Lot 530

Friedrich Wilhelm Kreis, Berlin W., Movement No. 159053, Case No. 96713, 52 mm, 101 g, circa 1916
A rare stopwatch of the Imperial Air Force in the 1st World War
Case: iron, gun-metal finished, engraving "FLZ" and propeller. Dial: printed. Movm.: bridge movement, monometallic screw balance.
Dr. Konrad Knirim states in this context:
This particular stop watch was used by the imperial aviation units during the First World War. The marks showing a winged propeller with the letters PuW or Flz are quite commonly used on the Imperial Air Force timepieces, often in combination with full owner’s identification.
Around 1916 the FLZ, the "Flugzeugmeisterei" (air force maintenance unit) at Berlin Adlershof was formed from the "Prüfanstalt und Werft (PuW)" (the testing and the service divisions). The FLZ at Adlershof still existed during the Second World War.
One revolution of the central second equates three minutes and after each revolution a colour change takes place (three available colours: red, green, yellow); at zero position, there is no colour change.
The timepieces were used during the warm up phase of the aeroplane engines (there is, however, no original documentation on how the watches were used).
The watches were converted and delivered by watch dealer and jeweller Friedrich Wilhelm Kreis in Berlin/W, who supplied a great number of pocket chronographs and stop watches. The movement is most likely a converted Lemania 19Np.
Friedrich Wilhelm Kreis owned the company Strasser & Rohde from 1918 until his death and moved it from Glashütte to Berlin.

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