Introduction & Model identification?

Milou

New member
Hello,

This is my first post and I wanted to introduce myself; I've always been a vintage watch amateur, and really enjoy watches from the Sixties and Seventies that focus on Space, Diving, and Explorations. Vintage tool watches but also cool watches that embody all the recent human achievements (moon quest, Everest, diving explorations) of the period.

A few years ago I purchased an Enicar watch. I realized that it was founded by Mr. Racine (spelled backwards) and saw in the watch all the symbols of the Sixties adventures: the oyster in the shell, the Saturn logo, the names Sherpa, and ultradive, etc.... I love this watch, and was wondering if my dating circa 1964 is correct and what MK dial (?) is it? What movement does it have?

thank you for your help!

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SteveHarris

Administrator
Staff member
Enicaristi
Sherpa
Welcome to the forums :)

I have the same one :geek:

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I'm not sure of the year, I'll have to check but I have it down as an AR1145 movement. I don't have the watch with me to double-check though.

Steve
 

kazrich

Member
Sherpa
Not sure about dating Ultra Dives, but I would guess closer to 1967 than 64. If it were
1964 I believe the hour and minute hands would be piano tuning fork style.
I keep a 1967 Super Jet with a simialr red sweeping seconds hand ( rather than orange ) and
the hands are lumed similar to yours.

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Milou

New member
Thank you very much Steve and Kazrich! I too think it’s more late Sixties than 1964. It is also illustrated in a 1967 Enicar brochure, so it seems you are spot on!
 

JimJupiter

Moderator
Staff member
Enicaristi
Sherpa
Thumbs up to what the others said. Do you have a pic from the back? Often the serial number is still visibile and from there, we maybe can derive a year.

Very nice example!
 

Milou

New member
Here is a photo of the case back!
The numbers I could read :

- 720221 above “Sherpa”
- 144/35/03 below “Sherpa”
- 314962 after the “+”
- 0 on top of the above number

Thanks again,
 

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JimJupiter

Moderator
Staff member
Enicaristi
Sherpa
Those OPS and UD's all destroy my production date classification :D

I have the feeling OPS and UD cases were produced in 1964 and since this was a watch that was rarely sold, they used the cases from the first batch and combine it with new "up to date" design like the new hands or bezel.

We should start a OPS and UD SN Project in this forum soon to get more info.

Nico
 

Milou

New member
Thanks Nico,

I don’t know what OPS and US SN mean! I’m guessing the case or just the case back is 1964, but the rest of the watch could be later?
 

hurmen

Member
Enicaristi
Sherpa
Nico did a lot of research on Graph serial numbers (available in the Serial Reference section of the Enicar101.com website).
Looking at the numbers there, all Graphs with a serial in the 720.000 range have an (estimated) 1964 date.

Maybe it's no coincidence Milou's UD has that 720.221 serial number and Nico has a feeling all OPS and UD cases were produced in 1964?

This brings up another question. When did Enicar put their serial number on the cases exactly?
If they numbered the cases the moment the cases arrived at the Enicar factury for instance, it could be long time before the complete watch was assembled.
It would explain 1967-style hands on a '64 stamped case, but it would also make it impossible to link a serial number to a certain production year...
 

JimJupiter

Moderator
Staff member
Enicaristi
Sherpa
Maybe it's no coincidence Milou's UD has that 720.221 serial number and Nico has a feeling all OPS and UD cases were produced in 1964?

Thats what I wanted to say, thanks hurmen. In the world of Graphs its relativly consistent regarding style / design and serial number. Normally it works very well on other Enicar watches too, but I allready seen this "problem" of the UD's and OPS last year. As I said, we should collect some numbers to see what they will tell us ;)

What's also interesting, is that I have several service casebacks, which allready have a serial number. Enough stuff for another book :D
 

Milou

New member
Super interesting...
Perhaps the "triple" crown guard cases were produced in 1964 and in one big batch. Considered perhaps too extreme by the public, they had a hard time selling those cases, so they recycled them in later models the following years?

Or were the crown guards not integral to the cases but added on according to model?
 

hurmen

Member
Enicaristi
Sherpa
Thanks! I wonder how it worked.. Did they really make over 5.000 of them?

No, they also made other models within that serial number range.
That they are 5.000 numbers apart means they numbered 5.000 cases in between, but not all of these were UD cases.
 
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