Bosch magnetos

Royal Enfield motorcycles of the 1910's used Bosch magnetos. Robert Bosch GmbH was established in 1886 and is still going strong. Apparently there were not many other companies selling magnetos at the time. This presented a problem in 1914 when World War I broke out. Apparently, Bosch was very interested in continuing to sell magnetos war or no war and they set up a re-exporting agreement via Switzerland that kept Royal Enfield supplied of magnetos during the war. It was kind of ironic that Royal Enfield machines supplied to the UK, Russian and Belgian governments were being used to fight the war against Germany with German parts on them.

(Source: "The history of Redditch and the locality" by Neville Land)