
The Online Compass Museum displays its own collection of some 60
different wrist-top compasses of many countries (USA, Great-Britain,
France, Germany, USSR, Japan, Finnland etc.), for civilian and military
use, on land or under water.
In addition, you can see some photographs sent by friendly visitors.
Pict. at right: a part
of our collection
- A -
Manufacturer not identified - Probably one of the very
first wrist compasses ever made
(late 19th C. ?).
The compass card's design is identical with typical ships' compasses.
The compass card features 64 divisions, a number also used on military
compasses to assess distances (see MISCELLANEOUS / Divisions).
 |
 |
Technical
Data
- Diameter: 41 mm
- Depth: 12 mm
- Weight: 30 gr
- Divisions: 64 rumbs, main and semi cardinals abbreviated, North:
fleur-de-lis (heraldic lily).
- Sighting system: rifle type
- Transit lock: side (screw head) |
Description: This compass is almost identical with the
Russian
AURKKA and
ZUP models but it was
only used in Bulgaria and in
the former Yugoslavia, in the regions writing in cyrillic letters, i.e.
Serbia. The only difference with the Russian version is the letter used
for the cardinal point
EAST (located underneath the figure 450 mils and between 75 and 105
degrees) and which stands for the word

(pronounce
iztok) in the Bulgarian and
Serbo-croatian languages while it is
BOCTOK
(pronounce
vostok, abbreviated B) in Russian.
For an unknown reason, it was called
Adrian's compass
(Adrijanova busola) in the Yugoslav Army's manuals.
This compass type was also manufactured for a short
period in the former communist
East-Germany by ASKANIA (see below).
 |

Description of the compass
in the Yugoslav Army's manual
(Photocopies can
be ordered) |
Technical Data
- Diameter: 50 mm
- Depth: 20 mm
- Weight: 60 gr
- Divisions:
. 360 degrees clockwise (inner scale)
. 6000 mils counterclockwise (outer scale) |
PROFILE - ASKANIA is a German manufacturer (for
more information click
HERE).
This compass is the East-German post WWII version of the Soviet-Union
made
ZUP and AURKKA
(see below) compasses. This one
was built in the early '50s by VEB ASKANIA (East-Berlin). The
360
deg. division shows that it is a civilian version.
See also BAMBERG in the cat. AERONAUTICAL Compasses and ASKANIA in
MARCHING compasses.

(Click for
detailed view of dial) |

(View of reverse side) |
Technical Data
- Diameter: 53 mm
- Depth: 20 mm
- Weight: 37 gr
- Divisions: 360 degrees clockwise
- Material: Bakelite case, leather strap
- Crown with rifle-type aiming device and screw activated lock
|
PROFILE - Nothing is known about this company. This compass was made
in Japan but another object (a collapsible cup like the one we display
in OTHER COMPASSES) signed ATCO and displayed by the former Boreal
Arrow
website was made
in Germany.

Picture courtesy
of
oldmillenium |
Technical Data
- Diameter: .. mm
- Depth: .. mm
- Weight: gr
- Divisions: 360 degrees clockwise
To be compared with DOXA below |
PROFILE - Compass made by Masterskye Artilleriskoye Upravlenye
Raboche-Krestianskoy
Krasnoy Army / Workshops of the Artillery's Administration of the
Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
Same construction as the
ZUP
compass (see below).
 |
Technical Data
- diameter: 50 mm
- Depth: 20 mm
- Weight: 60 gr
- Divisions:
. 360 degrees clockwise (inner scale)
. 6000 mils counterclockwise (outer scale)
- Date (at case underside) : 1940 |
- B -
PROFILE - British Company (more information
HERE)

|
 |
Technical data
- Diameter: 40 mm
- Depth (closed): 22 mm
- Weight: 75 gr
The crystal is protected by a leather cap and on the magnetic needle's
North mark, the luminous product (tritium) is in a glass tube. |

|

The British National Archives (South-West London) gave the following
information:
The design no. 416645 was published on page 1318 of the Official
Journal of patents dated 30th September 1903, covering designs
registered in the week ending 17th September 1903. The owners were
Francis Barker & Son, of 12 Clerkenwell Rd, London WC. The
material class was Class I, covering metals. |
Radium wristlet compass (Barker catalog 1926)

Technical data
- Diameter: .. mm
- Depth: .. mm
- Weight: .. gr
- Marking: Reg. No. 416645 (see left)
|
The following compass was built during the 50's and issued to the
British troops. It was used during the Korea war and the Suez Canal
expedition
(1956). Its lack of precision lead the Military to use instead their
classical hand-held marching compass (see Barker and Stanley).
Moreover, its high radioactivity was the reason why it was no longer
used.

(Click on the picture for
an enlarged view) |

View closed and back |
Technical data
- Strap: fabric
- Case: brass
- Diameter: 38 mm
- Depth: 17 mm
- Weight: 45 gr
- Manufacturer: The letter B in the ref. and ser. numbers indicate that
this instrument was made by F. Barker & Son |
PROFILE - Abbrev. for Bianchetti Electronique Nautique. French
manufacturer (more information
HERE).
BEN Marine is now a division of AMESYS.
BEN built wrist compasses, among others this one
resembling the
LEMAIRE
model used by
the French Navy's Special Forces during the 1st Vietnam war (1946-1954)
and the Algerian independance war
(1957-1962).
The black-and-white picture shows a French soldier wearing an original
compass in Algeria. This compass combines the characteristic features
of the white Czech KADLEC AK39 (sight elements on a crown without
divisions, white line on glass) and the lateral screw-operated locking
device of the crown like on british compasses (see T.G. Co. Ltd, Barker
etc.).
NOTE: The strap material is called a PoRoMeRic. (cf. WIKIPEDIA
definition:
Sometimes
referred to as poromerics, poromeric imitation
leathers are a group of synthetic 'breathable' leather substitutes made
from a plastic coating (usually a polyurethane) on a fibrous base layer
(typically a polyester). The name poromeric
was coined by DuPont as a
derivative of the terms microporous and polymeric. The first poromeric
material was DuPont's ill-fated Corfam introduced in 1963 at the
Chicago Shoe Show.).

