Zodiac SST 36,000

[ndpadgett]

 

Hello all,

I have started to build a small collection of Zodiac watches, mainly the SST models. A few are easy to describe because they have a name on the dial, "Astrograph",  etc. However many do not have a name on the dial, just the letters SST and 36000. Does anyone have a list of the names (with pictures) of all SST's, or are they just SST's regardless of the radically different shapes, sizes and/or functions? Any help with this would be appreciated.

Regards,

Neil.

[Butch]

You are collecting a fine line of the Zodiac brand watches. Many were just SSTs but some had specific model names. Have you take a look at http://www.zodiaccatalogs.com yet?

[ndpadgett]

No I haven't yet but I did look at the gallery and I have numbers 2, 11, 14 & 15 from that list along with a couple more that are not on the list. Are they all just SST's?

Cheers,  Neil.

[Butch]

In my opinion, yes.

[rdenney]

There were certainly some Zodiac watches that had a high-beat movement but that were not marked "SST" either in the catalog or on the watch. This watch, for example:



This watch is shown as reference 763931 in a "late 60's" Spanish catalog. If I'm reading the reference number correctly, the first two digits are the caliber and the third is the color (3 for gold plating, 5 for gold, 2 for steel). Clearly, in the "late 60's" catalog, this watch had a caliber 76, with the standard beat rate. In that same catalog, the Kingline Chronometer, which is the only watch to boast of the high-beat movement, started with "78", the first high-beat movement based on the auto-winding AS1687/1688.

By 1971, these caliber were 86's. The movement in my watch is a caliber 86, so the reference must be 863931, but the watch with that reference is labeled "SST" in the '71 catalog.

So, sometime between "late 60's" and "71", Zodiac started using the caliber 86 in this watch before they changed to a dial with the SST branding. Probably, it's a transitional watch when they were using up a stock of old dials.

Of course, Zodiac confuses the issue by marking the caseback "773931", implying the nonexistent caliber 77, which tells me the reference on the case may not reflect the movement within.

(I suppose it's possible that a caliber 86 was installed in mine as a service movement, or the dial was later replaced with one from an older watch.)

Rick "thinking manufacturers laugh at the precision that collectors apply to what were probably many crimes of opportunity to get salable product out the door" Denney

[Butch]

All I can add here Rick is that the movement came before the dials, I believe anyway. I once talked with a Trauner salesman (since deceased) and he had lot of stories from back then. He told me the reason they used Split Second Timing was because that at that time the Concorde SST was all the rage, ushering in the future, yada yada yada, and that is where the SST came from.

One curious note here, split second timing is an English language, if not totally American, phrase. Implemented by a Swiss watch company...

[rdenney]

Of course, the Concorde was French. But they wouldn't have wanted to call it that--the Concord watch company was the competition, heh.

Zodiac was marketed in the USA to a greater extent than many companies, and it's one of the few Swiss brands whose advertising I remember from my childhood in the 60's, particularly the "minute a month" guarantee that was offered with the high-beat watches. And that standard of accuracy was established, apparently, by the Community of Precision Watchmaking (the Communauté d'horlogerie de précision) about which I wrote elsewhere. Zodiac had the strongest American position of any of the members of that group. So, maybe it's not so surprising that they would let a little English slip into their branding.

Rick "thinking 'transport supersonique' does have the same zip as does SST" Denney

[Butch]

And for that you can thank Trauner, then Trauner and Son, and finally Trauner and Sons. In North America, Trauner WAS Zodiac. They did all that advertising (I am sure with some kickback from Zodiac), they were the ones that got the brand into the military PX system. They were the ones with traveling salesman running about this very large country getting mom and pop jewelery stores signed up as authorized dealers. Giving them dealer signs for display and PAM advertising clocks personalize with the dealer's name.

They actually represented at least 3 brands, another being Vacheron Constantine. They were actually big (rich?) enough to get Zodiac to make the the Clebar brand exclusively for sale through Trauner.

Back at the turn of the century I was fortunate enough to spend time corresponding with a salesman that worked for them in the late 60's and early 70's. What funny and great stories he had. I actual have corresponded with one or two of the grandchildren as well. As you can imagine though, they are my age.

But I digress, where were we? Who are you again?

[ndpadgett]

Many thanks to all for your information. The info from rdenny was particularly enlightening. I was interested in the case numbering, with the first three digits identifying the calibre number and case finish. Does anyone know what the next three numbers mean if anything? What would really be useful would be some sort of table that matched cases with Zodiac crystal reference numbers. There are several original Zodiac crystal on eBay etc., in their original numbered wrappers but nothing to match them with the cases and I need to purchase a few new crystals! Anyone got such a table or info on this?

Regards,

Neil.