Well I went to a antique fair today before the superbowl and so this clock for sell cheap I could not pass on it.My first German WW2 military piece in my collection.Here are some photo's

Congratulations! A great evergreen classic, in good shape! ...and with a clear and sharp Waffenamt!
How was the Superbowl?

Claudio
Was a realy good game and the team I wanted to win did.

Here is a better photo of the hands I used a book made for the kriegsmarine the German Navy as a prop.The book was made in the 1930's before the war started.I think it was there version of the blue jacket's manual we use to get in the US Navy.

Very nice find Mike. Looks to be in very good condition as well.

Ray

Well, the clock belonged to the Heer, but, even if the dial seems to be of the later production, the clock seems to be made in the late '39 or in the early era of the war, too.
These clocks have been very often produced by Junghans and they mount almost all the same movement, but there are a lot of small variations for colour, markings and so on...
I cannot see if there is any year marking.
Regrettably, the heer clocks aren't a matter I studied (and collected) enough.

Cool German Heer (Army) clock, Mike. Thank you for the images.

Here is an older post with additional information:

Message Center Clock

Greg
Seeing your post some time back.Told me what this was when I saw it at the antique fair.So thanks.And you got a nice one with the leather case.And I got it for a great price most timepieces made in Germany durring WW2 I can't aford to buy the swiss ones sold to Germany are in my price range so it great to have a German made one.Now I got one.Greg would it ruin the value to touch up the paint missing on the wood base.

Is it just the photo or does the hour hand not match the hour hand in its patina?

My suggestion about the paint is to not to attempt to touch it up. There is no way that a touch up would perfectly match the shade of black and the patina so it would not really be much of an improvement, and most collectors prefer to have something like this in its original condition.

Looks like some did a repair an the hour hand with a lupe you can see cracks in the lume some in the past could of put some thing on the hand to prevent it from loosing the lume just a guess.

Only for a curio.
You can be sure that this clock was produced in Schramberg.
In fact, the WaffenAmt n° 178 was dedicated exclusively to the Gebr. Junghans A.G., Schramberg, Schwarzwald, timepieces factory.
Usually, one WaffenAmt office could cover the controls of more than one factory. Junghans was so big, important and productive that at least three WaffenAmt offices was dedicated to its productions.
This one, the n° 178, was one (the biggest) of the three waffenamt offices dedicated to the Junghans only.
Junghans had its most important factory in Schramberg, in the Black Forrest area, but, under the control of other WaffenAmt offices, produced timepieces in other smaller factories too: Schwenningen, Renchen, Wien, Exbrücke, Brunau and Dammerkirch.

Claudio
Thanks for all the info.I just droped off the clock for a service it was running a little fast and who know's the last time it had a service.

and the price for these are going through the roof
Look Junghans

Count yourself very lucky. Congrats and enjoy.

best regards

I am a bit suspicious about that completed auction that went for 1.004 Euros which is 1,360 dollars. Perhaps it might be due to the dial markings that showed that one was a Navy version with the dial marked Kriegsmarine? Or perhaps there it was something else going on?

Here are two recently completed auctions for Army versions - which are of the variety that Mike was lucky to find (his is also an Army message center clock). Note that both of these completed auctions included the original leather carrying cases which are often not found with these clocks and so give extra desireability. Both sold for about 400 dollars which is about 300 Euros which are more in line with other auctions I have seen where the examples had everything going for them and where there was strong competition. I have seen others go for less. They are very nice and desireable timepieces with interesting histories but they do not seem to be rare enough compared to the numbers of collectors to command very high prices yet. Also, since they were not used in combat situations like their close relatives that were used in aircraft instrument panels they do not have quite the same level of competition in the auctions - though Ebay has dramatically lowered the prices realized on even those since there seems to be a pretty large supply of those coming on to Ebay auctions compared to what was thought prior to Ebay days.


Message Center clock completed auction 1

Message Cehter clock completed auction 2

Jim
I saw another sell for 600.00 with out Kriegsmaarine on the dial on the bay.I posted mine on a few forum and some military collectors seen these around and did not know what they are.So now that they know the price of these I think will go up becouse now they know what they are.German and British military time pieces sell at a higher price than the US becouse there are less of them around.So Jim if you want one of these clocks in your collection you better get one becouse I think the price is going up.By the way I only paid 150.00 for mine.

