Aircraft Clocks

[alzictorini]

Afternoon BMs

 

I recently made a post on a Spitfire instrument panel i completed last week LINK . Ive had a few questions with regards to clocks and their construction. 

Here are a few of the completed clocks ive made for collectors and museums etc.:

 

This is a Sinn Nabo 17 (This one i made from paper card and MDF)- The real item is used today in many military aircraft but originating from the classic WWII German Jungans clock design.

 

 

 

Here's another Jungans clock I made (right) made from card next to an original WWII Jungans from a Stuka crash site.

 

 

They go well next to a model of the real aircraft (Thats a paper model of a 109 i made a few years ago)

 

 

This is a Sonia clock fitted to just about every Italian aircraft of WWII, this one is made from card and clear plastic film for the glass:

 

 

 

This was my first 3D printed attempt at a clock - Its a Revue Clock for a Swiss museums BF109.

 

 

Here is the construction and clock workings i fitted:

 

 

 

This is the early Smiths MKIII clock fitted to  Battle Of Britain Spitfires and Hurricanes:

 

 

This is the cheaper Smiths MKII clock which replaced the above:

 

Click this picture as its a link to a video - 

 

 

This is the very first clock I made from paper with wrist watch workings inside - it sort of worked:

 

 

As I said, they are either made from paper, card, MDF or are 3 D printed, some are all 4 techniques rolled into one.

 

 

 

 

This is the MK II Smiths before paint and assembly:

 

 

When finished:

 

 

3D printing is the way forward for speed but I do use paper and card for my trial and prototypes:

 

 

 

Here's a link to the Sinn Nabo full build if you are interested:

 

LINK

 

Hope this clears up some of the questions

 

Enjoy

[Pete Robin]

I am in awe of your skills.

Regards

Pete

[alzictorini]

Thanks Pete

 

skills I learnt as a young lad from subway street, hessle road.

[chrisbob12]

Brilliant on all levels!

[dnl42]

That's outstanding! 

[desert falcon]

Simply amazing work, don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this before !! 

[FatFlyHalf]

What time is it Eccles ?

https://youtu.be/ctM_Rvgjfpo

 

[Wouter1981]

Those clocks are way to cool... great work!

[John B]

This is a really unique application of skills and the results are very nice.  I like how the example of the clock complementing the 109.  

I've collected a few patches and aircraft placards to display next to my models, but your work is orders of magnitude better than that idea.

In addition, the use of the clocks in restorations does more than "fill an empty hole" in a cockpit.  

Exemplary work!

[javlin]

Interesting subject matter followed up by excellent Techniques and Skill set!!Bravo!

[Jochen Barett]

You should have told us earlier! It might have saved me a substantial amount of money for my (real) Sinn Nabo 17.

 

Great work, they all look convincing!

[Pete in Lincs]

Very impressive work and a great use of simple materials.

I have an old Aircraft clock on display in my mancave. It's a Heller Monte Carlo. Probably a bit more common than the ones you model!

[alzictorini]

Heller Monte Carlo - would that be a stopwatch? - They look proper Ace

[bar side]

Very nice.  The Junghans caught my eye as my grandad gave me one from a downed German aircraft.  They all look very nice and I like the fitting of a modern mechanism.

[Col Walter E Kurtz]

love the elegant Cathederal Hands on the Smiths MkIII..

Fiendishly Brilliant work!

I'm a fan of WW2 Clocks and Field Style watches.. I can't afford the real things sadly... well i suppose if i ate from bins for 5 years i might be able to buy a genuine A-11 Elgin USAAF watch. SWMBO'd would kill me as well! I have a nice repro RAF Sector Clock on my wall at the moment. It's not as good as anything you've produced by a long way!

 

[Col Walter E Kurtz]

Just wondered if the Axis , especially German, aircraft cockpit clocks were made by as many different manufacturers as german WW2 military wrist watches were?I understand that there were several 100s of German manufacturers and a few Swiss makers who made military wrist watches.

Allied forces had probably less than 20 -25 manufacturers who made wrist watches. Bulova, Elgin, Timor, Reckord to name a few. I don't think i've seen any clocks apart from Smiths Industries.

 

 

[alzictorini]

Thanks guys for the comments - clocks, i love the WWII aircraft clocks and also the sector clocks, British and the American style.

 

As for countries and the aircraft clock manufacturers, they were few for axis and allies but the workings on the inside were  could be different. it amazed me that Swiss workings were in just about all of them or patented versions. The Swiss did good out of WWII. The Junghans clock has 5 different marks as it started off in brass and eventually worked down to Bakelite (war shortages). This is what I go by:

 

Allies

Smiths, Jaeger LECO

Waltham

Elgin

Hamilton

Jaeger LECO Chronoflite

Longines

Axis

Sonia

Junghans

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

On 6/6/2022 at 4:52 PM, alzictorini said:

Heller Monte Carlo - would that be a stopwatch?

Yes it is, complete with the mounting plate.

[Dric]

Realy nice clock (and it's a Swiss who says it 😄)