New no date black Seawolf for the end of summer

Got this very nice no date early black Seawolf back from a friend who serviced it and relumed the hands. Its an early beauty with the telltale "Swiss" on the dial and the chunkier lume. Really clean considering the age. I had to sacrifice a parts watch to get this one running as the mainspring, barrel and barrel bridge were shot on the original watch. I love the clean, no nonsense look of the dateless dial. Easy to see why these were the choice of so many military personnnel, these must've glowed like the dickens when new.

Happy almost end of summer

Long time between posts, some outstanding news though which has rekindled my love of Zodiacs. Butch Dunn has brought back his Zodiac forum and the world of WISdom is a better place for it. Check it out.

http://www.vintagezodiacs.com/zforums/index.php

An update on my long forgotten orange Seawolf which I sent off to get repaired. It was an ebay pickup that I paid too much for, as the patented fuzzy ebay pic had me rolling the dice. Well it was nothing short of a wreck when I got it. Didn't run, rust in the movement, dial flaking and bezel shot. I finally got it back a few months ago, and its a mixed bag. Cosmetically, it looks real nice, I sent off a NOS orange/black dial with it and it looks spectacular, crisp and vibrant orange and black to offset it. The repair guy redid the hands and even painted the seconds hand metallic orange (!). He also installed a nice NOS burgundy bezel, the orange bezel that originally came with these watches is impossible to find. However I can't get the watch to run. Its obvious that he put a good bit of work into it but the watch still doesn't run. I don't want to send it back because lord knows when I'll get it back, the initial run took over a year and a half. Live and learn my friends.

One more observation, there have been several of these orange Seawolves on ebay recently, including a couple of fixer uppers that were really cheap. I think these are wonderful watches. In their heyday, top notch professional diving equipment with that extra panache/flair offered by the beautifully colored minute track and pastel orange bezel. I'm still looking for the silver dial variant in decent shape.

Orange Delight

Very surprised at how many orange Seawolves have been on ebay recently, as many as three/four in the last few months. Managed to snag a nice one in good condition though did have to take it to my local watchmaker for a service. Seller purchased it in either 1969 or 1970 and used it for diving for over a decade. The chapter ring and hour markers have lost their once vibrant orange color but the dial is really nicely preserved. This piece has lots of great character. This Seawolf is fitted with a quickset date as well, just press in the crown. Gaskets were goo, so no more diving for this vet but it'll take its place in my rotation. Looks great on a Nato.

Old "Pre Wolf" sold on ebay

Butch Dunn coined the phrase "Pre Wolf" to describe these which pop up every now and again. This example looked in good shape with an original riveted expansion bracelet to boot. Went for a shade over $200.00. I didn't bid on an excellent example a few years back cuz I thought it was a fake, sigh. Went for a ridiculously low price too.

Nice Seawolf story

Wanted to share another nice story from Paul aka dbluefish about his Seawolf.

"I bought mine originally in 1964 on a Navy ship. It took years of abuse and ran fine until one day it just stopped. I could not find anyone to do the work so it sat in my drawer for the past 10 - 15 years.

Bought a 'restored' version off the 'bay that the stem fell out the day i got it and it wouldn't run either. So I shipped both to a watch repair shop who works with Zodiacs, and using my case, my caseback, donor watch dial and hands both relumed, my signed crown, and a mix of parts from both watches and it runs fine now.

Mine hacks but does not have quick set date.

When I bought it I was told that often these were sold on ships and PX's with aftermarket bands and mine has a 40yr old speidel band.

Love the watch and love its history."



Great story Paul and lovely watch, great restoration of a vintage beauty. Interesting regarding Seawolves being sold with aftermarket bracelets, didn't know that at all. Would explain the many Seawolves that I've seen with Speidels and other bands.

Thanks again for sharing.

Zodiac Postcard

Wanted to share this cool little postcard that I snagged off of ebay a while back. What a trio. Interesting bracelet on the GMT, wonder if the photographer took some creative license with a non Zodiac bracelet or if that was an option for the GMT, never seen one like it. Looks like a fancy Speidel.

These are older Wolves too, (late 50's?). Note the hands without the line bisecting them and the smaller font on the hour markers.