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Helping a friend of my mother in law move house and this was in a box in a drawer. The words Richard loves watches were uttered and I became it's new owner.
This is a Caravelle Seahunter also known as the Devil Diver because of its dept rating. Production date stamp is M6 so 1966 which is the first year they were made. Some early 50 fathoms or Rolex vibes coming from this one. Unfortunately it's a non runner, you can pull the crown out and the hands move nice but someone really tried to wind this one and it's well stuck/broke/overwound and in need of a service.
Dial looks lovely underneath the messed up domed crystal and the tritium lume is a nice colour. Also someone really done a job on the springbars and a hole on either side has a tip of the bar left in it so will need a little drilling (not by me) to clear the hole. I was surprised to see "T Japan T" at the six marker because Caravelle was owned by Bulova. Turns out Bulova even back then were buying movements from Citizen, this one is a Cal. 0241.
It's 36mm which is way too small for my gorilla 8.5 inch wrists, not sure if I should get it serviced just for the hell of it or maybe flip it.
Could possibly even pick up a movement from a cheaper watch and do a swap, but the lume on the hands could crumble.
Interesting find no matter what I decide.
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I've missed a good few steps on the curve and sort of gone full circle back to Seiko again.
I currently own 4 watches. 3 of them are Seikos. In a way they're my favourite watches. There is always room in a collection for Seikos imho
Wearing orange turtle now, have been wearing blue tuna last few days. The latter is sold and being picked up this evening.0 -
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I've missed a good few steps on the curve and sort of gone full circle back to Seiko again.
HDMI keep us posted on the devil diver, pity about the size. I get a kick out of it when banks/security people ask my date of birth as it was in June '66!
I'm June '65 :pac:
The likelihood is this is going on ebay, can't seem to find someone who will service it at a price that makes financial sense for a watch that will not get worn. I have been quoted $300 to sort it out which seems crazy. I had Michael Swift sort them for less than 100 quid when I was back in Ireland.
If it was at least 40mm I would get it fixed but a similar non runner from the same year was listed at $295 or best offer and sold on ebay. Sounds like new Seiko money to me
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I had thought 42mm was my preferred size for watches.
But!
The recent astronaut acquisition and the Steinhart acquired from FG during the week are beginning to sway me strongly towards 39mm!
The size just wears a lot slimmer than my divers and I think it's a sign I'm ageing and moving away from tacti-cool :pac:
On the Steinhart, my 1st one and I'm very taken with it.
It's in my rotation and is honestly far, far more watch than can be expected for the price!
Even at full retail they really just are a quality put together piece IMO, I've paid far more for far "less" tbh
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Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,111 Mod ✭✭✭✭
Join Date:Posts: 59040
Speaking of size matters Banie(which could be taken a few ways B )
Well I have had one of those weeks :rolleyes::(:mad: that doesn't bare the telling, but I did have a good day today when a package arrived from the oul ebay.
One of the two remaining watches I have of my dad is a 1980's Longines VHP Titanium. Great little watch it is too. Very ahead of the curve tech wise back then and was "mad money" at the time(1000 quid), but it's a small watch 34mm IIRC. For many years I had kept my eye out for the very rare big brother of his watch that runs to 37mm.
The Longines Ti VHP 1000Oe. The Oe being Oersted a measurement of magnetic fields. When I say rare I've read Longines saying 1000 examples and only produced in one year 1988. Between forums and the Bay I'd reckon I've seen three maybe four examples ever come up in the last 20 odd years*, but I always kept a search for "Longines VHP" going on eBay. Well a few weeks back I spotted one. Photos weren't great and the description was scant, but I read the 1000Oe on the dial. :eek:
Me being a cheap so and times being tight, but it was my birthday this week so I put in my usual bid of 200 quid. I got it for 100. Only bidder. Get in! The seller noted honestly that it hadn't run in years so I had prepared to buy a new ETA movement that fits them, but isn't close to the spec or quality of the original. With bated breath I opened her up and saw a dead battery was still in the thing. Luckily a high quality one so no leakage. New battery in and It lives Igor it lives! *crazed cackle*
Note the gold coated pure iron faraday cage that surrounds the movement. It's also the very best of the movements in these. The one that has two quartz oscillators and thermocompensation and the rate is adjustable by the end user(you tap those little fingers to +/- point feck all of a second per month). Advertised as within a minute over five years, but guys have tweaked them down to under 30 seconds drift every five years. There are guys into this high accuracy quartz thing.
My dads on the right, the newest addition to my madness on the left.
That pic for some reason doesn't show the size difference. It's a much heftier watch. And has a screwback and a screwdown crown for 100m depth rating(the standard one is just about washing the dishes proof). They can't have been cheap when new, when the standard one was 9-1000 quid. Interestingly it came with the original box and warranty card and it was sold in 1994. I suspect remaindered stock at that stage. I suppose it was a hard sell for a very narrow market(the in house marketing bumpf mentions physicists, medical types and electric train drivers of all folks) and expensive with it. I must contact the seller and ask him how much it cost him.
It needed a deep clean. Well bracelets are always full of well, stuff. The cleaning fluid in the ultrasonic was manky after. But here it is earlier tonight. Crappy shot...
Oddly enough the lume is remarkably good on these. Small in quantity, near Seiko levels of brightness over time.
OK not our usual fare, but it is me... And it shows that there are rare, unusual and quite unique and horologically important kit from some of the "big names" still out there for Argos fashion watch prices. I needed a bright spot this week so I have to say I'm well chuffed.
*when they did come up for sale around 500 quid was about the asking, but in one well described auction it hit 1200 because of a few presumably high accuracy quartz fans.Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,111 Mod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 59040
Thanks E. At this stage I'd have paid double that for a manky one.Congrats on the new arrival Wibbs, must be very satisfying to find a good one after so long. Even more so when it's a sweet deal! Though unusually enough for titanium watches these wear very well or not at all. They heavily pushed the IIRC titanium nitride coating after the base case and bracelet links were blasted with "artificial sapphires". As you do. Part of the sales pitch at the time was to take one out of the shop window bring the customer outside and if there was brickwork around mash the watch into it back and forth and dust it off and then hand it to the customer to look for damage.
TBH I'd completely forgotten about the search, but still checked my notifications every day half in passing, so it came as a shock TBH though a welcome one. Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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