Mystery Seawolf

Blurry ebay pictures are the stuff of the legend. Here's another doozy. Seller's summary states
"This Auction is for a Used Zodiac SeaWolf Atuomatic Dive Watch One owner=Me. Purchased on McCoy AFB in 1966.Never went below 135 foot but guaranted to 20ATM,that's 660 Feet Way to deep for me!! LOng story short after a year in Fla it went in the drawer and I was sent to South East Aisa,then home, Married,You know the rest of the story never used again.Im 67,No don't dive,But it works fine and it and its stainless band is looking for a new home.Nice as Pictured shows very little wear for its age."

First the band doesn't look original, should be a jubilee or a stretchy and this is neither. The bezel is the most interesting aspect, looks like half of it was redone (?) with orange markers or?? Lots of questions and seller wasn't exactly forthcoming but someone thought it worth $300 BIN.

Postcard ready to send

Picked up this neat little postcard earlier this year. Unfortunately it got bent up en route (thanks usps). Very neat glimpse into the past. Think its early 60's. A c note would have scored you the basic no date Seawolf while $10 more would have scored you a date complication. Not too shabby.

BTW, forgive the image quality, no scanner and the blackberry minimal camera

Couple of nice orange wolves

Saw these two on ebay as a BIN for $650.00 which is not cheap. Not sure I would've spent that much but they sure are pretty. Both have original bracelets which are a big plus.

Seawolf Trio

Not the best pic, (darned Blackberry) but these are three of my favorite Seawolves. The white dial is one of the nicest unrestored that I've seen. With the excellent enamel bezel and original bracelet, its a really striking combination. Looks almost like it left the factory a few months ago (give or take forty years). I can't even imagine what it'd be like strolling into a local jeweler and seeing a watch like that, it'd take my breath away and at a more reasonable price than the competition. The black dials must have been more popular as they are more plentiful on the used market but the white ones look so right in this condition.

Noticed that thee storm of ebay Seawolves have tapered off a bit with only three or four good examples at any time. Probably just a temporary lull.

Another ebay pickup

Back after almost a year and a half absence. Work and family (nuff said). The orange Zodiac Seawolves are a personal favorite of mine. I have a couple of the black dial versions but this is my first silver dial version. Lucked out because the dial is nice and clean (thought the lume has deteriorated a bit). The watch also keeps time like a charm despite being probably close to 45-50 years old. This is the earlier metal bezel version not the later plastic bezel version. Wore it a couple of times on a Nato. Whoever was the original owner really took care of it. Worn but no abused is the ideal description. Will be back with some more stuff soon.

Long time between posts, but our new baby girl occupies most of my free time.

Picked up some new watches in the between including a few from my favorite boutique brand, Time Factors in England (bottom pic)

The PRS 18A (auto) and 18Q (quartz) in my mind are the most functional, yet handsome, do everything watches out there now. Beautifully made by Fricker, these divers offer the most bang for the buck. I had the A (pictured) which went out as an Xmas present while the Q sits on my wrist most of the time.

Also picked up a modern Zodiac (!) Oceanaire for a bit. Its a massive diver with a Claro Semag (Chinese) auto movement. I was actually impressed with the quality of the beast, but too big for my thin wrist and I kept getting bombarded with emails on the qc issues with the movement so I returned it to the brickmortar store I bought it from.

Also snagged another Pre wolf from the bay (top pic), a little pricy but it came with an early version of the expansion bracelet. The end pieces won't fit my latter Seawolves but the bracelet is still in pretty good shape. The watch itself needs a new crown but its in surprisingly good shape for its 50 plus years. Into the project pile.

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.