Speaking of dial colors, there is an auction right now for a vintage S.W. with a BROWN color dial. ??? :o Has anybody heard of such a thing?

Every once is a while somebody tries to pass off a ruined Black Dial as a "chocolate dial". There was no such animal. Zodiac only made White and Black in the metal and enamel bezel watches in the 60's and 70s. In the later SW watches there were blue dials. You will also occasionally see a black dial with tiny circles or bubbles in it. That is another ruined black dial that they try to pass of a special, rare, or unique.

Funny, this sort of question is why I started the new Board today. This and the "left hand wind" Autographic that is up for sale (again) this week.

Thought you would get a kick out of this Butch. :P ;D

that's a spillover from the wacky world of Rolex collecting, some of the early Rollie dials would age to a brownish tone, which is desirable in some Rolex circles. 

There was a similar auction a few months back with a so called orange dial Seawolf which was actually rust (!)

Musta been the one I bought. <heavy sigh>

 ;D ;D ;D     my all time favorite was the white dial SW that was rusty and sold as a  "tropic patina" dial!! i would have loved to see the movement which the seller didnt show-wonder why?  i looked at the brown dial on ebay--nasty! isnt the wacky world of zodiac a pure blast!  JON

Chocolate dials - not just Zodiac, I've seen that term applied to Speedmasters more than anything else.  However, in the case of the Speedmasters, it's usually used with full realization on everyone's part that it is a black dial that has aged to brown, so it's not so bad there.

I saw once a Sea Wolf listed as near mint, but the caseback picture showed it was pitted so bad that it looked like stainless steel leprosy.  Yeah, I got a car to sell too, only driven by my aged grandmother to church, every other Sunday. ;D