Just got this last week end at the Alameda Point antique fair it's a type L-1 wrist compass it goes good with my waltham A-17 from other forums and what I was told by Billy it's was Air Force made in the 1950's and was part of the pilots sirvival gear when I was in special boat unit IX we were tought E & E escape and evasion the same is tought to pilots so I guess if the pilot crashed behind enemy line's he would use this compass and a map to find the rally points that the spot you would be picked up by the good guys.

Thank you for the images of your compass. I don't know what the vintage of the L-1 is, though it's interesting the way it has the window in the side.

The type L-1 would have been a much better compass if it was made with some way to lock the compass needle/disk. Because it has no locking lever it tends to rattle, making unwanted noise and possible damage to the needle.

Greg
On another forum there was a guy that was in SAC US Air Force from 1966-1970 they had these L-1 in the life raft survival packs on KC-135 aircraft.And also at the same forum some one had one with the original box dated 1951 so they were used from 1950's to the 1960's is my guess.