1940‘s Laco B-Uhr

Inventory number: WW1809043

Produced in 1940s, 55mm, nickel-plated brass, manual-winding caliber Durowe Cal.5, 17 jewels, 18000 vph.

Functions: hours, minutes, a pilot’s navigation wristwatch. 

Luminous hour markers. Engraved “FL23883” on the case edge. FL stands for “Fliegnummer” which translates to flying number. 23 designed the watch as device for flight monitoring and 883 was assigned by the German Testing Office for Aeronautics.

Historical Background:

In 1935, Adolf Hitler announced his plans to reconstitute Germany’s Air Force and officially created the Luftwaffe. B-Uhren is an abbreviation for Beobachtungs-Uhren, literally Observation watches. B-Uhr is singular, and B-Uhren is plural. Four German manufacturers A. Lange & Söhne, Wempe, Lacher & Co/Durowe (Laco), and Walter Storz (Stowa) produced around 20000 pieces of these watches. And around 6500 pieces were produced by Laco. After the war, these B-Uhren were remained less than 10,000 pieces. The B-Uhr was designed when Germany began to reequip its military, specifically the Luftwaffe, but few knew what aggression the watch would serve. Bred to equip the military navigator, the B-Uhr remains a marvel of clean design and simplicity.