I was just given a Zodiac watch, and I know absolutely nothing about watches in general, or this watch in particular. It has a day and date, with a gold colored case (silver on the back). On the back, it says around the outer edge WATER - & SHOCKRESISTANT/AUTOMATIC/ANTIMAGNETIC/SWISS/ZODIAC. On one side of the casing, where the case attaches to the band, it says 1869529 and on the other side where the case attaches to the band, it say PLAQUE 620 SAD. But, the 620 could be 020 or G20....it's hard for me to read. I was wondering if anyone could tell me how old the watch is, and its approximate value. I have no idea if it is $10 or $1,000. The band appears to be new and is marked GENUINE LEATHER. The band appears to have never been used. So, any help anyone can offer would be very much appreciated! Thanks to all you Zodiac ladies and gents!
Hi and welcome to the forum. That is a mechanical watch and if you do not know the service history it needs to be serviced now. BY the looks of it I do not think it has been serviced. Once serviced it should be worth $200-300. It was made in the late 1960's or the early 1970's and when serviced will be VERY accurate.
Very good specimen. Most likely based on Zodiac 76 movement. As mentioned above, once serviced, it should be very accurate.
Quick date set by pushing crown.
How stiff the manual winding is?
Quote from: YuriyV on September 11, 2015, 12:20:53 PM
Very good specimen. Most likely based on Zodiac 76 movement. As mentioned above, once serviced, it should be very accurate.
Quick date set by pushing crown.
How stiff the manual winding is?
Actually, the case code suggests a caliber 86 high-beat autowinding version of the venerable AS 1688.
This watch is from 1968, and the subsequent dials with the same design say "SST" on them, but this one came out the year before they adopted the "SST" nomenclature. There is a caliber 76 version in an earlier catalog, but the case code tells all (I guess).
Here's mine:
(https://www.vintagezodiacs.com/zforums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rickdenney.com%2Fscratch%2Fzodiac%2FSSTdial.jpg&hash=f0621111fb25af7ded42a14c1b5b6d8b3346c7b1)
(https://www.vintagezodiacs.com/zforums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rickdenney.com%2Fscratch%2Fzodiac_ebel%2FZodiac_regulator.jpg&hash=f51eab201088bf2f96bb8754b13b639286c87fb1)
The small balance wheel comes with the high-beat assortment.
Rick "36,000 bph and a selling point" Denney