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(From the British Horological Journal)

The Mk 11 Air Chronometer.
With the above requirements in mind
specifications were devised for a true ‘Air
Chronometer’. The result is well known:
the legendary Mk 11 which was not
available until 1949. Its characteristic
features were laid down in its initial
specifications:
a highly accurate movement with
hack-device,
an inner soft iron cage forming a
shield to screen the movement against
magnetic interference, the dial being an
integral part of this soft iron cage,
a stainless steel waterproof case with
the crystal secured by a screwed ring to
prevent it detaching from the case during
sudden depressurization, and
a black dial with luminous markers
and hands (the Mk VII and MK. VIII
originally had white dials and were not
luminous until later re-dialing).
For the RAF astro-navigation remained
essential for only 15 years, until the
‘Consol system’ of military radio beacons,
which almost entirely covered the
northern hemisphere, was established.
Ironically, the name ‘Consol’ derives from
a set of radio beacons set up by the
Luftwaffe in WW II to provide a cross
pattern of beams as a navigational aid for
its long range sea reconnaissance aircraft
over the Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay.
Much to the surprise of the Luftwaffe
those radio beacons were never jammed
as they were used by the British Coastal
Command to hunt German U-Boats.
For the RAF, after introduction of the
Consol system astronavigation was only
used as a back-up in case of technical
failure or jamming.
Consol was not available in the southern
hemisphere. Accordingly the Air Forces of
Australia, New Zealand and South Africa
continued to rely on astro-navigation
much longer and continued buying Mk 11
watches for their aircrews. BOAC, the
forerunner of BA, bought Mk 11 watches
to allow its crews to use astronavigation on
intercontinental flights.

Cool watch, Enzo. As reflected by the final bid, it is also highly sought after.

Thanks for the post,

Greg

I´m afraid the delivery date quoted by Enzo isn´t quite correct, because mine was dated 1948!








Here is the Astro Compass the watch was used with

...not me Werner but The British Horological Journal.....
rgds

This only confirms, once again, that no source and no author is perfect and that everybody of us is here to make errors and learn...
Even when one of us is only making "copy and paste", all of us are "Always friendly, always moving forward!"
Here.

Hi,

[/]

The fact that the posted IWC has the ..../48 date doesnt necessarily mean that it entered into service in 1948.

The BHI article has used the correct wording to address the issue.

That stamping format is a logistic data after a Gvmt spec requirement and it is present in the same exact form on several thousands of IWC Mark XI just changing the serial # but it is not an '' in-service date''.

Excellent British Authors of Military watches articles havent been able to ascertain the Mark XI ''in-service date'' and I doubt anybody could do it because it is a data not even available at IWC.

For a modest 40 GBP contribution IWC could supply the shipment date and the actual recipent but that date is beyond their own control.

I will be glad to see an official evidence that the Mark XI was delivered to service to pilots/navigators in 1948 as mentioned above.

rgds

quote:

...not me Werner but The British Horological Journal.....

Hi Enzo,
not the British Horological Journal, but the article written by Matthias Christian, Thomas König und Greg Steer, which the BHJ printed.

quote:

Excellent British Authors of Military watches articles havent been able to ascertain the Mark XI ''in-service date'' and I doubt anybody could do it because it is a data not even available at IWC.

Then why say it was issued in 1949, if no one really knows?

quote:

I will be glad to see an official evidence that the Mark XI was delivered to service to pilots/navigators in 1948 as mentioned above.

and I would be glad to see official evidence to prove they were issued in 1949!
This is the information on date of production for the movement of my watch.
1946 1,130,201-1,131,400 c. 88 - 12lig. INCA

It´s as I have written on several other occasions,
up till now, there is no proof whether the watches were issued in `48 or `49.

here´s what Ziggy wrote;
excerpts from Ziggy Wesolowski in England, author of the Concise Guide to Military Timepieces posted by Michael Friedberg.
"The Mark XI's were indeed first produced and issued in 1948. The T emblem was not used for sometime, perhaps not until well into the 1960's... I know that earlier watches do bear this emblem, but they would be ones that were bought up to the most modern spec, probably by having the dial refinished (often by the military), with the addition of the T."

to be found here:
http://www.fortunecity.com/oly...gner/379/Mark.XI.htm


Regards

Thanks for good references, links and sources, always appreciated, Werner!

