My father-in-law says the guy who sold him it couldn't tell him what it was or what it was for. It might date back to World War I and perhaps is some sort of timer for artillery. Any help would be appreciated.
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GREETINGS MICNAEL, COULD IT BE A TORPEDO TIMER? ALSO IT WAS MADE BY THE HAMBURG AMERICAN CLOCK COMPANY IN GERMANY. THIS COMPANY WAS A JUNGHANS BROS. SPINOFF COMPANY.

I believe stopwatches were used for torpedo timing.

Does this work and if so what are the timing intervals? Is is six tenths of a second, six seconds or six minutes?

Is there a marking under the hand? Is it a letter 'k' ? If so that would likely mean that the it would stand for 'Mark 27a' which would make it a British timer of some kind. But then there would be the question of the meaning of the crossed arrows. The British military used an arrowhead and not crossed arrows as their standard military marking.

I have seen other examples of these timers. But I continue to have no clear answer as to what it was used for.

As noted by Eddie, the crossed arrow mark is a trade mark of the Hamburg American Clock Co. If you can locate reproductions of their catalogs you might find an example pictured. However, if the timer was made on contract for some other company it will be harder to determine what it was used for.

My best guess is that the timer was part of a telegraph, early radio transmitter, or maybe even light house equipment. Something designed to send out regular pre-timed signals.

Thank you for posting the images. If you find any new information we would like to hear back from you.

Mssrs Hines, Hester and Crockett;
Thank you for your replies.
You've all given me some avenues to explore.
I must admit that I have not tried to operate the timer.
Next time I visit, I'll try to see if it works.

When you get a chance to examine it more closely, please also let us know if it has any markings on the back. From what I can see it has no markings on the parts that are in the photos that would indicate it is a military timepiece. If it has any, perhaps they are on the back. If there are no military markings, it would be quite unlikely to be a military timepiece as all of the militaries have always been quite careful to fully mark their timepieces since they were relatively valuable and were small and easy to make off with when no one was looking.

Hallo friends,
I am very sure that these timers are 'Telephone Timers'.
When you wanted to make a phone call in early decades of last century, you went to the next bar and the keeper did allow you to make the call for max. 6 min. and started the timer. After 6 min a bell did ring to ask you to stop blocking the line!
I even knew them, made by Junghans, as a child in Germany!
So no Kriegsmarine, no U-Boot, no Artillery!!
Greetings Konrad Knirim
www.knirim.de

Thank you Konrad!

While it's not military, it is never the less an intersting historical artifact.

(If only we could hook it up to limit kids text messages to 6 min.)

Best regards,
Greg

Thank you very much Herr Knirim.
I shall pass this information to my father-in-law.