MattS
2604
10 years of collecting vintage divers...
Aug 13, 2018,07:06 AM
Hi all,
It has been almost ten years I have been collecting vintage divers watches so I thought this is a good opportunity to share a bit of the journey and see where it brought me. I thought it to be legitimate to share it here as it initiated with Purists. I joined Purists as I had had a surgery and was stuck on a bed in hospital for a few days. I had been a watch fan for very many years, had some contemporary chronographs and had just started getting interested in vintage. At the time I had three vintage chronos, a MarkII Speedmaster and a Jaeger 4 ATM that I still own and a Heuer Silverstone (version with the Lemania 5100).
Through Purists I started talking with the legendary Nicolas @anamico and as I was living in Paris we met for the first time for a lunch on a terrace close to his home and office at the time...
I remember this day very well...Nico brought four watches to show me...A LIP Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, a Seamaster 300 CK2913, a UG Polerouter Sub double crown SC and a Rolex Submariner ref 5508.
I can say that this was the founding act of what followed...a true passion and long love story with vintage divers...
Over the years I have been reading a lot, meeting many people and building a collection which has been in constant evolution.
Below I’d like to share some of the pieces of this collection. These pieces represent some that I consider some iconic pieces in the history of diving watches and some personal choices as they are my favorite. I love patina and especially tropical dials, the best being when radium fades into the dial. I try to find watches as untouched and original as possible. All are not perfect, but this is how they come to us, with some signs of time, like for us!...
All pictures have been taken the same day with natural light, no editing, no photoshop, with the scars of true toolwatches visible!...
For some reason the pictures didn't appear in the order I wanted!!??..anyway, here you go
Please enjoy
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, Rotomatic incabloc with Inverted 30 bezel, circa 1953-1955. This watch was part of the 2011 Blancpain Fifty Fathoms exhibition
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 3/6/9/12 Rotomatic incabloc, the mother of diving watches, circa 1953. The cousteau watch in the movie "the world of silence"
Tudor 7922, rare "small crown" no crown guard submariner, 1958
Rolex Submariner 6538 the "Big Crown" 1959, made famous by Sean Connery in the James Bond movie James bond against DrNo
Eberhard Scafograf 200 ref 11536 "big crown", 1961 first series, batch of 300 pieces, iconic design
Nivada, Depthomatic 1960 early version, dive watch with integrated depth rate
Citizen jet parawater, 1962, the first Japanese diver
Tudor Submariner 7928, pointed crown guards, SWISS only radium tropical dial
Mulco Escafandra, double crown EPSA super compressor case, tropical dial
Jaeger leCoultre Polaris 68, diver with alarm, tropical dial
Omega Seamaster Ploprof600, iconic 1970s design, developped with Cousteau and Comex for professional divers hence the name and become and iconic design worn by Gianni Agnelli over his shirt cuff
Doxa 300T, searambler, another Cousteau watch, iconic from the 70s. Here a military version with multiple signature, doxa, Synchron, Aqualung, US Divers
Benrus Type II, US military diver 1977
Enicar Sherpoa Ultradive, double Crown Super Compressor, notice the crown guards, here in a very rare white dial
Omega Seamaster 300 CK2913, 1960
longines nautilus, 1959, Single crown super compressor case, tropical dial. The first longines diver and mother of the "Legend diver" double crown SC.
thanks for reading...and the passion continues...
Matt