatched precision, the German Ministry of Aviation sought a commensurate time piece for its bomber pilots/navigators.
This responsibility to produce accurate and usable timepieces with which to control the war was given to five manufacturers: A.Lange and Sohne, IWC, Wempe, Laco and Stowa. The B-Uhr watches (B-Uhr in German stands for Beobachtungsuhr or observation watch in english) had a diameter of 55mm to accommodated large hand-wound movements typically used in pocket watches, black dials with white Arabic numerals and flame-blued sword hands covered in luminous material further aided their task of precise reading.
There were two variations of the B-Uhr, the type A and type B-dials. The A dial is a much cleaner design with large 1 to 11 numericals, all numerical markers were also filled with luminous radium material. The dials also featured a unique triangle mark at the 12 oclock position designed for the upward orientation of the dial of the watch during flight.
In order to be able to synchronize the time of several watches and coordinate war operations the movements were capable of stopping the central seconds hand by pulling the crown (hacking), oversized diamond or onion crowns could be operated wearing gloves on the hand, and the B-uhr watch came with a long leather strap to fit over the pilots/navigators leather flying jackets.
Wempe and Stowa used Swiss movements: Wempe used the Thommen cal. 31, Stowa used the Unitas cal. 2812. Lange used its big cal. 48 and then its cal. 48.1, and Laco used its (Durowe) cal. 5 -- the only two companies to use in-house German movements. All the watches were marked FL23883, FL meaning fliegnummer (flying number), 23 designated it as a device for flight monitoring and the 883 was assigned by the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (German Testing Office for Aeronautics). The watches were actually the property of the Luftwaffe and the pilots/navigators had to sign them in and out before and after every mission, so as you can probably imagine, quite a few of these watches ended up getting destroyed or are sat decaying on the sea bed. These watches remind us of a horrific time in human history, but they also capture a desire to make the best possible timepieces, to do a much needed job. The B-Uhr design is a good example of form following function and one that attracts many watch-enthusiasts to this day !!
Dimensions as follows ...
Height: 0.75 inches or 2 cm (highest point)

Length: 11.25 inches or 28.5 cm (including strap)

Length: 2.5 inches or 6.5 cm (without strap)

Diameter: 2.15 inches or 55 mm (casing)

Diameter: 2.35 inches or 60 mm (casing including crown)

Weight: 162 grams or 5.7 oz

This is as good as it gets with regards to genuine, authentic, original, World War II watches. An extremely rare find indeed. Ive only got one, once its gone .... its gone, and if theres one thing Ive learned about antiques, when items are of quality and rare he who hesitates usually loses out.

These very rare, authentic original, B-uhr watches, have become hugely collectable and would add value to any military or watch collection. A magnificent and stylish World War II timepiece. A real must for any serious collector.

Authentic and very rare World War II watches are really appreciating in value. (Forget about trying to earn interest in the bank, purchase a Luftwaffe Stowa B-uhr WWII watch youll get a better return).

This watch would make an ideal gift. A truly stunning piece of workmanship, in really lovely condition, as you can see from our photos, just a magnificent watch. If you want to get noticed and be the envy of all your friends, then trust me, this exquisite timepiece, will have that desired effect. What is nice is the fact that no one knows what it is, youll get plenty of questions about the watch, how you want to answer them is entirely up to you, but unlike a more common desired watch, you wont get hit over the head, and it can be worn anywhere, knowing that its value is completely safe !!