diff --git a/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/writer/OMWriter.hh b/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/writer/OMWriter.hh
index efc48a8c..89c723b7 100644
--- a/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/writer/OMWriter.hh
+++ b/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/writer/OMWriter.hh
@@ -111,10 +111,10 @@ public:
 
   bool write(std::ostream&, BaseExporter&, Options, std::streamsize _precision = 6) const;
 
-
-
   size_t binary_size(BaseExporter& _be, Options _opt) const;
 
+  static OMFormat::uint8 get_version() { return version_; }
+
 
 protected: