Astrographic or not?

[fragilematter]

Hey guys! I've got a Zodiac Astrographic off my uncle, he got it from someone else (for free), and everything would be just fine, except for a few details. It has seen a bit of wear and tear, with quite a few scratches.
All the Astrographics on this site have the date display at 12 o'clock, but on mine it's at 3. Also, the wrist band appears to be different, along with the back plate.

It also has a very low power reserve, but I'll blame that on the fact that it hasn't been properly looked after/serviced, so I'll take care of that as soon as I will have the time.

So, here are some pictures of this thing. Any information on its autenticity/assumptions about it's manufacturing date would be greatly appreciated! Cheers.

[Butch]

That is a very early model, before they went to the high beat SST movement. The band is original. Crystals are hard to find. You are correct, a service is in order and will help.

[fragilematter]

Wow, thanks! Well, it's not that low beat either, the movement of the second dot is very smooth, and it's certainly faster than my Vostok Komandirskie (2414A movement).

On the service/clean-up: it's been going since last night, when I wrote the first post, but now I feel bad that I'm letting it run in that state. I'll need to look around for some recommendations to a trustworthy watch repair shop around. Even so, the fact that it runs, the date changes and everything kind of works is very encouraging.

[Butch]

Well, SST was more of a marketing strategy than a watch caliber. It is possible you have the 86 in there (high beat) or the 7X which was the slower beat and equally good, just older, movement.

[fragilematter]

Okay, I went to a watch shop and took some (awful) pictures of the caliber. Didn't have the guts to leave it there though, but they said they would charge me about 30$ to clean it up. Also, the guy checked the frequency, and it was pretty irregular. Nice and clean otherwise. See for yourself:

[jon p]

  send it to butches repair guy!he is THE zodiac repair guru. i spent a lot of money on my GMT with a local repair man and he never was able to make it run correctly because he didnt now one weird feature of that movement. butches guy knew what it was with reading my email and has the very special part that is bad.he is fantastic to deal with AND reasonable. my GMT is in the mail to him now. he will also polish the case and most important--tighten the loose bezel. in the future he will be the only one to work on my zodiacs!i have a SW i bought new in 1968-it will be the next one i send to him. contact BUTCH, i dont know if i am supposed to mention who it is in general discussion.  JON

[Butch]

fragilematter, that is definitely a pre-SST model. That is quite a fine sir.