CHAPTER VII @ “History2”: The chapter about Hanns-Martin Kaufhold shows comprehensively just how helpful a collection of field post letters has been when researching this member of the “Einsatzgruppe Keller”. His correspondence with his then-girlfriend, which lasted more than three years from his entry into the German Navy in 1942 until the end of his imprisonment in July 1945, provides information about the stages of his time as a trainee officer and combat swimmer. Such very rare documents, including identification papers and travel documents issued in Venice, allow us to reconstruct the route he took to the mission grounds at the Eastern Front. A mission report written by Hanns-Martin Kaufhold on April 3rd, 1945 – an unique and extremely rare document – describes a mission carried out by him and four comrades in the “Einsatzgruppe Keller”.

CHAPTER VII.I features “The Kaufhold Radiomir” – a Ref. 3646 / Type D with anonymous “Kampfschwimmer” dial and Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement.

The book “History2″ (480 pages / chapter VII: 70 pages, 58 photos, 6 technical illustrations) is in stock. It can be ordered directly in our bookstore. Enjoy reading!

CHAPTER VI @ “History2”: The chapter about the contemporary witness and author of the book “Schiffssterben vor Algier”, Manfred Lau, with whom we have been friendly since 2003, is a very special one. It is the “chapter without a watch”. Nevertheless, precisely his personal story is of great interest to us, as he is a veteran of the “Lehmann pig group”, who were trained for deployments with two-man torpedoes (SLC and SSB devices) on the island of Le Vignole in the Lagoon of Venice. In impressive and precise detail he describes the difficult journey from Hamburg through a Germany that was, by the autumn of 1944, severely marked by the scars of war, and down to northern Italy, where the secret training centre of the combat swimmers was located.

The detailed memories of his training period to become a pilot of the two-man torpedoes (SLC / SSB), more than 70 years ago, and supplemented with historical maps and pictures, take the reader on a journey to the Adriatic coast. There the midshipman ended his time as a sea fighter with a march into captivity, from which he returned to Germany in 1948.

The book “History2″ (480 pages / chapter VI: 82 pages, 39 photos) is in stock. It can be ordered directly in our bookstore. Enjoy reading!

CHAPTER V @ “History2”: The chapter on Jochen Burnus describes his period of duty as a combat swimmer, from his posting away from Yugoslavia in 1944 and his training in northern Italy to his missions at the Elbe, where he ended up in American captivity in April 1945. After his release he worked in Hamburg Harbour as a recovery diver, together with other former combat swimmers, including Siegfried Köneke, who also belonged to the “Einsatzgruppe Keller” in the Second World War.

Jochen Burnus later received his friend’s 3646 from Köneke’s parents, after Sigi was killed at the age of 28 in tragic circumstances while working in Hamburg harbour on March 14th, 1949. Thus the stories of two combat swimmers merge inseparably and allow us to trace the journey of a combat swimmer watch and its earlier owners from 1944 to the present day.

CHAPTER V.II features “The Köneke Radiomir”, a Ref. 3646 / Type D “Kampfschwimmer” watch with anonymous sandwich dial and Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement.

The book “History2″ (480 pages / chapter V: 112 pages, 67 photos, 4 technical illustrations) is in stock. It can be ordered directly in our bookstore. Enjoy reading!

CHAPTER IV @ “History1”: The chapter on Mario Arillo begins with an interview conducted with him in 1989. Numerous as yet unpublished pictures and documents from the family possessions of the famous commander from La Spezia augment the personal descriptions of his submarine missions as a means of transport for Italian Gamma swimmers and the SLC units of the Decima MAS.

Mario Arillo’s impressive and moving interview, taken 11 years before he died, holds many interesting details on the missions against the harbours on the north african coast with very rare photos taken aboard the submarine Ambra together with SLC pilots and Gamma frogmen.

CHAPTER IV.I features “The Arillo-Luminor”, a Ref. 6152/1 with “Luminor Panerai” dial and Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 4 movement.

The book “History1″ (420 pages / chapter IV: 165 pages, 106 photos, 7 technical illustrations) is in stock. It can be ordered directly in our bookstore. Enjoy reading!

CHAPTER III @ “History1”: The story of Karl-Heinz Kiefer, who received fast-track training in the last months of the Second World War, already provided proof in the first edition of this book (2007 / sold out) about period of use of the rare watch-face version of his Panerai watch, which for a long time had been ascribed to an earlier date. In chapter III of “History1”, his winter training in a toughening-up camp at the Baltic Sea is described in more detail.

CHAPTER III.I features “The Kiefer-Radiomir”, a Ref. 3646 / Type D with anonymous “Kampfschwimmer” dial (painted brass) and Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement.

The book “History1″ (420 pages / chapter III: 55 pages, 39 photos, 3 technical illustrations) is in stock. It can be ordered directly in our bookstore. Enjoy reading!

CHAPTER II @ “History1”: For the most part the chapter about Heinz Pape is taken from his surviving diary and presented as a firstperson narrative, with comprehensive supplementation.

Thanks to extremely rare aerial photographs of the assignment targets described by him and the examination of several maps it was possible to analyse his diary entries precisely and thus present them to the reader in such an impressive manner – an unique story.

