Eaglemoss Military Watches Collection.
MWC 66 - German Airman 1970s
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, Aug 25, 2016 at 03:27 PM (6407 Views)
As the West German Luftwaffe became more central to the NATO defence forces in Europe they were increasingly the first to be supplied with the most up to date aircraft.
The Lockheed F104 Starfighter had a poor reputation, more than 915 were delivered and 292 crashed with 116 pilots losing their life, the West German nicknamed them "Widow-maker" or "Flying coffin" It was learned that the training regimen developed in the USA did not translate well to the European Weather and terrain.
From 1971 onwards the Starfighter was replaced by the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, the delivery of these new multi-purpose jets coincided with a general reorganisation throughout NATO, mainly due to the increased deployment of Nuclear weapons throughout Europe.
The West German Flight crews, as usual, had the best possible timepieces, The Heuer Bundeswehr Chronograph is still a highly desirable watch and even by today's standards is a very reliable and accurate timepiece, there are dozens of dial variations, different logos, markings and font styles depending on the exact date of manufacture, but all have the same high-quality Valjoux movement. Original versions can easily reach £5000
Case
Polished 33mm case, 35.5mm with crown, 9mm deep, 38mm Lug to Lug, 16mm lug width.
Interior diameter 27.3mm, 6mm deep, 5mm crown, 24.5mm flat glass,
Coin edge bezel (non-rotating) with 31mm Black insert with silver minute scale marked at 15-minute intervals and a triangle at 12
"Chronograph" pushers at 2 and 4 actually move but obviously do nothing.
Dial
25.5mm Black dial, white minutes scale with Arabic numbers at 5-minute marks, green Arabic hour markers 1 through 12
Polished pencil style Hour and Minute hands with green infill, the slim polished centre seconds hand has a green filled arrow at the tip
Strap
Black 16mm Nylon strap, polished buckle, approx. fitting 170/210mm