Horological Meandering

Dear all,

I would like to share with you the joy of having found a rare watch that I have been hunting, shall we say fishing for some time: the Eberhard Scafograf 200 Ref 11536 first generation from 1961.



As I said above this is a piece I have been after for a while to complete my theme of vintage, so to say "primitive" divers, that is to say the early ones. I have been focusing on this theme for a while in the quest of finding a nice piece from each brand. I enjoy the simple, some would say brutal beauty of these watches. These were tool watches so designed for a specific purpose which was not dress style, apart for James Bond!
The brief was simple, a rather large watch for the period 38mm to 41mm depending on the brand, a dial that provides high visibility, three hands, one rotating bezel to measure time for the dive, one crown without protection, that's all!

I started this theme over three years ago and I have been searching hectically for the pieces to complete the theme. This requires some research, time, travel, meetings, patience, funds, and a bit of luck! Finding a nice example of these can be difficult. Indeed, these are quite old watches (the period is from around 1953 if we exclude the first military panerais, to 1961). On top of that some have been produced to a limited number of pieces (like this Eberhard) and most of these watches have had a rough life, with the consequence of wounds, when not even worst, salt water getting into them. This means that for some rare models, finding a complete example is extremely difficult, it is the case with this Scafograf.

As I was surfing the web, last June I found this:



No doubt it was the rare Scafograf I was looking for. Doing some research and finding an old Ad proved that the watch was good, good case, good movement, nice dial, correct signed crown, correct original bezel which is very rare, the only problem was the wrong hands as one can see from the advertising below!



So I asked myself, what should I do, take it, or pass on it and wait further!?

I decided that given the fact that this is so rare I will go for it and I will see!...

So I had the idea to write to Eberhard explaining my case and asking if by any chance they had in their stock a set of NOS service hands!?

Well, the answer exceeded my expectations as not only did they have them but coming back from a business trip I found this beautiful letter from Eberhard Switzerland saying: "Sir, we are happy to let you know that we found the missing hands for your watch and we are happy to offer them to you"

So I want to use this opportunity to thank Eberhard for this beautiful present and tell all my gratitude and respect for such a sense of customer service!



So here is the watch complete, back from the watchmaker with he correct set of hands and mounted on a Nato strap:



As you can see this is quite a peculiar watch with an interesting set of design elements.
A black dial with some gilt markings with the Eberhard name, the model and the depth rating.
Some tritium indexes, circled in gold and with big triangles at 3/6/9/12
The hands do match the indexes with a big diamond arrow for the hour hand, a long minute hand and a Lollipop second hand

All together the design is unique and provides a very strong visual effect!

As you can see from the picture below the case is rather thin, the plexi is domed like on all the watches from this period and the wach has a nice signed crown. As you can see on my watch the original bezel is nicely faded to grey.



the case back is nicely engraved as well.



The movement is based on a Felsa 1560 and is signed and nicely finished by Eberhard:







As said above this is quite an exclusive watch. The Scafograf model in this first execution existed as Scafograf 100 Ref 11535 produced at 200 pieces and Scafograf 200 ref 11536 producted at 300 pieces. Thanks again to Eberhard for their kindness in providing this information.
Here is a picture of my watch on the original Ad from Italy that I was lucky to find as well. As said 300 pieces of the model were produced in 1961 and mine is the number 50.





Here is one more Ad I found:



And a scan of the user manual explaining the use of he rotating bezel:



To complete the review here are some wristscans, one on a Nato, one on a tropic band:





And here is a picture of this beauty sun bathing by the sea, logical for a diver!!!



To finish, here is a group shot of my five watches that make up this theme:

Blancpain Fifty fathoms circa 1955, Rolex Submariner 6538 from 1959, Omega Seamaster 300 ref 14755 from 1961 and Longines Nautilus Skin Diver from 1959

Thanks for reading, i hope you enjoyed the review, looking forward to your comments and discussions

Matt This message has been edited by MattS on 2012-09-23 06:54:03 This message has been edited by MattS on 2012-09-23 06:56:00 This message has been edited by MattS on 2012-09-23 06:57:27

You have one of my favorite collections amongst our Purist pals.  I always enjoy seeing your divers and this latest Eberhard is no exception.  There is something very romantic and adventurous about dive watches.  Even though most divers nowadays never see anything more exciting than the inside of an office, they still have the allure of the sea and remind me of watching old Jacques Cousteau videos!  The hands on this watch are interesting -- very unique hour hand, in particular.  It's almost as though the hour hand is the same size as the 3/6/9/12 indices.

Thanks for your review and pictures!  Congrats again!

Cheers,
Daos

and an even better story !

Cheers,
pplater.

Nice to be back.

I love a story like this, where the passion is for a watch that is off the beaten path and not necessarily a worth a fortune, and patience is rewarded with a lovely example like this. Happy for you, Matt This message has been edited by LouS on 2012-09-23 08:22:46

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. . . a Zenith S 58, perhaps? . . . 

I have never seen a Zenith S 58 in the flesh!  I generally prefer non date versions but would like to see one for real!...

Along with the Scientigraph, my 2 target, when it comes to Eberhard...

Well done, and thank you for the review!

Best,

Nicolas

I too am enchanted by the early Eberhards.  Back in the day I think the Scafograf 100, 200 and 300 matched up quite favorably with the better-known brands.  I searched for my 200 for many years before finding one (for some reason, the 200 speaks to me more than the 100 or later 300).

Yours is absolutely beautiful.  Enjoy it.

Here are my 2 Eberhards.

 

Hi Darren,

An excellent review of a very rare dive watch from a much underrated company. One that ive been interested in for a long time.

Best

Graham

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Great write up Matt. You're pictures are wonderful, but I have to say having seen this one
in person, it has bewitching presence.

It was great to catch up and show this one to you!  

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