WRIST AND PIN-ON COMPASSES (cont'd)

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- L -

Lapel compasses

Go to Pin-on compasses.

LEMAIRE

PROFILE - Former French manufacturer that also made (among other companies) the French Army's Modèle 1922 marching compass (see this category) and an artillery level (sitomètre) like the one displayed in this museum and made by SECRÉTAN (see Survey and Artillery Compasses).
Markings on reverse side:
LEMAIRE - PARIS, no. 521
 Technical Data
- Wrist strap (not shown): leather
- Casing: bakelite
- Bezel: brass, black anodized
- Diameter: 55 mm
- Depth: 20 mm
- Weight: 72 g
- Divisions: 360 deg., clockwise
- Card: black figures on luminous ground
- Sighting system: a dash and a luminous dot on the bezel



Markings on reverse side:
Same as above but the number was changed to 520 M. ("modified")

(Pictures Cl. Millet)
 Technical Data
- Wrist strap (not shown): leather
- Casing: bakelite
- Bezel: brass, black anodized
- Dim. and weight and divisions: as above
- Card: luminous figures on black ground
- Sighting system: Rifle-type (compare with the BEN compass)


Technical data
- Strap: plastic
- Case: aluminium
- Diameter: 53 mm
- Depth: 13 mm
- Weight: 35 gr
- Divisions: 360 degrees clockwise
Markings: LEMAIRE 'COMMANDO' - Bts (Brevets = Patents) SILVA

NOTE: A similar compass design is also to be found in a Bulgarian version called GUGK
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LIDER / ЛИДЕР

PROFILE - Special compass for orienteering made by the Belarus company VABULOVA located in Minsk Минский механический завод им. С.И. Вавилова.

LUFFT

PROFILE - German manufacturer - see LUFFT.

Diver's version with wristband



(Pict. courtesy 7twentyone,
click for enlarged views)

Cardinals in Dutch language:
South = Z for Zuid
 Vehicle version
with suction disc


 Technical Data
- Dia.: 43 mm
- Height: 50 mm
- Weight: 70 gr
- Markings: logo Lufft + P.P.P. (?)
- Production date: 1970's

LYNX

PROFILE - The only information that we have is a machine-typed non-dated document from the French company SERA describing a liquid-damped compass. See the Original document.
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- M -

MARBLE'S

PROFILE - MARBLE'S of GLADSTONE (Michigan) is a U.S. company specialized in rifle sights and gear for hikers like pocket knives and compasses (more information on the company's own website www.marblearms.com).

MARBLE'S also produced some compasses. The most famous were pin-on compasses that could be carried attached to one's clothes.
There were at least two different forms (long or short stem) and faces (plain white with needle or black-and-white card).
On MARBLE'S own website, it is said that famous explorers or pioneers like Theodore Roosevelt during a scientific exploration of the Brazilian wilderness in 1913 or Charles Lindbergh on his legendary flight from New York to Paris across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927 carried with them a Marble's compass but we don't know which model is meant. MARBLE'S most probably had a cooperation in the second half of the 20th century with the German manufacturer WILKIE.

We also display here a wrist-top compass made approximately in the 1930's.






MARBLE'S compasses in a 1949 catalogue for hunters' gear
 Technical Data
- Casing (aluminum):
- Diameter (face): 1 inch / 25 mm
- Depth: 11 mm
- Weight (with leather strap): 20 gr
- Markings (around casing):
MARBLE'S GLADSTONE MICH. U.S.A.

(Click for enlarged view)
Long stem MARBLE'S PIN-ON COMPASS
(contemporary reproduction).
See also TRU NORD and WILKIE.



(Click to enlarge)
Short stem versions with safety pin. Here the two different designs: with needle and white dial and with compass card. The (spade-shaped) right one is the oldest. The needle's cap is made of natural rock crystal.




Old dial of a long stem pin-on instrument with radium paint around the north and south marks.



(Click for enlarged view)
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MARINE COMPASS Co.

Profile - US manufacturer of ship compasses established 1910 in Pembroke, Massachusetts.
Very simple compass that was part of the survival kit of the US marine troops (click HERE for picture). It was later also made by R. A. Miller Electronics, Fruitport, Michigan for the U.S. Military (NSN 6605-00-515-5637).
This compass type ressembles the wrist compass made by U.S. Gauge Div. AM&M but is still more simple.



(Click on picture for enlarged view)		 Compass, Magnetic, card, pocket, Type MC-1

Technical Data
- Diameter: 2 inches / 49 mm
- Depth: 1 inch / 26 mm
- Weight: .08 lbs / 35 gr
- Inner width of the foldable strap attachments: 0.2 inch / 5 mm

This compass type was also a component in a simple sextant made by ILON INDUSTRIES Inc. HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (see picture HERE  and description in Engl. HERE).
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MERIDIAN

PROFILE - Former Swiss company located in Ettingen (for more information click HERE).
See also marching and survey compasses.


The flyer in the left cell displays two models of wrist compasses with liquid damping; one with a needle (no. 1620) and one with a disk (no. 1621) on which the cardinal points E and W are inverted.

