Comments:
Mini Overview of "Vintage Military Wristwatches" by Zaf Basha
I got an early first edition copy of Zaf's new book, "Vintage Military Wristwatches".
I doubt there is anyone here that doesn't know Zaf Basha, but if you are new to military watches then you might not know about Zaf who is one of best and most knowledgeable military watch dealers in the world.
I, like a few of you out here, knew about Zaf's project from years back. I have to say having known about Zaf authoring this book and the time it took for him to research and go through his archive of sold watches from Classicwatch.com it took months of time in front of his computer and contacting people he knew to get information about these watches. I remember having conversations with him about going to the Smithsonian and other institutions to look up specifications. He even checked for me about some specifications for watches I wanted some clear background on. I am happy to see that this great project is now on sale as his first military watch book and it looks great!
Hopefully in front of a PC with a large screen you can see some notes I made about the book.
I'm uploading a huge images so you might need reduce the zoom to 90% or pan left and right to read the slides.
Small run watch books are often not inexpensive so if you want a little more information that what is on this Zaf's page,
I thought this might help:
Thanks! It's always good in my opinion to support authors that spend years putting together an accurate and useful reference book.
I'm really happy with my copy of his book and thought other milwatch collectors might be indecisive about buying a boutique book so thought
I'd take some of the mystery out of what is in the book.
I'm really happy with my copy of his book and thought other milwatch collectors might be indecisive about buying a boutique book so thought
I'd take some of the mystery out of what is in the book.
I have bought many watches from him over the years.
Yes, he's been in this industry for several decades. I bought several watches from him. Most of my commando watches and German ww2 watches came from Zaf. I was lucky I bought them when we could still find many of them.
Find and fund! I too have several watches from him. My Longines Majetek, for example.
Those are fanatic watches and getting harder to find really nice ones. I think I saw your posting of it, I have to look around to see it again 
Fully agree!
Having bought Zaf's book on vintage JLC, and a vintage Calatrava from him too, I would definitely vouch for his scholarly approach to writing books, and as a seller I would trust.
Thanks much, Seiji. Bill Sohne brought this book up recently . . .
. . . in our usual Sunday teleconference. I haven't ordered a copy yet, but will soon.
Cordially,
Art
Great! Some of the countries like Japan could use more watches, but the main countries are well covered.
I will check with him and the book. I have several M.N. and A.F. watches. I have never seen anything like the Rolex M.N. engravings before from the French military.
Do you have decom papers? I would like to see at least one Rolex M.N. with a genuine Decom paper and paper work from the Armory it came from. Or at least a verification photo of a M.N. diver wearing one.
MN 5513
We have never seen decom papers. And we know why. Those watches had never been sold by « les domaines ». All of them came from the Brest Arsenal. Nico knows the story as Zaf certainly. We could talk during hours on this subject. And you could see some of them in the flesh if you come in Paris. It would be great!
Best regards
Best regards
Had a chance to visit my safety deposit box and take some pictures along with Zaf's great reference book.
French military watch pic's
Lovely examples and some excellent pictures of the French military watches. Thank you for sharing your review of Zaf's book he is a font of knowledge. ⚙️
Type 20
Special forces
Type 20
Special forces