Enicar Sherpa Guide GMT

I actually have two of these. Both date from 1969, but they have subtly different dials and inner bezels. And neither of them works properly … soon I’ll hand them over to an acquaintance who is a highly trained, professional watchmaker currently working for ‘a major Swiss brand’ who isn’t meant to moonlight but who likes to take on ‘challenging projects’ from his friends to do in his spare time. With luck, he’ll be able to make me one good, fully functional one from the two, and I’ll probably then sell on the remaining bits to some brave soul!

This is the first one: it has a non-original sweep second hand, but the inner 24-hour bezel works perfectly and the red and black checkered 24-hour hand is also there and operational. The case is in very good shape (although the back has been over-polished and has lost some detail). The outer ‘world cities’ bezels on these are made of soft aluminium and are almost always damaged: this one is is so-so condition.

Unfortunately, after running well for a few weeks I noticed that this watch had a tendency to stop overnight, usually a few hours after the date change-over. I got into the habit of re-setting it in the morning, but one day I went to set it and it had really seized up just before midnight, to the extent that when I stupidly tried to force it a little, the setting crown came out of the watch altogether! I could slip it back in and it would wind the movement, but not set the time. I took it to a watchmaker with a good reputation for repairs and restoration, but his verdict was that it was beyond economic repair.

This is Enicar #2. As you can see, it has a slightly different, plainer dial and inner bezel. Overall, it’s in very good condition. All hands are correct. The movement runs strongly and keeps pretty good time. However, the 24-hour hand doesn’t run properly and the date changes over at about 8pm rather than midnight, so something is awry there; and the inner bezel is jammed and the upper crown mechanism (which turns the inner bezel) is broken (I’ve just stuck the crown from watch #1 over the end of the crown tube so it looks complete). The case-back still has all its detail, but its ‘Super Compressor’ mechanism doesn’t seem to lock into place the way it should, so the back is always slightly loose (which makes the ‘666 feet’ waterproof rating pretty useless!). The outer bezel on this one is in better condition — you can still see its orange highlights — but the little pointer on the red anodised inner ring has broken off.

Sandoz sub

Until such time as I can afford a proper Rolex Submariner … this is actually a pretty good alternative. Sandoz is an old Swiss brand that from about the 1960s on concentrated on sales in Asia, and eventually took the cost-cutting measure of putting their watches together in Hong Kong and Singapore, using Swiss ETA movements. This one has a 25-jewel automatic movement, a nicely domed acrylic crystal and a screw-down crown. With its yellowing, aged lume, the colours of the ‘real Bond’ NATO are a good match.

Bulova Accutron 218 Deep Sea (1968)

This one is my first ‘hummer’ — an Accutron. It has a battery, but unlike a quartz watch, the charge from the battery ‘excites’ a tuning fork to oscillate at a constant frequency. Hence the watch ‘hums’ rather than ticks. Very cool technology for 1960. And unlike a quartz watch, the second hand sweeps smoothly rather than in one-second jerks.

1968 Bulova Accutron 218 Deep Sea

This Accutron was made in 1968 (it has an ‘M8’ date code on the back). It uses the 218 calibre movement, the second iteration of the Accutron following on from the 214.

When new it was a professional diving watch, waterproof to 666 feet — but nowadays I’d be reluctant to get it wet until I have the seals replaced and the case pressure-tested.

The case and dial are in very good condition but the bezel is showing its age, as are the hands. I love the red-on-silver date and the domed crystal with cyclops magnifier *under* the uninterrupted curve (why didn’t Rolex think of that?)

Poljot Sturmanskie. It’s Russian, da?

this is my Poljot Sturmanskie from the 1990s

This is a bit of a test-post. The somewhat blurry photo to the left shows my Poljot Sturmanskie chronograph. It’s Russian (indeed it says ‘made in CCCP’ under the right-hand subdial), dates from about the 1990s, and is powered by the Poljot 3133 manual-wind movement. It’s a chunky watch, with a squared-off pillow case, a little reminiscent of the Heuer Monza. It’s very accurate, but the chrono does sometimes stop the watch, indicating it’s probably time I got it serviced. Currently on a blue canvas strap from Eddie at Timefactors, which is an almost perfect colour-match for the blue dial. This particular watch isn’t an issued military watch: although this model was used by both the Soviet airforce and navy, I suspect this one dates from the ‘Perestroika’ era when previously Soviet companies began to open up and sell their products to civilians, and even to foreigners!