Sunday, February 20, 2011

Waltham Diver (1960s)

One of my recent pick up, the 1960s Waltham Diver.

Searched high and low for this particular diver model.

Had spent hours in Seoul's famous watch and jewellery district (Jongno-3), Dongdaemun and the Folk Flea Market but always coming up empty. Before finding this one on Ebay (yay Ebay).

In the late 50s and 60s, Waltham International did not make their own movement/case, they had other prominent watch companies make their watches.

Looking at this particular model, some vintage watch afficianado might see a close resemblance to another watch from a well known watchmaker ...


... the Blancpain Bathyscaphe.

 Actually, not a close resemblance, but the exact same watch. Identical case and movement, the AS 1187, were used for the first Blancpain Bathyscaphe and this particular Waltham Diver.

The other Waltham diver I found in Jongno-3 also had a similar movement to the later Blancpain Bathyscaphe - I did purchase that watch and later traded it to a friend for his Helios WWW DH.

external links:
Waltham Watch Company wiki ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltham_Watch_Company
Waltham serial number ~ http://www.nawcc-info.org/WalthamDB/walsernum.htm
Waltham International website ~ http://www.waltham.ch/

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