Moral problems on a watch or brand

I think authentic item are are always fine as long as the collector doesn’t go so far that he “glorifies” them somehow. In this context, I think I would have found the diving suit somewhat discomforting, just like you did.

If it’s pre-1945 and has a swastika on the back, that’s fine for me. However, if it’s contemporary and has an inscription like “Luftwaffe” on the dial, it’s reactionist Nazi Crap. I’ve seen these show up on WUS, quite some time ago.

There are still borderline cases left, like a guy who I met personally who assembles genuine movements from the 1930s into contemporary cases and labels them “Eigentum der Fliegertruppen” on the dial. I really don’t know what to think of this one.

Not one actually driven by a Nazi, no.

I understand your reservations, everyone has to draw his own line here. Actually owning memorabilia from a defeated regime often carries no concept of endorsement, though a modern piece could be more easily be seen as a tribute (but even there its the individual who must decide).

I bought one of those Soviet submarine clocks as a kind of historic counterbalance to my WWII US navy deck clock, yet I certainly don’t think of myself as supporting communism, or even militarism (which both sides invested too heavily in)

Thanks all for you comments.

Bas: I know the story, and I wouldn’t drive a car which was used by Nazis.

Jay: A modern timepiece in the same line wouldn’t be much of a problem I guess.

John: Thanks for the compliments. I am not allowed to use my site-url in a message-footer on Paneristi, so it is a bit difficult to get the word around that this blog exists since TZ thinks the same way. Luckily WUS don’t 🙂 Ofcourse it is my personal opinion, it is my blog 🙂 However, I can see why you think otherwise, but owning or using a thing (watch in this case) actually used by Luftwaffe would give me an unpleasant feeling.

Hacmac: Maybe you made a good distinction, ‘as long as the owner don’t glorifies them’. That’s exactly what was wrong with all the Italian Navy stuff at the P-Day 3 meeting. The diving suit gave me a real shiver.

I wouldnt care..

By the way, talking about cars, the Spanish King has the only 6 wheel mercedes designed only for hitler, musolini and franco¬¥s parades…

Daimler-Benz gave him an empty check to buy the car, but he refused the offer..

There are two separate issues in this topic-item:
1. the liking of watches as a hobby, which is actually a thing of all times.
2. the liking of watches as what they represented b4 in temporal wars.

These two separate issues are not equal in essence: hobbies ans wars are not moral things,
develish politicians have no morality whatsoever.

So Harris’s pilots levelling Dresden in Lancaster bombers is morally acceptable? Yet Luftwaffe watches are not! Please, do me a favour!
I am sure the watch makers were not goose stepping and chanting ‘zeikheil’ whilst they built the Omega. They built watches not tanks!

It comes down to intent. If you are a cold blooded racist and wear memorabilia as a sign of hatred, then that is one thing… especially anything with a Swatika. However, not all German soldiers were Nazis and and not all Allied troops were saints. We tend to simplify complex situations like this. Some were just caught up in duty to country. Obviously, this has to be taken on a person-by-person judgment call. I personally would like a 1939 Hanhart Chronograph reproduction in my collection based solely on its merit as a watch and not a symbol of Nazi Germany. Those watches were prized by the Allies too if they could capture one. If it had a Nazi stamp on it though (like some German lugers), I could not wear it.

Anybody who deliberately purchases watches from the WWII era that were used by the Axis powers has no place in watch collecting.Period.End of discussion.What is a much more complex issue,is whether this moral standard applies to current models from brands i.e, Panerai,Stowa(used by Luftwaffe) Porsche Design(Ferry Porsche used slave labor at Volkswagen)A.Lange and Sohn(favorite of Hitler).If you had family members that were killed/violated by the Axis powers than you have an obligation to honor them by NOT purchasing current models from these manufacturers.If you didn’t not so much,yet you still have a responsibility to honor the victims of genocide,whoever they were.