Technical Data
- Casing: metallic
- Dimensions: 135 x 145 x 25 mm
- Weight: 55 g
- Illumination: Radium
- Built: probably in the 1950's/60's

(Click on the images for enlarged views)		 Model MH-5002 
(Designation used in a German catalogue)
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MIKROTECHNA

PROFILE - Czech company located in Prague, created in 1925, manufacturer of aircraft instruments (www.mikrotechna.cz). 


Divers' compass (c. 1960's)
 

Sighting over rifle-type sights (identical with those of theWWII AK 39 model made by Kadlec) 		Technical Data
- Casing: plastic
- Diameter: 43 mm
- Depth: 35 mm
- Weight: 58 gr
- Markings: MIKROTECHNA n.p., TYP: PB-65



(Click for enlarged view)
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MOSCOMPASS

PROFILE - Russian company located in Moscow



See also below ORIENTEERING (thumb compasses)
Orienteering compass

Technical Data
Dia.: 40 mm
Elastic strap
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- N -

NEMROD

PROFILE - Spanish divers' compass.

NEMROD (1950's)



Pictures Franz Rothbrust
 Technical Data
- Casing: Steel, chromated?
- Diameter: 45 mm
- Depth: 18 mm
- Weight: 94 gr
- Markings (rev.):
NEMROD BY SEAMLESS (Made in Spain)



(Click to enlarge)
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NESCO

Brand of Japanese wrist compasses

NIGHT HAWK

Instrument made by a manufacturer called "The Luminous Compass Co.", Manufacturers under U.S. Patent 1035973, located in Cedarburg, Wisconsin (USA) . The dial features at North a bird and a moon crescent between the words NIGHT and HAWK. The designation hawk is misleading. This bird is a nightjar (see Wikipedia) and only has the shape of a hawk!


(Click on images for enlarged views) 		The Night Hawk logo


 Technical data
- Strap: leather
- Case: brass
- Diameter: 45 mm
- Depth: 13 mm
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NO NAME  - GREAT BRITAIN

- Hiking -


(Click to enlarge) 		Technical data
- Strap: leather
- Case: aluminum
- Outer diameter: 38 mm
- Thickness: 8 mm
- Dial: SINGER's pattern

- Royal Army - Infantrymen and parachutists compasses



(Click on images for enlarged views) 		Technical data
- Fluid dampened prismatic compass (Creagh-Osborne system)
- Materials: leather strap, brass case (cylinder-shaped, compare with Dollond, Steward and Barker)
- Dimensions: Diam.: 60 mm; height: 30 mm
- Weight: 280 gr ( approx. 9 oz.)
NOTE: Very important radiation level due to compound used like in all Creagh-Osborne-type prismatic compasses.

(Click on images for enlarged view)
 WORLD WAR I - Mark VI design

Technical data
- Strap: fabric
- Case: brass blackened
- Outer diameter: 45 mm
- Manufacturer: unknown.

NOTE: This compass design was made by several manufacturers,
among many others DENNISON and TERRASSE in Pocket compasses shape.

- Royal Navy divers compass (1960-1970)



(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)		 Technical data
- Diameter: 62 mm
- Depth: 40 mm
- Weight: 190 gr
- Manufacturer: ?
- Strap: nylon, standard NATO (not shown)
- Box: wood, lead lining (2 mm)
- Markings: T = tritium ; P = ?
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NO NAME 2 - GERMANY



NOTE: a green version (click on link for image) without side ruler nor index ring locking screw also existed.
 Technical Data
Compass of unknown origin (Germany, Austria, Switzerland?). Its prism can be laterally swivelled by 90 degrees.
- Dimensions (mm): 55 (side ruler) x 27 (height) x 65 (lid breadth)
- Diameter: 58 mm
- Weight: 230 gr
- Divisions: 6400 mils, clockwise
- Crown lock: screw
NOTE: the wrist strap buckle is identical with the KADLEC's compass (see above).
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Detail view
 This compass probably was an escape compass since it can be removed very easily from the strap and concealed on (or better in) the body. Probably WW I. (see also Glossary: Escape compass)

Technical data
- Strap: Leather
- Case: aluminium
- Diameter: 26 mm
- Depth: 10 mm
- Weight: 6 gr
- Divisions: Four 90 degrees quadrant
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 These compass and the strap were especially made to fit together: the compass basis forms a lip and the leather strap has a flat metallic ring with 4 tiny rivets. Between WWI and WWII

The rose design is identical with the LUFFT pocket compass model 440 (see this category)

Technical data
- Strap: Leather
- Case: brass
- Diameter (crystal): 35 mm
- Depth: 13 mm
- Weight (altogether): 35 gr

The strap back bears some indication on one of the former owwners : it was a certain (Prof. ?) NEIKOV S. (Sergei?) teaching at a school called "TPU". Can the "T" stand for transportation?
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German soldiers
This wrist strap is designed to fit for a LUFFT Modell 330 pocket compass (see this category) : the loop protrudes through a slot.

