my name is Axel, 39 years old, together with my wife Simone and son Benjamin (4) I live near Duesseldorf in Tyskland.
Please excuse that I have to write in English, as the only Swedish words we learn here are from the Ikea catalogue
The reason I contact you is that I hope to find (former) members of the Svenska Flygvapnet or related experts who can help to solve a watch mystery. A mystery that keeps fellow watch collectors researching for years (and me lately) without a solution.
It is about a rare watch that is unique in the military watch world and that was issued during the 1950ies to personnel of the Svenska Flygvapnet:
The LEMANIA Tg195
Front:
Back with Tre Kronor and issue number (57 = year?):
What on first sight looks like a "normal" watch has two features that make it so special:
1. The unique Lemania Cal. 2225 movement:
The watch works as every watch – but when you press the button at "2", the center second hand instantly resets to 12 (it "zeros"), the button at "3" pops out and the movement stops. By pushing in the "3"-button, the watch starts working again.
This function allows e.g. to synchronize several watches (of a task group) very quickly and accurately. But anything else?
The Tg195 is the only watch - from what we know – with this movement. So the Flygvapnet had a concrete reason to order something with such a special function.
Questions:
Who needed this function(s) and what was the exact purpose?
Whom were these watches issued to?
Addditional info:
According to the movement numbers (which relate to Lemania production years) of actual examples we can say that these watches were ordered by and by and not in one batch.
2. The dial inscription "Tg 195"
Not even the Swedish experts in our watch community could so far solve this riddle. There are just very vague guesses:
• Tidgivare 195(0)? (1950 = year/decade)
• The J29 was nicknamed "Flygande Tunnan", which translates as "Flying barrel" - shortened to Tunnan as the official name for the fighter. Therefore could it be an abbreviation of Tunnan Grupp 195?
• Is Tg 195 short for 'Tritium glöd (glow) 0.195 lux'; 'lux' being the measurement of how strong the tritium originally glowed
• Tg195 fits in the designation codes of the Flygvapnet - letter(-combination) plus number.
But there is no Tg in the lists (e.g. on canit.se). A 'T' for Torped, yes. A 'G' for glyder, yes. So is Tg a Torped glyder? (whatever that could look like, you see, we got really creative).
Fact is: Many question marks. No answer.
So we need you help! If you ...
... were issued this watch during your service (what would be a dream)
... or know someone who owned it
... have an idea/hint what Tg 195 means
... for whom, for which purpose the watch was ordered
... please leave a message here or send me a mail: a.abstoss AT web.de
(replace AT by @).
You can also write in Swedish, as there are Swedes in our community to translate.
What have I to offer? Well, there's no actual reward in Kr/€/$, but a place in the heart of many military watch enthousiast will be for sure.
If all this has risen your interest in military watches, you are heartly envited to visit The Military Watch Resource at
http://www.mwrforum.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2
For now I say tack så mycket for reading all this.
We really appreciate any help and engagement to shed a light in this small, but fascinating part of the Svenska Flygvapnet.
Tack och många hälsningar,
Axel