Well another one went for less but it was without the swastica. without
The amazing result of the first was discussed here in Germany, on Flying Time Forum, with swastica they also agreed it must have gone that far because of the "bird", as it is very rare!
regards

Werner
Nice military forum you have in Germany.I checked it out.I wish I could read German the photo's were great.Some of those forum member's got some nice watches in there collection's.
Mike

Hello Mike,
glad you had a look in. If you´re in need of a translation, give me a buzz or...use this...
translator It may be a bad translation but at least you´ll know what´s going on.
Regards

Well, this kind of clock is not rare. I would, on the contrary, definy them quite common.
Of course, there are some less common models, made, for example, by smaller producers.
Anyway there are at least a pair of dozens of different models, made for Luftwaffe, Heer, Kriegsmarine, made by at least four makers, varnished or painted.
Some are more common, some are rarer.
The leather or pressed carton boxes are much rarer than the clocks themselves and command higher prices.
This is the Rule.

Some of the last auctions are quite odd and cannot be considered, in my opinion, a new rule.
In Italy they say "A single swallow doesn't mean spring time"...

I mean...
Look at this.
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAP...em=290404217889.html
When I see two different auctions, for the same item, finished one for 500.00 and the other, even if in worse condition, for 1000.00... I always go to see the bids made and I very often find oddities.
Some rare factors can influence the final prices... in the case of the most expensive KM I think that there has been maybe a duel for it, between a pair of buyers, who both made bids too early, like beginners.
But they weren't: they have hundreds of feedbacks. Maybe they both loved and desidered the item too much..!
In these cases the final price can be a surprise. Never an investment....
KM are very often found with the svastika, or the intere eagles or the intere writing "Kriegsmarine" badly and sadly scratched, cancelled, overpainted and this make a good, complete clocks rarer and more valuable: they of course command higher prices, but still reasonable.
So high and crazy prices are not a rule and I don't think they'r significant. For sure, I think this doesn't mean a upward trend.

Claudio, its not the clock that is rare, its what is on the dial. I´ll bet my last boots that Marine Clocks with that dial will always command those prices...want a bet?
Another good example is the IWC Marine Chrono Cal.67, luminous, with and without the bird, with the bird 1500€ and upwards, without the bird and not luminous 400-500€
Regards

I know.
But I'm afraid that those eagles don't worth so much!
I think my english must be not good enough to be understood, because I've already said the same thing...

Well, I meant:
Two auctions ended in the same afternoon: both for a KM clock, BOTH complete with the dial, eagle and svastika.

One, the first, in better conditions, (only a minor part replaced: the rear knob... Am I wrong? Didn't I see any important defects?) sold for € 511,60... (That is the price I would imagine correct, or still quite expensive, for such a rare item)
The other, without the glass and with a much less well preserved dial, reached € 1.004,00...

Mmmhh... I really would have preferred the first one... Don't you see any oddity? Can this oddity become a rule?
Since difference is really appreciable, and since those prices DON'T seem to describe the same trend, which price is the more correct, in your opinion?

Do you really think that in both the auctions everything's ok?
And that this is the... market trend?
Have you seen the bids list, for the most expensive?
Seven-eight quite early bids in a row could really indicate a "generalized upward trend of the market" (very impressive, since the auction ended four hours after the other one...) as it seems you think, or... a single man fever? or, maybe, a duel between two (rich or desperate) collectors, not very indicative for the market trend?

I've have been registred in ebay since 1999 and I've learnt that erratic prices can pop up here and there, now and then, and for the most different reasons...

The seven bids in a row, was someone who wanted to know what the Person above him bid, then when he caught up with him 14:36:54 he went above his bid
time 14:37:23. The Guy he was trying to reach, put in his bid at 12:51:08...Look at what the guy who got the clock has been bidding on in the past;
sammeln und seltenes>1918-1945 and Collectibles> WWII (1939-1945) so he knew exactly what he was bidding on. The fellow who won the auction, came out of nowhere, had no bid beforehand, so it doesn´t look like a price duell to me
I completely agree with you, the price is much to high, and as we also say here...eine Schwalbe macht noch keinen Sommer...or as you said it ..."A single swallow doesn't mean spring time"...
I personally do see an upward trend in vintage military clocks and watches

Regards