[/]

You´re more than welcome Claudio.
Here´s one more link, it compares IWC Mk 11 with Jaeger LeCoultre Mk 11;
http://www.markeleven.com/

[/]

Regards

[/]

It's always a pleasure to speak with educated and polite people, thanks for the new and interesting link: you are making this modest thread a good reference point and it is collecting a lot of contacts!!
Infact, those timepieces are very interesting and sought after (and faked), but not many sources are available to study and understand.

Enzo,
Are you in the process of restoring the “It happened over Belguim” watch on the German military watch forum? If so, I never thought what you did to that watch was possible, a link on this site with the photos would be of interest.

If it was you, you truly are an artisan of watchmaking.

Hi Ray,

yes, that's me...not a bad idea though, I sure will...and now let me answer the other posts...

Being myself just an hoist of this Forum MY modest thread started in October 2007 so three years ago with the simple intent to present to the many a watch that has became a symbol of the Military Horology of the Commonwealth Armed Forces and of some others...

Since then it had received a very welcome post from Mr. G. Crockett and almost 3000 visits making this thread one of the highest visits/posts ratio here meaning that the argument enjoyed reader's high interest.

I am sure it has given the lead and some light to people interested in the subject just for to keep them simply consulting and/or researching because the attached article is very well written, assembled by reliable sources and sponsored by a well renamed Institution and is worth some respect and not a start for polemics.

[/]

rgds

I was sure about a different surname of that italian expert watchmaker... Am I wrong?

Thank you Lindell for your mediative attempt, I have no problems with either 1948 or 1949...

Here´s what Konrad Knirim had to say about the watch;
The legendary 'Mark XI': They went in the air from 1948 on the wrists of countless pilots.
to be found here: Knirim
open the Google translator if your German isn´t up to scratch, there are more details in German than in English!

Werner, do you know which one is rarer: the 1948 or the 1949?

As I wrote, nobody's perfect and everybody can make mistakes...

Renamed authors and renamed institute do really worth to be respected: that's right. Really.
Marvin Whitney, his editors and his institutes are between them, I think. Between the very best, I would say, dear friends...

Hi Claudio, here´s what Zaf Basha recorded, (he wrote an exellent Book)
There were 7,650 Cal. 89 Mark 11s produced between 1957 (first placed into service in 1948) and 1952. All of these had a broadarrow on the bridge. After 1952, broadarrows were no longer placed on the bridge for military IWC Mark 11s.

I really don´t know the answer to your question, but if you compare the amount of Jaeger LeCoultre Mark 11 made, I would tip on `48.
Date Batch Serial From / To
12/4/48 - 500 - 590,466 - 590,965
12/16/48 - 500 - 590,966 - 591,465
1/24/49 - 500 - 594,466 - 594,965
2/10/49 - 100 - 598,466 - 598,565
2/10/49 - 500 - 594,966 - 595,465
9/17/49 - 250 - 640,604 - 640,853
2/11/53 - 600 - 912,425 - 913,024
Total 2,950

Look at his page (what the man doesn´t know about Mk 11 isnt worth knowing)
Mark 11

one more from 1948. With extracts from the archives for the non believers!!!

and one more from 1948, belongs to a collector and friend of mine.

and here is the certificate of authenticity from IWC for my watch, which I had done to prove its provenance, seeing someone called it "dubious"...



notice lieferjahr...Delivery year ...1948

How sweet it is to be vindicated when you're surrounded by doubters!!! Well done mein freund!!! : Das ist der absolute hammer!!!

Tom, I had a good laugh, I´ll have to watch out, your German is nearly as good as mine...