CHAPTER II.I features “The Pape-Radiomir”, a Ref. 3646 / Type D with anonymous “Kampfschwimmer” dial and Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement.

The book “History1″ (420 pages / chapter II: 91 pages, 44 photos, 3 technical illustrations) is in stock. It can be ordered directly in our bookstore. Enjoy reading!

CHAPTER I @ “History1”: The story of the German elite swimmer Heinz Günter Lehmann is told with numerous photos (including maps and documents of the allied secret intelligence), covering the period from his training in Venice to his countless sporting successes on the international stage after the Second World War.

CHAPTER I.I features “The Lehmann-Radiomir”, a Ref. 3646 / Type C with “Radiomir Panerai” dial and Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement.

The book “History1″ (420 pages / chapter I: 75 pages, 38 photos, 4 technical illustrations) is in stock. It can be ordered directly in our bookstore. Enjoy reading!

We recently added another Ref. 3646 / Type G with “California Dial” into our records. It will replace the watch formerly called “the last 3646” since its case number is higher than the Ref. 3646 / Type G with painted brass dial, auctioned at Antiquorum back in 2014 (read more here).

Typical features of Ref. 3646 / Type G watches are the removed / not existing Rolex stamp in the inner caseback. You can compare the different inner caseback engravings in Ref. 3646 watches here. The center of the caseback (with all-over decorative polish inside, not engraved on the outside) on this watch is thinner than watches featuring the Rolex SA hallmark. Read more about these interesting details in our book “The References” 1930’s-1940’s on page 486-487 (decorative polish) and page 645 (topography).

The “California Dial” is corresponding with the flat bezel of the watch – a typical combination of dial version and bezel (a Panerai dial with its sandwich construction would need a higher bezel due to its height). The “Error-Proof Radium Dial” by Rolex, with its railroad track minute markers and “SWISS MADE” signature at six o’clock, features half arabic and half roman numbers with luminous material applied from above.

The onion shaped winding crown (“BREVET +” Type 11) is screwed down onto the collar of the 47 mm cushion shaped case with soldered lugs. A black leather strap with small pin buckle is fitted onto the soldered lugs of the watch.

The Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 mod. movement in this “California Dial” watch is another important element, which appears with confirming details of the today recorded watches in the number group 3646 / Type G.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 3646 / Type G
Dial: “California Dial”
Case number: 31753X
Movement: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 mod.

Read more about the Ref. 3646 / Type G in chapter II.VII of our book “The References” 1930’s-1940′s on page 608-645.

Another Ref. 6152/1 “Luminor Panerai” with Rolex movement and crown-protecting device has been added into our records: The first specimen of this group in 2019.

The son of the first owner, a high decorated veteran of the Mezzi d’Assalto, provided us information about the watch and his father who continued his career in the Marina Militare after the end of the war until his retirement in 1982. His father took part in missions of the Decima MAS against enemy ships in the bay of Algeciras / Gibraltar in 1943.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 6152/1
Dial: “Luminor Panerai” (sandwich, engraved)
Case number: 1246XX
Movement: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 4

The 6152/1 is powered by a Rolex 618 / Type 4 movement under its unsigned solid caseback (find classification of the 615X references here) and dust lid, which can be found in more than 80% of all Ref. 6152/1 watches, recorded in our database until today.

The hands of the watch (double pencil, sharp pin) appear today without their initial luminous material, however they have not been re-lumed during a service in 2004. The crown-protecting device of this watch is signed “BREV. ITAL.” and additionally numbered “3” on the underside. The family of the veteran kept the original strap and buckle (visible in the first photo), and at the moment a modern Panerai strap is mounted onto the watch for the use on special occasions.

Similar watches of the Reference 6152/1 with Rolex movement and crown-protecting device can be found in chapter VIII.II (page 922-1057) of our book  “The References” 1950’s-1960’s .

In May 1941, the Decima MAS continued its attacks on the Port of Gibraltar. This time, the SLC pilots’ energy was preserved because they were flown over to Spain disguised as crew members and shipping company employees so that they wouldn’t have to go through the lengthy approach by submarine. Once they had arrived in Spain, they travelled overground to the Port of Cádiz, where the Italian tanker Fulgor had been detained since Italy joined the war.

On 15 May 1941, the transport submarine Scirè left the Port of La Spezia with the “maiali” on board, but without their pilots. After passing the Strait of Gibraltar on 22/23 May, Borghese reached the Port of Cádiz and overnight took on board the six SLC pilots who had previously been on the Fulgor: Decio Catalano and Giovanni Giannoni, Amedeo Vesco and Amelio Franchi (replaced by reserve Antonio Marceglia), Licio Visintini and Giovanni Magro.

Despite the successful deployment of the three SLCs on 26 May 1941, the B.G.3 mission failed due to technical problems and a good deal of bad luck in the last phase of the attack when an explosive charge that had been successfully attached to the hull of a ship became detached at the last second. All six SLC pilots reached the Spanish coast and were able to return to their base at Bocca di Serchio with the aid of the Italian Consul in Algeciras.

However, the mission B.G.3 still had some positive aspects: The British did not notice the operation and the element of surprise was not wasted. The use of the tanker Fulgor as a forward base on Spanish territory proved extremely useful and effective.