Click on the pictures
for enlarged views
(B/W photo of soldiers courtesy Commando Jaubert) |
 |
Technical
Data
- Diameter x depth: 58 x 20 mm
- Weight: 88 gr
- Divisions: 360 degrees, clockwise |
| BEN
also produced divers' compasses for SCUBAPRO, BEUCHAT or
LA SPIROTECHNIQUE. Several models were built and issued to the French
and international Armed forces, Police and rescue organizations. |

(Picture Franz
Rothbrust) |
Technical
Data
Dimensions
- Diameter x depth: 70 x 49,5 mm
- Weight: 180 gr
- Divisions: s. pic. |
PROFILE - see special chapter
THE
BÉZARD COMPASS.

FLUID Bézard wrist compass - Model "Bw"
(Bundeswehr - Armed Forces of Federal Germany)
Click on picture for
enlarged view
(Pictures: copyright Ted Brink - CollectingMilitaryCompasses.tk) |

Box with Nato Stock Number (NSN)
|
Technical
Data
- Diameter: 56 mm
- Weight: 35 gr
- Divisions: 360 degrees clockwise
- Date: June 1971 |
- C -
PROFILE - Captain Louis Wentworth Pakington Chetwynd (b. 15
December 1866, d. 18 April 1914, Coombe Neville,
Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey) was an important
member of the British Admiralty at
the beginning of the 20th C.
He patented this compass that could be lit
at night by means of a small lamp that fitted into a tube on the
lefthand side.
The patent was filed in 1909 when he already was a retired Commander.

(click on picture above for
enlarged
view)
Click HERE
to view the patent.
|

Captain CHETWYND's marking

Patent no. ...865/06
(first digit concealed under a screw head?) |

View lit
Technical data
- Strap: leather
- Case: brass
- Diameter (body): 70 mm
- Depth: 23 mm
- Weight: 225 gr
|
PROFILE -
Ch-Ch-Z
are the initials of the Russian watch maker
Chistopolsky Chasovoy Zawod (i.e.
Chistopol Watch Company, name in cyrillic: see Instructions below).
The city
Chistopol
is located on the river Volga in the Republic
of Tatarstan (Capital: Kasan).
PROFILE - Captain Frank Osborne Creagh-Osborne, Royal Navy (born .../
died ...) was
Superintendent of Compasses with the Admiralty and a British
inventor. He patented several versions of this system (no.
1148/1915 - copies
available):
His compasses were manufactured by H. Hughes & Son Ltd (59,
Fenchurch Street London) and by Sperry Gyroscopes.
See also the categories Marching
and Aeronautical compasses).

Serial No. 4803
(click on the picture ABOVE
for an enlarged view)

Sighting aid and prism |

A hand-held version
(excerpt from the manual
THE PRISMATIC
COMPASS) |
Technical data
- Strap: leather
- Case: brass
- Diameter: 65 mm
- Depth: 28 mm
- Weight: 250 gr |
- D -
PROFILE - DACOR was a US company founded in 1954 by a former
Marine
soldier called Sam DAVISON. DACOR is an acronym built with the first
syllable of his name DAvison and CORporation. It was consecutively
located in Evanston, Illinois, in 1954, then in Skokie, Illinois (about
1965) and at last in Northfield, Illinois.
It was bought by the Italian MARES (diving gear) in the early 2000's.

(Photos : copyright J.
GRÉPINET,
see LINKS, DIVER COMPASSES) |
 |
Technical data
- Diameter (glass capsule): 30 mm
- Depth (glass + basis): 35 mm
- Weight: 70 gr
- Manufactured (approx.): 1970's |
PROFILE - (DRAFT)
DINSMORE is a U.S. company founded in ...? by
R(obert?) C. DINSMORE. It was located in Flint, Michigan.
(if
you are or know a relative of Mr Robert C. DINSMORE, pls. contact the
museum).
WE WOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THIS INVENTOR.
Dinsmore Instrument Company, now part of 'The Robson Company' (TRC),
was the world's first maker of Auto
compasses and has had approx. eighty years of experience, and many
patents, for the correction of vehicle caused anomalies in compass
readings. Dinsmore has designed and manufactured compasses for special
uses as well as aircraft, mariners and vehicular compasses.

Dinsmore Wirst compass |
 |
Technical data
- Diameter: ... mm
- Depth: ... mm
- Weight: ... gr
- Manufactured (approx.): 19..0's |
PROFILE: DOXA is a (Swiss?) clock manufacturer. We have seen several
different DOXA compasses (incl. pocket compasses) "made in
Japan".
 |
 |
Technical
Data
- Diameter: 35 mm
- Weight: .. gr
- Production year: ?

(Click on the picture for
an enlarged view) |