Technical data
- Strap: Leather
- Case: brass
- Diameter (opening): 28 mm
- Diameter (base): 55 mm
- Depth: 14 mm
- Weight (altogether): 35 gr
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NVA

The army of the former communist East-Germany (German Democratic Republic, GDR) was called Nationale Volksarmee (NVA). This one was borne by the group leader and called "Gruppenkompass".
For other NVA compasses see FPM / Freiberger Präzisionsmechanik. 


 Technical data
- Height: ca. 40mm; Dia. ca. 55mm; Period: since 1980's.
- Visible sector (link to picture): 1/4,  3/4 being masked by black paint to avoid being detected because of the luminous paint of markings (s. a. PANERAI compasses below).
- Manufacturer: KIPZ 
- Designation: KM40-N (KM40-H in Russian, see picture of back HERE). Compare with KNM / KHM)
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- O -

ORIENTEERING

PROFILE - Sport created by Jan Kjellström, son of SILVA's co-founder Alvar (see also the category Marching compasses / SILVA).
The Swedish inventor Erik Bertil NORMAN filed a patent in 1981-82 (no. WO 82/02429) for an extreme light compass held in the hand by means of a thumb loop. This system is used for cross country running, called orienteering (see also MOSCOMPASS)

NORMAN's patent fig.



 MOSCOW Compass, Model 3 - thumb loop

 Two versions of the model called
LIDER Sport Compass (in Russian)
with and without distance scale
and wrist strap



 Technical Data
- Liquid dampened needle
- Divisions: 360 deg.
__________________________

Document issued by SILVA in the 1950s with examples of courses :



(Click on image for a view of interior pages)
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- P -

PANERAI

PROFILE - Guido Panerai & Figlio (GPF) was an Italian watch maker of Florence who has also been manufacturing compasses for the Italian NAVY's swimmers and divers since World War II until the end of the 20th century (more information HERE).

THE FIRST MODEL GPF 4/55



Lubber line under the Plexiglas dome, markings every 22.5 deg. (i.e. 2 compass points). Figures and markings: Radiomir luminous compound.

Technical Data
Dimensions
- Steel casing: 70 x 90 mm
- Height (total): 34 mm
- Height (Plexiglas dome): 23 mm
- Weight: 300 g

Pictures courtesy Asi Burstein
(Click on images for enlarged views)		 Compass developed for the Royal Italian Navy's special units.
This type of compass had to be held perfectly horizontally to ensure its perfect function.

All data quoted from the book VINTAGE PANERAI



(see also www.panerai.com)
CLEAR GLASS MODEL BSP 851
also designated INC. 76 on original box




(Click on images for enlarged views)		 DARKENED MODEL BSP 852
with lateral window (see also NVA)



Picture by Michael Adam-Co		 Technical Data
- Casing: synthetic material ?
- Diameter: 70 mm
- Depth: 53 mm
- Weight: 210 gr (BSP 851)/240 gr (BSP 852), incl. 60 gr Liquid (petroleum)
- Tritium lamps under the cover near the window
- Markings
. on reverse: OFFICINE PANERAI
. on the buckle: GPF   Mod. Dep.
This type of compass could be used tilted. Because of the card's large size and the brightness of the markings, the divers could be detected at a depth of 4 to 5 metres. To protect them, a black opaque cover with only a side window was added.
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PASTO - Paul STOCKERT

PROFILE - Former German Company (more information HERE).
See also the section Marching and Pocket Compasses.

 

DIVER's COMPASS Model 201		 Technical Data
- Dia. (base): 58 mm
- Dia. (compass rose): 45 mm
- Height: 18 mm

B/w pics: catalogue 1971

(Click on image for description in English)


Picture of an item exhibited in WILKIE
  

Left: Models 202, 204  -  Right: Model Abalone
 Hiker's compass.
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Pin-on Compasses

Pin-on compasses are a specific category but we display them together with the wrist compasses for reasons of place since we only know of few different manufacturers who used the same case shapes with different inserts. They are mainly used by North-American hunters (examples: go to AIRGUIDE, TRU NORD, MARBLE'S , TAYLOR and WILKIE).
A special one was also part of the safety equipment of jet fighters' pilots and sailors and was placed in a pocket of the SECUMAR-type inflatable vests (example see SILVA).
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Q - R

RUSSIA (Swiss made)

PROFILE - non identified Swiss manufacturer.
The face' and the needle's design as well as the transit lock mechanism are identical with the following Swiss Made compass.
Production: early 20th c. This can be determined by the indicated correction of the magnetic deviation (10° West, s. detail below).





 Datenblatt
- Casing: brass, chromated?
- Diameter: 40 mm
- Depth: 5 mm
- Weight: 23 gr
- Divisions: four quadrants
- The arrow-shaped lubber's line end is painted unter the bezel's crystal. The circle in the middle of the arrow was probably filled with luminous paint.
- Cardinals: The cyrillic letter C (initial of the russian word cebep (pronounce sever = North, MISCELLANEOUS / Cardinal points) is entirely covered with radium paint whereas the other cardinals only bear a tiny dot in the middle.
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CONT'D