Dial of a GUB Lange & Söhne Glashütte B-Uhr observation watch, caliber 48, post-war

Rarest and most sought-after spare part: a complete and well-preserved dial for a B-Uhr with caliber 48 from the Glashütte watchmaking companies (GUB)

Attention: This rare piece is an original Lange & Söhne dial, type 2, from wartime production. After the war, the original "Type B" paintwork was removed with acid, and then the new dial with the "GUB" logo was applied.

The legendary Caliber 48 was, as is well known, the movement of the legendary Lange & Söhne pilot's watch / B-Uhr of the Reich Air Force in World War II.

The tools of Lange & Söhne were taken away by the Russians as war booty in 1945, and the former Lange & Söhne B-Uhr was produced on the original tools for several more years under the name "Kirowa 1".

However, many original or spare parts from the former Lange & Söhne B-Uhr production remained in Glashütte, either because they were deliberately hidden, not found by the Russians, or not recognized.

From these remaining parts of original Lange & Söhne wartime production, the Glashütte watchmaking companies also assembled "original" Lange & Söhne B-Uhr watches until the 1950s, calling them "GUB 1". The GUB 1 was officially designated not as an "observer's watch" but as a diver's watch.

In contrast to the almost 13,500 examples of "genuine" B-Uhr watches from Lange & Söhne, only 340 units of the GUB 1 were produced in total; by then, the remaining parts from Lange & Söhne's wartime production had been used up.

GUB "observation watches" were therefore much, much rarer than "genuine" Lange & Söhne B-Uhr watches and actually represent original Lange & Söhne observation watches, since they were assembled from original parts of Lange & Söhne's wartime production at the same location, and mostly by the same watchmakers who did so at Lange & Söhne in Glashütte from 1936 to 1945.

In the case of the original Lange & Söhne dial in this offer, the original "Type B" lacquer was removed with acid and then the new dial with the "GUB" logo was applied.

However, there were also GUB 1 examples that were essentially "returns" from pilots after the war; only the dials had been repainted.

An extremely rare and sought-after piece (military) and Glashütte watchmaking history, the likes of which I have never seen as a spare part in 30 years of collecting.

EZ: 2 - normal signs of age and use, the serial number of the watch for which it was intended or from which it was taken is presumably handwritten above the logo.