Well, maybe that's overstated. But it seems to me that the Zodiac Sea Wolf gets little respect as a seminal timing-bezel dive watch inspired by the French Navy's underwater demolition team specification of 1953. Robert Malubier wrote that specification, which famously led to the acceptance by the French Navy of the first Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, made by Lip. And what fame not drawn by the Blancpain is fully absorbed, and then some, by the Rolex Submariner, which was introduced the following year, in 1954.

But the Zodiac Sea Wolf also responded to that specification, and was released to the market in 1953, the same year as the Fifty Fathoms.

In the 60's, the Sea Wolf was the preferred alternative to the Rolex for U.S. GIs who were fighting in Viet Nam. They were available in military exchanges for about half the price of the Submariner. They used a compressor case, probably made by the patent holder Piquerez, and the movement made by A. Schild that was also used in that period by many other companies, including Doxa, Eberhard, Ebel, Girard-Perregaux (as the ebauche for the Gyromatic, and also for their high-beat chronometers of 1965 and later), Favre-Leuba, and other members of the Precision Watchmaking Community. That coalition had been established in the upper Jura at the prompting of Charles Blum of Ebel, and as much as any group led to the creation of 5-Hz watches. But that is a digression--the Sea Wolf's movement was not the 5-Hz AS1687 variant, but rather the slower-beat version.

Those 60's Sea Wolfs were rated to 20 atmospheres--very high for the day. The U.S. Navy tested watches in the late 50's, and the Sea Wolf was one that passed all the submersion tests, but the complaint was that the bezel moved too easily. I can confirm that complaint. But, at half the price of the Rolex, it was still popular with the troops who were buying their own watches.

I have only a small collection of vintage Zodiacs, a pre-SST SST dress watch with a 5-Hz movement from the late 60's, an Aerospace GMT from about 1971, and this Sea Wolf from the early 60's. (I also own a couple of Zodiacs from the last couple of years, as Fossil--the current brand owner--has allowed them to explore their heritage with modern interpretations of their vintage models. These, too, fit the original model of being watches troops could afford, while still providing a nicely made and effective mechanical watch.)

Here's an ad from the 1961 Zodiac Catalog for the Sea Wolf:



(Images from VintageZodiacs.Com)

And the 1966 catalog shows little change in design:



The earlier watch used the veined dauphine hands only on the date watch--the same type of hands used on the recent Zodiac. But the no-date version used unveined hands, until a few years later.

Here's the text description that accompanies those catalog images:



Interestingly, the price did not change between 1961 and 1966.

And here is the watch, from my collection:



Obviously deeply "experienced", the nickel-plated bezel shows considerable brassing. But that means the watch was used. The lume has rotted, as is to be expected, but is still solid enough to support the painted numerals on the cardinal markers. The dauphine hands are deeply blued (or, perhaps, blacked), and much of the lume is still present. It was not untypical for the original lume to be greener on the hands than on the markers, but it's also possible these hands were relumed at some time in the deep past.



The watch is quite small at 35.5mm, and it looks quite tiny on my 20-cm wrist.

Here's the back, showing the designation: 20 ATM ESPECIALLY WATER-TESTED. It achieved that with a snap-back compressor case and a non-screwed crown. I would NOT subject it to anything greater than high humidity these days.



The old girls still runs pretty well, about -5 seconds per day give or take half a second per day.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure.

HAGWE,

--Rick




This message has been edited by KMII on 2018-11-17 01:19:15