German submarine radio room clock

[Aguilar]

Hi All, I bought a box lot at an auction, and This clock was in it. From my research I understand that it is a German submarine clock. Not sure how accurate that is. I would appreciate any info you may possess on the history of this clock. BTW, it does work.

 

[JTD]

We can see it is made by Junghans. Not sure how much other 'history' could be known..

Others may know more.

JTD

 

[Betzel]

Nice clock. And, I'll bet it's way better than an ordinary alarm clock inside, but will 100% for sure need proper service to run more than one winding. Post some pictures if you can, please? And, if someone with direct knowledge does not chime in...

a) In Chicago, behind a museum is a captured and complete U-505 which I always loved crawling through and exploring as a kid. U-505 Submarine And, you could perhaps ask them about their clock in their radio room. Might even get an answer, with a serial number; who knows?

b) There is a member of this board (W.E. Falck) who is very knowledgeable on Maritime history Maritima & Mechanika You could perhaps ask if he might know where to go to get more information. There are some pretty amazing museums with online components in Germany, if you poke around and can speak a little German or carefully use translation software to search etc. Be very careful with hands and dials from this era, as they may be radioactive, even if they do not glow in the dark any more. Don't breathe in the dust, etc.

Good luck!

 

[Aguilar]

Nice clock. And, I'll bet it's way better than an ordinary alarm clock inside, but will 100% for sure need proper service to run more than one winding. Post some pictures if you can, please? And, if someone with direct knowledge does not chime in...

a) In Chicago, behind a museum is a captured and complete U-505 which I always loved crawling through and exploring as a kid. U-505 Submarine And, you could perhaps ask them about their clock in their radio room. Might even get an answer, with a serial number; who knows?

b) There is a member of this board (W.E. Falck) who is very knowledgeable on Maritime history Maritima & Mechanika You could perhaps ask if he might know where to go to get more information. There are some pretty amazing museums with online components in Germany, if you poke around and can speak a little German or carefully use translation software to search etc. Be very careful with hands and dials from this era, as they may be radioactive, even if they do not glow in the dark any more. Don't breathe in the dust, etc.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info. I’m getting bits and pieces of info off the internet. The clock actually runs very good. The case needs work, the hinge is broken.

 

[Bernhard J.]

a) In Chicago, behind a museum is a captured and complete U-505 which I always loved crawling through and exploring as a kid. U-505 Submarine And, you could perhaps ask them about their clock in their radio room. Might even get an answer, with a serial number; who knows?

Ah, it still is there. Almost 60 years ago that I also crawled through that one, and I even still today have the documentation of back then, which was available in the shop. My family lived there for a number of years.

 

[roughbarked]

Looks to me like it could have been an aero clock or a submarine clock or car clock. It could have been fitted to any of these and probably was. The dial and hands are painted with radium. The whole case back is cracked. Probably best to look for another case back. Looks like cast aluminium which by now most of them could be brittle.

 

[River rat]

Here is mine they were mounted in a wooden case that had metal legs to prevent flipping. They also had a leather pouch they fit in seen them but mine missing like so many. You grab the side of the movement to wind see arrow and the center nob to set the time. Like someone said a Junghans same as mine their logo on the movement. It's a radio room clock just like the Chelsea US army message center clock. There were different manufactures during the war. The M on dial for Kreigsmarine German Navy. Mine has got a stamp inside for the German army. A message would come over the radio and you wrote the time received using this clock. Found mine at a antique fair for a 100 bucks no one knew what it was so got a good deal on it. Since I collect mainly military timepieces, I knew what it was knowledge is key to collecting. Nice find. Mostly likely used for shore duty.

 

[River rat]

Here is my only German Navy clock. Parts are hard to find the main spring broke at the tip the clockmaker could not find another for it so shorten the mainspring a little still works great.

 

[Betzel]

The clock actually runs very good.

Yeah; that's is the weird/hard part. If you're just going to keep it (but not wind it and run it all the time) there's no problem. But, and please forgive me if you are fully aware of this, most people who accidentally destroy old clocks by running them dry don't know they're doing it. Maybe that's another reason why we're here.

It's fine to wind a clock once to be sure it's okay, but without some love, running it regularly will soon destroy it. At the same time, we're sympathetic: if this is not (yet) something you can do for yourself at home, this is not the one to learn on. And, it's really hard to find someone these days who will not rip you off, "dip and run" or butcher the clock. Not sure if your broken parts are stamped as part of the whole shebang, but if not and a donor can be found (maybe their movement is shot) it would be way more cool (to me, at least) in full working condition. If you're interested, maybe someone here knows someone in your local area who can help? Or, just display it without winding?

Very cool clock. Congratulations again!

 

[Aguilar]

Here is mine they were mounted in a wooden case that had metal legs to prevent flipping. They also had a leather pouch they fit in seen them but mine missing like so many. You grab the side of the movement to wind see arrow and the center nob to set the time. Like someone said a Junghans same as mine their logo on the movement. It's a radio room clock just like the Chelsea US army message center clock. There were different manufactures during the war. The M on dial for Kreigsmarine German Navy. Mine has got a stamp inside for the German army. A message would come over the radio and you wrote the time received using this clock. Found mine at a antique fair for a 100 bucks no one knew what it was so got a good deal on it. Since I collect mainly military timepieces, I knew what it was knowledge is key to collecting. Nice find. Mostly likely used for shore duty.

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Thanks for the photos. Now i know what to look for and or fabricate myself.

 

[River rat]

Since your thinking about making one here are a few photos of another in the collection. Both have this metal plate on back to mount to wall. If you need measurements let me know. This one was made by Kienzle and these came with no paint but the Junghans were painted that gray. The German Air Force BUND has a quartz version but plastic case holder same design as the wooden one but green plastic.

 

[Aguilar]

Since your thinking about making one here are a few photos of another in the collection. Both have this metal plate on back to mount to wall. If you need measurements let me know. This one was made by Kienzle and these came with no paint but the Junghans were painted that gray. The German Air Force BUND has a quartz version but plastic case holder same design as the wooden one but green plastic.

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If you could send various measurements that would be great. It looks like one piece of wood. Is the back metal casing screwed to the metal plate on the back?