Eaglemoss Military Watches Collection.

At the close of World War 1, the victorious Allied nations imposed the Treaty of Versailles, a rigid set of rules on the defeated German nation, all branches of the armed forces were restricted in both numbers and equipment, the Army was allowed to have no more than 100,000 personnel and armoured vehicles of any kind were not permitted, the navy had a mere 15,000 personnel, strict limits on displacement and all submarine were prohibited. Germany was forbidden an air force, and all military aircraft were destroyed.
Germany was once again allowed to manufacture civilian aircraft in 1922, but they realised the importance of military air power and in April 1925, in Russian territory at Lipetsk, they secretly co-established a fighter pilot school.
The school established a core of trained pilots who came under the control of the Ministry of aviation, a quasi-military authority who effectively controlled all the private flying and gliding clubs in Germany, leading eventually to the creation of the Luftwaffe in 1935, an action that openly ignored the Versailles treaty.
The pilots of the day often purchased their own timepieces for aviation use, at the time Germany did not have an established manufacturing base so they would have been of Swiss manufacture, made by one of a large number of suppliers, including Zenith who's watch is represented here. They would have had a large black dial, a serrated case, revolving bezel and large onion crown, all designed for ease of operation when wearing heavy padded flying gloves.






Case

Polished 34.7mm case, 38.3mm with crown, 9.1mm deep, 42.3mm Lug to Lug, 16mm lug width.

Interior diameter 29.5mm, 5.9mm deep, 6mm 'onion' crown, 31.5mm flat glass,

Dial

Period Swiss dial, Black with Railtrack minute scale and Arabic 1-12 numbers

Polished, skeleton type, hour and minute hands with white infill, and a slim polished seconds hand with an arrow head.

Strap

Tan PU leather strap, polished buckle, approx. fitting 175/215mm







Beware! Another dial suffering from adhesion to the case and loosing paint