WRIST AND PIN-ON COMPASSES


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
ADMIRAL
ADRIJANOVA
AK-39 (Kadlec)
ASKANIA
ATCO
AURKKA (Red Army)
  (AYPKKA in cyrillic letters)		 B
BARKER
B.E.N.
BÉZARD
C
CHETWYND
Ch-Ch-Z (ЧЧЗ in cyrillic letters)
CREAGH OSBORNE

 D
DACOR
DINSMORE
DOXA 		E
F
FEE & STEMWEDEL
FPM - Freiberger
  Präzisionsmachanik		 G
GUGK (ГYГK in cyrillic letters)
 H
HAND
HEINKE 		I J
JAPAN
K
KADLEC
KNM (KHM in cyrillic letters)		 L
L-1 (s. US Gauge)
LEMAIRE		 M
MARBLE'S
MIKROTECHNA
MOSCOMPASS


N
NEMROD
NO NAME - GB
NO NAME - GERMANY		 O
Orienteering
P
PANERAI
Pin-on compasses 		Q R
Russia 		S
SCUBAPRO
SILVA
SPIROTECHNIQUE
SUPERIOR MAGNETO
SUUNTO
Switzerland		 T
TAYLOR
TRITON
TRU NORD
U
U.S. Gauge Div. AM&M		 V
 W
WALTHAM
WILKIE		 X - Y
YAL
 Z
ZUP (ЗУП in cyril. letters)
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- A -

THE ANCESTOR?

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)
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ADRIJANOVA

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)
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ASKANIA

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
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ATCO

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
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AURKKA / AYPKKA (former USSR)

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
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- B -

BARKER (F. B. & SON)

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)
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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
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B.E.N.

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.
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BÉZARD

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
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- C -

CHETWYND

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
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Ch-Ch-Z (ЧЧЗ in cyrillic letters)

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).

Technical Data
- Strap: Leather
- Casing: Brass, chromated
- Diameter (casing): 35 mm
- Depth: 7 mm
- Unlocking of needle by depressing the spring-loaded crown
Detailed view - front face and obverse
(Click to enlarge)
   
Box and data              
User's instructions (Click to enlarge)

Translation of data on box:
Wrist compass, TY 25-07-(019)-75,
Part-Number KN--105-01-28,
Price: 80 kopeks
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CREAGH-OSBORNE

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
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- D -

DACOR

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
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DINSMORE

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
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DOXA

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)

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CONT'D