Laco B-uhr

Laco was one of five German firms that made Beobachtungsuhren (‘observation watches’) for the Luftwaffe during WWII. The original ‘B-uhr’ watches used manual-winding pocket watch movements and were a huge 55mm. With their long leather straps, they were worn over the arm of leather flying jackets and used for navigation and for timing bomb-drops. Aside from being huge in size, the originals are very rare and hugely valuable, so there are now many firms making contemporary versions of the two classic B-uhr designs in both the original 55mm size and a much more practical 42mm size . This one is 42mm (still pretty big!) and has the ‘Type B’ dial, which I like because of the way it overturns the traditional design that priviledges the hours; instead, the outer minute track dominates this face, with the hours on the smaller inner track. The movement in this watch is the inexpensive but durable Miyota automatic, made by Citizen in Japan. When ‘charged up’, the lume on the face and hands makes the whole watch glow like a green arm-lantern!