Eaglemoss Military Watches Collection.

The Peenemünde Army Research Center, on the northern peninsula of the Baltic island of Usedom, was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the German Army Weapons Office. It is widely regarded as the birthplace of modern rocketry and spaceflight.
In 1940 the offices of the Waffen-SS ordered Lange & Söhne to develop an observation watch for measuring purposes, with hacking function, Arabic numerals 0-55, a second minutes scale in mirrored numerals and 1/5 second luminous scale. This complex layout required the use of a very large 65mm diameter case.
Wernher von Braun and his team of aeronautic engineers in Peenemund needed high-precision measuring instruments for determining the trajectory of the V-rockets under development.
The reversed minute scale allowed the engineers to make these calculations in conjunction with a reflecting sextant and also allowed them to be more easily read from photographic negatives
These watches were very expensive and specialised and not in any case a service watch for the general personnel of the Peenemunde rocket center, they had to be returned to the supervisor upon completion of calculations - like all other B-watches of the German Wehrmacht, which were handed in after returning from a flight to the squadron commander again.



Case
Polished case, 48mm diameter, 50.5mm with crown, 57.2mm lug to lug
9.6mm total depth, 43/7mm internal aperture, 6mm crown, 42.5mm glass
Dial
43mm Black dial
At the Outside edge there are Arabic numbers at 5 minute intervals 0-55
inside this there is a 1/5 seconds scale with white hatchings
Inside this Hours are indicated with green Arabic numbers 1 through 12,
Inside this again are the mirrored Arabic minutes 0-55
Hands are large polished lozenge style hours and minutes hands with green 'lume' infill, and a polished seconds hand
Strap
Tan PU leather strap, 22mm wide at the lugs and narrowing to 20mm at the buckle


Though this watch is amongst the largest produced as part of the collection it falls way short of the 65mm original, as an instrumentation watch it would not have been worn on the wrist but over a protective suit.