EPSA casebacks

[kazrich]

Has anyone noticed the difference in engraving between Sherpa 300 and 600 backs ?
On my watches the inscription on a Seapearl back is similar in depth to a Sherpa 300 back.
However, the Sherpa 600 inscription is much deeper and far more detailed.
This has nothing to do with polishing or wrist wear, it's a slightly different design.
The 300 shows a pearl with what I imagine to be 6 line blingy starburst coming off the pearl.
The 600 is similar, but the lines are heavier giving an effect like scaffolding keeping the oyster open.
Also, note the deeply inscribed sea waves and the engraving depth on the 600.
Or is my 600 different to most ?

 

[SteveHarris]

That is actually quite interesting and not something I'd noticed before.

The 'C' shape in the pearl on the 600 makes it look more like a copyright mark too!

 

[kazrich]

It transpires that 1960.'s Sherpa 600 casebacks are different.
The earlier watches have a light frosted appearance within the clamshell.
Looks like most 1969 ( like my own 69 Super Jet ) have the deeper inscription with the waves.
I've not seen a Sherpa Graph inscribed 600. The 600 appears mostly on the twin crown Jets, Super Jets and Guides.
My earlier Super Jet clamshell is simply marked Seapearl.
My understanding is that 600 implies that the watch is water proof to 20 ATM, which is 600ft in static water conditions.
That was a very tall order for a 2 crown GMT non divers watch.
That's roughly twice the height of Big Ben.
Whatever the reasoning, that deep Sherpa 600 inscription is easily the most impressive caseback of all Enicar's that I've seen or owned.

 

[SteveHarris]

I've been meaning to post for the last few hours but have been caught up with stuff.

Attached is the pic of the caseback on my Ops which is quite different to yours. Lack of lines in the background to the shell and not as deep and clear I would say (although it has a fair bit of wear). The shell design is different too.

 

[kazrich]

Yes Steve ;
Your case back looks like the other style Sherpa 600.
Do you know what year your OPS is ?

 

[SteveHarris]

I haven't got a clue to be honest. I don't think there's a list of ops serial numbers anywhere are there?

 

[hurmen]

The ‘other style’ like Steve’s also exists with waves and stripes. Like on this Sherpa Jet. From 1967/1968 going by the serial number.

 

[JimJupiter]

I haven't got a clue to be honest. I don't think there's a list of ops serial numbers anywhere are there?

look above the word Sherpa, like with the graphs. I think I can see something, but lightning is bad on the pic.

 

[SteveHarris]

Ah... It was very, very faint.

665452.

Steve

 

[martink]

Has anyone noticed the difference in engraving between Sherpa 300 and 600 backs ?
On my watches the inscription on a Seapearl back is similar in depth to a Sherpa 300 back.
However, the Sherpa 600 inscription is much deeper and far more detailed.
This has nothing to do with polishing or wrist wear, it's a slightly different design.
The 300 shows a pearl with what I imagine to be 6 line blingy starburst coming off the pearl.
The 600 is similar, but the lines are heavier giving an effect like scaffolding keeping the oyster open.
Also, note the deeply inscribed sea waves and the engraving depth on the 600.
Or is my 600 different to most ?

Between the two shown sherpa sea perl case back engravings, there is also quite a cost difference.
One engraving is done via acid etching, the other is done via stamping / coining.
The latter is quite a bit more costly. And it appears that the stamped version was added to the case back in a second step.
I think I remember seeing a patent by Enicar or EPSA about this - joining a central engraving to the case back in a second step...
This would reduce cost compared to stamping it into the complete case back.
For stamping / coining, one needs a complete extra tool which costs money, so they reserved this for the 600s.

Martin