The thread on the earliest Sherpa Graph first production run stimulated my thinking about this late Mark I variety which some may think about as "not quite a Mark II."
I've skipped over Nico's designations for the Mark Ib and Mark Ic because I don't own an example of either of those. We do know that the other three earlier designations exhibit dials that have the applied Enicar name integrated with the Saturn logo.
Late last year, I had the good fortune to inquire of Lars, registered here as Longdele, about a watch he'd already sold, but during our dialog he happened to mention that he had another fine watch coming up for sale and eventually this led to my purchasing this watch from Lars:
This watch has a Mark II style dial face with an applied logo smaller than that of the Mark III.
You've seen this one before, but I haven't shown the serial number and so here it is:
You may as well see the movement
Unlike the later Sherpa Graphs, the early models employ a Valjoux 72 movement with fixed stud carrier. When the stud carrier is mobile, or adjustable by moving a lever, it's much easier for the amateur watch tinkerer to adjust for a very small beat error, generally under 0.5 msecs when using a low-cost timegrapher.
So why may we regard this watch as a late Mark I and not a Mark II?
All the Mark I watches use the 1308 BaNCH reference with cloverleaf case back whereas the Mark II watches use the Seapearl back as is the case for all subsequent Sherpa Graphs.
So far, in searching for examples of the mark II watch, I have not found one that has the date stamp on the inside back.
This Mark Id is stamped as you see below:
The watch was recently serviced by RGM, hence the inked R8554.
Can this watch be a Mark II watch with a Mark I case back?
I suppose such a thing is possible as there are very few watches accounted for in the serial number range that Nico identified as a Mark Id:
561.8xx – 562.1xx
Theoretically, the serial numbers run from 561.800 to 562199, so 400 watches in all, at least hypothetically.
Every now and then, I search for other examples and I finally found just one:
And here we can see the 1308 BaNCH back with S/N 562032, 102 watches earlier than mine - and, another white one!
Case back?
Another June of 1962 watch.
Are there any more "out there?"
This I would like to know and perhaps Nico may share what he has learned so far in his ever-growing numbers.
I have seen two other potential Mark Id watches, both white as well, but as the case back was not shown, they could just as easily have been Mark II watches.
One such watch was shown on the Enicar International Facebook page. I reached out to the owner but did not get a response.
The other watch was discussed over at the Omega forums in 2015 and pronounced to be a Mark II, but again, the serial number was not discussed and the back was not shown.
I have some thoughts as to why we should not generally share serial numbers publicly, but I'll save that for another time.
Meanwhile, in 1962 there were quite a few changes to the Sherpa Graph. The Ic with the lovely older logo and radium lumed dial was produced just 2 months earlier in April of 1962 and the Mark II was introduced by the end of 1962 or early 1963 - no date stamp in the case back being an issue requiring guesswork.
~ Joe
I've skipped over Nico's designations for the Mark Ib and Mark Ic because I don't own an example of either of those. We do know that the other three earlier designations exhibit dials that have the applied Enicar name integrated with the Saturn logo.
Late last year, I had the good fortune to inquire of Lars, registered here as Longdele, about a watch he'd already sold, but during our dialog he happened to mention that he had another fine watch coming up for sale and eventually this led to my purchasing this watch from Lars:
This watch has a Mark II style dial face with an applied logo smaller than that of the Mark III.
You've seen this one before, but I haven't shown the serial number and so here it is:
You may as well see the movement
Unlike the later Sherpa Graphs, the early models employ a Valjoux 72 movement with fixed stud carrier. When the stud carrier is mobile, or adjustable by moving a lever, it's much easier for the amateur watch tinkerer to adjust for a very small beat error, generally under 0.5 msecs when using a low-cost timegrapher.
So why may we regard this watch as a late Mark I and not a Mark II?
All the Mark I watches use the 1308 BaNCH reference with cloverleaf case back whereas the Mark II watches use the Seapearl back as is the case for all subsequent Sherpa Graphs.
So far, in searching for examples of the mark II watch, I have not found one that has the date stamp on the inside back.
This Mark Id is stamped as you see below:
The watch was recently serviced by RGM, hence the inked R8554.
Can this watch be a Mark II watch with a Mark I case back?
I suppose such a thing is possible as there are very few watches accounted for in the serial number range that Nico identified as a Mark Id:
561.8xx – 562.1xx
Theoretically, the serial numbers run from 561.800 to 562199, so 400 watches in all, at least hypothetically.
Every now and then, I search for other examples and I finally found just one:
And here we can see the 1308 BaNCH back with S/N 562032, 102 watches earlier than mine - and, another white one!
Case back?
Another June of 1962 watch.
Are there any more "out there?"
This I would like to know and perhaps Nico may share what he has learned so far in his ever-growing numbers.
I have seen two other potential Mark Id watches, both white as well, but as the case back was not shown, they could just as easily have been Mark II watches.
One such watch was shown on the Enicar International Facebook page. I reached out to the owner but did not get a response.
The other watch was discussed over at the Omega forums in 2015 and pronounced to be a Mark II, but again, the serial number was not discussed and the back was not shown.
I have some thoughts as to why we should not generally share serial numbers publicly, but I'll save that for another time.
Meanwhile, in 1962 there were quite a few changes to the Sherpa Graph. The Ic with the lovely older logo and radium lumed dial was produced just 2 months earlier in April of 1962 and the Mark II was introduced by the end of 1962 or early 1963 - no date stamp in the case back being an issue requiring guesswork.
~ Joe
