Hi! I fit the M.O i believe. I have only just joined after a hearty persuit of a perticular SEAWOLF and lost.
thourgh a general cross refferance on ebay of vintage zodiacs i had decided my limit would be around £70. based upon my financial situation and for $140 there were some pretty imaculate watches which i aint so interested in. i knew nothing of the company's history or the maintainace issue.
i suppose i sound like the girl who is asked which carr is the best in the show room and she says the "pink" one.
still need a Zodiac......
I have owned two moonphase Zodiacs, and I am amazed at what good condition they were in mechanically. The Zodiacs I've repaired did not seem to have the obvious "weak points" which many bigger name watches (Rolex, Omega) had. The trick of course is to buy a good one, and have it serviced regularly - by a REAL watchmaker, not a poseur!!
By the way, the most irritating thing to me is that my "moon" doesn't come in a solid 18K case! I think that the quality of the watch is definitely worthy of it. . .
FWIW, I had my Zodiac GMT serviced about 15-20 years ago by a Rolex tech (an independent businessman with the appropriate Rolex cert's). When I asked him if he recognized my watch he laughed..., turns out he worked for Zodiac before going to Rolex (1960/70s).
I then asked if he could clean it - maybe fix anything necessary. With another laugh, he said "when I left Zodiac they owed me money they couldn't pay and instead gave me these..." and dumped a large manilla envelope of watch parts onto the counter. At that time I had no idea how rare those parts were.
He may have used them all up by now (although how many of us are there - particularly in my neighborhood?), but he's still in business. I just bought a Rolex Date from him a few weeks ago. He's overhauled Rolex's for me 3 times (two watches, plus the one I just bought - ok, 4) and the Zodiac in my Avatar. He's not cheap, but he's generous and has also done a lot of "service favors" for free (like inspecting a Rolex I purchased on-line - telling me it wasn't in very good condition inside and I'd be best to stay away - his advice/opinion... no charge to open it and look around under the hood, as opposed to another local watch guy who wanted $45.00 to open it up and then probably didn't know what he was looking at/for).
I offer this on the slight chance that that manilla envelope might still be sitting on his shelf. If you'd like his name and contact info send me an e-mail or PM.
Again, FWIW,
Larry
Parts might not be plentiful but donor watches are. A parts Seawolf can provide good working parts to bring multiple watches back to life. You can get some awfully nice Seawolves in the $150 - $250 range some even fully serviced.