Hello everybody,

I'm Tomcat from Germany and I like Zodiacs.

Erm.

I made first contact with the brand when I stumbled upon this baby:



I saw a) its shape, b) its color and c) that it was branded for Volvo - actually, it's a 100.000 km watch. When I got it, I realized quickly in what bad shape it was (despite "having been serviced" ... lol ...) I sent it off to my watchmaker who fixed the broken date quick set and cleaned and oiled the movement, a cal. 86. When I got it back I fell in love with the smooth movement of the second ;-)

That was about it, actually. It was two-and-a-half years later or so when I came across another one:



Looks like it was inspired by Antoni Gaudí's Barcelona ... and has the same caliber and the same smooth second hand movement. It has an interesting bracelet with an elastic clasp. Still, a bit on the short side, though, so I'll probably add an extension.

All good things come by threes, as they say, so I couldn't resist when I met this gold bar:



Again, cal. 86, a bit rocked on the wrist of a (Turkish?) grocer (?)  and with an absolutely stunning, mirror-like dial.

The last two run with chronometer accuracy, by the way.

Then I was after a Super Sea Wolf - I'm absolutely in love with the cal. 86 - but I was outbid on Ebay.  But this one opened my eyes for the most beautiful divers ever - the Sea Wolf-family. One, a black-dialled calendar-'Vietnam' is still on its way to me (probably not the last one - I'm still looking for a nice, affordable non-calendar 'Vietnam' with white dial), but the family's 'quartermaster' has arrived already:









Its back carries the following numbers:

2745120 - is this the reference?

86404 - this looks like having been stamped, so maybe the serial number?

Unfortunately, I found nothing at all on the web about this watch. I take it it is a Sea Wolf from Zodiac's twilight days. Still, it is well manufactured and I'll send it off to my master watchmaker together with the black-dialled 'Vietnam' once it arrives. Until then maybe you guys can help me with my questions:

a) what exact model is it? Is there another reference I'm meant to look up?
b) when was it built?
c) what strap or bracelet rode it on when new? I'm not sure that the one it is on right now is the one it came with, even though the clasp is 'Zodiac' signed.

Looking forward to your replies!

Best regards
Tomcat

Great collection you have there! Welcome to the forums, Tomcat!! 

Nice collection. The SW looks similar to some that are in the 1977 catalog, but the bezel is different. Perhaps it was replaced along the way?

Iktomi, thank you very much for your kind reception!

Hi Butch, thank you, too, for your welcome. And thank you for the information - so a 1977 Sea Wolf? As I know next to nothing about the previous history of the watch I'deem it perfectly possible that the bezel has been replaced. What should the "regular" bezel look like? And is the bracelet original with the watch?

Again, thank you - seems I've come to the right place here ;-)

Best,
Tomcat

Sorry, a typo. I saw a similar model with a different bezels in the 1975 catalog on ZodiacCatalogs.com. The band? Who know, we have had many discussions about that here in the past. Whatever the customer wanted they got to make the sale. Does that band look like the one in the catalog? No. But this is a US catalog and they often had different bands than the same models that were sold in Europe.

It is also possible that they made one with that bezel in 76 or 77, who really knows? But I have never seen that model with that bezel before.

Nice collection! The bracelet on the Sea Wolf looks like it "fits" the watch so it looks original to me, at least. I'm new to collecting Zodiacs so my opinions aren't worth two cents (yet) but the bezel looks like it was made to fit the watch and is probably a replacement. It appears, from the pics, that the upper parts of the numbers are covered by the bezel. I wouldn't think that Zodiac would have manufactured the bezel in this manner.

bezel probably IS correct, but the INSERT is NOT.  note how the edge has been cut down to make it fit, parts of the numbers are missing. i have seen this done before, to make an insert that is too wide fit. maybe some of the old catalogs will show the proper bezel. it is a good looking divers watch.

@ Butch: thanks again.

@ Saloonkeeper, @ jon p: I guess both of you are right - that inlay looks somewhat ... 'makeshift'. Something disturbed me on it but I couldn't tell exactly, what. But then again, it's part of this particular watch's history, like the unsigned crown (but then again, maybe this is even genuine as it fits the screw tube so neatly)

I'm not going to sell the watch anyway - I like it way too much for its perfect black dial and the red second hand. 

Best regards,
Tomcat