Vintage Zodiac SeaWolf with Orig Signed Bracelet JUST FULLY OVERHAULED. 99/NR

  

It just arrived over the past weekend from being fully overhauled (6/5) by a repair shop in CA who has done excellent watch service for me before the past, and is well known and trusted for their work on vintage Zodiac watches. It has been kept wound and allowed to run here on my desk for the last 48 hours, and is keeping great vintage time.

Keep in mind that this is a vintage mechanical watch, which will not have near the split-second accuracy of modern quartz watches or clocks. Some deviation from atomic-clock time should be expected during use. This watch looks fantastic for its age.

I thought it already looked pretty good when I sent it off last week, and I knew the overhaul included a clean and polish of the case, bracelet, dial, and hands so I expected it would probably look a little better still, but wow! Fully automatic, and just adjusted to be as mechanically accurate as possible, the full overhaul entailed a complete disassembly and individual cleaning of each part of the movement and chassis.

And just like a quality Swiss movement when properly maintained, it now ticks every bit as smooth as new. I really like this watch, especially with the pearl white dial and great Zodiac diving expansion bracelet - modern iterations by the current Zodiac company are starting to look better as they take design cues from the old models, but none yet have the genuine classic look of these vintage SeaWolf watches. But I have just finished my degree after returning to the university, and I need to keep everything stable while I find permanent employment - so this watch from my personal collection must go to help cushion that lag a bit.

The original acrylic crystal is clear, highly polished, and scratch free. In a couple of the photos the edge curvature of the crystal introduces distortion disrupting the view of the dial, but that's just physics of light playing tricks, not physical imperfections on the dial or crystal.

Its brushed nickel plating has some scratches and edge plating loss/thinning along its coin-edge, enough so that a little of the underlying base metal can be seen if the light catches it just right, but certainly not anything that detracts from overall look of the watch, and its fluted edge is still quite well defined. The Zodiac logo-signed crown is original, and in very nice condition. The case has been polished during the service, and presents very well from the top and sides, and has improved significantly on the back from the service. The case did have some difficult entry marks on the back behind'9', and some evidence is still visible there on the back, but it's amazingly better than it was before it was serviced.

What's left of them are all underneath though, and once wrist mounted, would not typically be visible. The snap case-back looks really good with only a few minor entry marks and light scratches on the edge - it is shiny, and the engraved lettering is super sharp and crisp. The dial is pearly off-white/light-champagne, and is in very nice condition - even under a harsh desk lamp I see no signs of discoloration or patina - only the luminescent paint in the markers and hands seems to have darkened a bit over time. The slightly yellowed tint the dial appears to have in some of the photos is just a product of the incandescent lamp there on that table adding a cast. The photos that show it the lightest and whitest are the most accurate.

The metal of the hands had some surface spotting, but they were cleaned with the service, so that is likely not something that will resume. The luminescent paint on them has darkened significantly, but does liven up here and there in spots with UV light - speckled at best as visible in the final photo. The original signed expansion bracelet/clasp has also benefited from the service - fine scratches are still visible on the surface here and there, but again, the cleaning/polish part of the service has done it justice.

All links are present, springy, fully expand with tension, and fully retract at rest - this is a rare Zodiac SeaWolf bracelet just simply for that fact. The 8th photo shows the watch hanging by the clasp, and is provided to show all springed-links in the bracelet are completely snug as they should be. Signed 7-67 on the inside of the firm snapping clasp, I have every reason to believe that is the approximate date of manufacture of the watch as a whole as that coincides with the information available on the internet about the production era of this model Zodiac watch. The final photo shows a side by side. In dark with UV black-light to show luminescence (although it does fade to fairly dim within a little while). And in glaringly bright light to show imperfections beyond what's typically visible in natural light. So there you have it - the details in the description and the details in the photos compliment each other and accurately represent the condition of this watch. It has plenty of positive qualities such as that great signed bracelet, the beautiful champagne-white dial, and of course its freshly overhauled 70-72 hacking automatic movement, not to mention its overall great vintage looks. Yet it also has a few flaws from leading an active lifestyle during its fifty-some years - but hey, what appear to be amateur entry marks on the case back along with other dings and scratches that have accumulated over the years might actually be'shark bites' from a once-in-a-lifetime pirate shipwreck dive trip in the Caribbean back in'72 for all we know, right? LOL Just as long as it's understood that they are there, and honestly detailed in the hi-res photos.

One important note though, retired vintage dive watches like this one are best kept top-side and dry at this stage in their lives. Their years of being guaranteed waterproof have long since passed, including this Sea Wolf which had some internal rust removed during the overhaul (the 9th photo was taken prior to the overhaul for the comparison and I can see at least a little there at the middle-upper-right in the before photo that was cleaned up). So I'd recommend getting no deeper than maybe a couple drinks at some on-shore dives, instead, when wearing this watch. By all means if you have any questions, please message and ask. I will be happy to answer to the best of my ability.

I will be monitoring the tracking as well so I'll know when your item has arrived and will follow up accordingly. EDITED TO CORRECT: In the body text, I have referred to the 9th photo as the photo prior to the service, that is no longer correct since there were a couple more photos added to the draft listing, it is the 11th photo that was taken prior to the service. The item "Vintage Zodiac SeaWolf with Orig Signed Bracelet JUST FULLY OVERHAULED. 99/NR" is in sale since Tuesday, June 11, 2019. This item is in the category "Jewelry & Watches\Watches, Parts & Accessories\Wristwatches".

The seller is "reydelaplaya" and is located in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. This item can be shipped to United States.

• Gender: Men's
• Number of Jewels: 17 Jewels
• Model: Zodiac Sea Wolf
• Country/Region of Manufacture: Switzerland
• Style: Vintage
• Movement: Mechanical (Automatic)
• Year of Manufacture: 1960-1969
• Brand: Zodiac