This is a wwi stopwatch 120 seconds for one full run of the second hand. The little windows in the paper dial change colour every turn yellow green and red. The dial is made of paper with a stamp Eigentum der Fliegertruppe. The colours are a bit misleading as the concept of a traffic light with the phases green for go yellow for wait and red for stop only came into existence at a much later point in time..... What could this watch have been used for?

This is a hard one, Oliver.

The easy part is the - "Eigentum der Fliegertruppen", which means this spendid timer was the property of the German flight troops, or airforce, as we might call it today.

I might guess it is another form of A.A. gun timer. But I'm not sure if the Fleigertrupp had authority over anti aircraft guns in WWI or if that function was still a part of the artillery. If not for anti aircraft guns, then that leaves air navigation or maybe use in airial bombing? That's the best I can do.

The timer also appears to have hands like a regular watch, is it by chance a chronograph?

Best regards,

Greg

I was thinking aerial bombing, three colours of light, green means drop it?

the answer is we dunno... it seems to be a regular chrono altered for special usage. strange that the second hand takes two minutes for one tour. aa was not part of the airforce hence maybe somnething for engine testing? zeppelin related? engine warm up? we do not know it apears to be almost unique.

Hi Oliver,

A mistery timepiece!

We can at least see that something was expected to take place within 120 seconds of the next (similar?) event, and that there were at least three such events - one for each color. We might guess that it was something timed by the Fliegertruppen instead of by a factory or the regular Army and that it was something which was important enough to make at least one special timer to record ....hummmmm...

A logic puzzle, for which we need someone with sufficient knowledge to fill in the blanks.

Thanks again for sharing your unique timer with us. I look forward to reading more about this if additional research is to be found.

Best regards,
Greg

Thanks Oliver for the puzzler, we may one day geat a answer as to what this timer is for, what a mystery.

Hi Oliver. Have you tried asking Konrad Knirim about this one? He is the one who wrote the book on German timepieces - literally.

Also, does this timer have the usual fliegertruppen markings on the back of the case?

Nope, did not ask Konrad yet, even though I do know him. He actually once visited me at my parents place to take some pictures for his book. A real pleasure to deal with he is and enthusiastic like no one.

Does the case have the usual air service markings on the back (winged propeller and some letters?)

There is no winged propeller or FLZ stamping on the back of the case. The dial is in line with replacement dials that I have on wwi aircraft instruments that had been refurbished by the Flugzeugmeisterei (repair depot) and the purple stamp Eigentum der Fliegertruppe is also in line with this. I am very sure that this is not a hoax.