Thoughts on a Sherpa OPS Oddball?

[enicardan]

Hi Enicar fans!

I'd love some input on this oddball Sherpa OPS I picked up recently on the bay. As far as I know, the Sherpa OPS only came in black PVD coated cases. This case has definitely been polished, so I'm assuming the PVD coating was removed. If so, I'm wondering how it could have been done so thoroughly without totally ruining the case. I'm not able to see any trace of PVD. Is there any chance the case started out stainless steel without PVD?

I'm even more curious about the dial. It looks original to me, and is in fantastic condition, but doesn't have the usual "automatic" under Enicar at the top. Has anyone ever seen this before?

Thanks for any thoughts you can offer!

Dan

 

[jbcollier]

To my eye, you can see some of the remains of the coating on the crowns. Could be trick of the light though. If it's not there, it could be an ultra-dive with an OPS dial. One way to check would be to look inside and see if the movement is rubber isolated (see horology-B's repair video). Think that is an OPS only feature.

 

[ZWesty]

Ultradive case and bezel, Ops dial and hands?

 

[Watchyouwant]

Not long ago, there were OPS and Ultra Dive cases, mvmt. and dials plus parts on eBay. Now the completed watches show up ? Parts watches ...

 

[enicardan]

Not long ago, there were OPS and Ultra Dive cases, mvmt. and dials plus parts on eBay. Now the completed watches show up ? Parts watches ...

Interesting. That seems like a likely explanation to me.

 

[enicardan]

To my eye, you can see some of the remains of the coating on the crowns. Could be trick of the light though. If it's not there, it could be an ultra-dive with an OPS dial. One way to check would be to look inside and see if the movement is rubber isolated (see horology-B's repair video). Think that is an OPS only feature.

I had the same thought about the crowns. Under bright light the shadows disappear, and they look the same as my other non-coated Enicar crowns.

 

[jbcollier]

Take the back off and see if the movement has (3?) rubber rings being used as isolation mounts:

https://www.youtube.com/@HorologyBiology/search?query=ops

Again, AFAIK, that's an OPS only feature. If not, I'd say it is an Ultradive with an OPS dial.

 

[hurmen]

Not long ago, there were OPS and Ultra Dive cases, mvmt. and dials plus parts on eBay. Now the completed watches show up ? Parts watches ...

You might be on to something here.
Was there an OPS dial without the "automatic" under Enicar as seen here?
That's a dial variant I haven't seen before as far as I remember.