Light restoration of Seiko 8222-8000

Got this Seiko from a colleague at work. He was planning to give his old graduation watch to his son and was wondering if I could fix it up a bit. So I did. Just a case of some TLC. The Seiko is from 1980 and the case and crystal had some scratches that I removed with Autosol and a Dremmel the end result came out pretty good just after an hours work.

Seiko SQ 8222-8000

The Enicar History

The Enicar Watch Company was founded 1913 in La Chaux de Fonds Switzerland when Artiste Racine (Racine Watch Co.) spelled his name backwards and created a timeless brand that has been recognized for its high quality in over 90 years. When production of watches increased in 1914 mostly due to the successful export to Russia. Racine were among the first to use Radium in 1914 as a way to make his watch hands and dials readable in the dark.

Due to the fast success and the associated expansion of the firm in the mid 20's it was moved to Lengnau, here the firm started making their own movements instead of using ones from Adolphe Schild (AS). Racine focused this time on the production of both precise and robust military watches, which were soon recognized by civilian costumers under the name "sport". 

From the mid-forties Enicar developed its first chronograph models. In the sixties and seventies they developed their own automatic movements and focused mainly on the sport watches. 

One of their more successful models were the "Sherpa" (an analogy to unusually reliable and resilient local carriers of the expedition) and were named after the 1956 Swiss Himalayan expedition to Everest which relied on Enicar timepieces (more exact the expedition members were all wearing Enicar Seapearl watches) that could withstand the harsh climate of the mountain. 

1956 Swiss Himalayan expedition 

With the breakthrough of the Sherpa models, the Enicar company began their "golden years". 1957 Enicar made headlines as a chronometer (the Ultrasonic Sherpa) were attached to the helm of the ship Mayflower II, this voyage was an Atlantic crossing of 50 days and the watch survived without any mechanical problems or leakage. 

The Mayflower

Important developments and designs from Enicar would be the front line for the next 1 1/2 decades of watchmaking in the world. In the 1950ies Enicar had the slogan: "Precision time in space, on the earth and over the seas"

Some say that Enicar was the first watch ever to been taken to the top of Everest and not the Rolex Oyster that Sir Edmund Hillary worn on his expedition in 1953. Because of the expedition not being documented properly Enicar could not claim to be the first to the top and tried again with the team of 1956.

1956 Swiss Himalayan expedition 

Enicar also produced other varied "sports models" models including Sherpa Ops for military use and the Sherpa Super Dive for diving.

Enicar Sherpa OPS

The Enicar Sherpa Dive was rated water resistant to 200 meters due to its patented back, which was equipped with a bayonet socket. The bezel was oil-embedded which guaranteed a long lifetime and watertight seal. 

Sherpa Diver 600 ad

A very special watch was the Enicar ultrasonic Healthways 100 fathom. This watch was tested to withstand 100 fathoms, 600 feet or 180 meters and as the ad says "Can´t leak due to it´s unique design and construction....the greater the pressure, the more waterproof  the watch becomes!". This watch is one of the most popular Enicar watches among collectors. 

Enicar ultrasonic Healthways 100 fathom

The name "Ultrasonic" were used on almost all of the Enicar watches from 1953 and forward when a high tech laboratory were opened that ultrasonically cleaned all of the movements produced.

The Enicar company struggled to survive when the electric watch boom of cheap Asian watch brands hit the market and finally went bankrupt in 1988.

This Enicar Star jewels is from the sixties and has a white colored dial with white illuminating hands. The second hand has an red dot that gives this watch a nice look.

Enicar Star Jewels

Enicar also made alarm watches like this one from the 40ies. Its a rare watch that i guess had a white dial from the beginning and uses an extra crown to set the alarm time. The second hand has a red arrow at the font and the alarm setting hand has a blue arrow. The case of the watch is in pretty bad shape and as you can see the crowns been worn down and are now missing the Enicar logo. I have never seen another model like the one I have.  

Enicar Ultrasonic Alarm

If you brows the net you can easily come across the "Indian" Enicars. These watches has dials thats been repainted, movements thats been "readjusted and repaired" and also cases that doesn't fit with the case back at all, like the one I bought from an Indian dealer on eBay.

Indian "Butchered" Enicar

Shang Hai Fang Zhen

Shanghai Watch Factory launched its first standard movement ZSH in 1974. The 7120 model have many varieties in details such as dials,hour markers, hands, lettering styles,and styles of cases. The 3 digit suffix to the 7120 (207), represents the watch design.

ZSH is a standard movement of China and was known as SS7 in early 1970's. “Z” stands for ZhongGuo or China, “S” for Shang and “H” for Hai (Shanghai). Below of the balance wheel of the movement, there is “中国上海” and also date code “BK". “B” represents second year production from 1974 which is 1976 and “k” means  November. So it was produced in November 1976, the same year as Mao Zedong died. This 19 jewel ZSH is a 21600 bph movement and has been running well.

On the dial it says "19 Zuan" which means that it has 19 Jewels and "Fang Zhen" stands for shockproof. From 1980 and onwards, the dials were all spelt in English, i.e."19 Jewels" and "Shock Resistant".

It is known among collectors that fake 7120 existed as far back to the time even when the 7120 was in production. The price of a 7120 was not cheap and one had to have a "watch coupon" plus a recommendation letter from the employer in addition to get an order in to purchase the watch. The model is one of the most common vintage Chinese models and the Shanghai brand watches were usually a bit "upmarket" than other similar watches of other brands. In the 1970ies they costed about 3-4 monthly salary's for a young Chinese worker.

This watch is in good condition and keeps time. It has an new black leather band.

Model : Shanghai 7120-207
Manufacturer : Shanghai Watch Factory
Year of Production: 1976
Case Diameter : 36mm (without crown)
Movement Model : ZSH (19 jewels)
Type : Hand Wind

1976 Shang Hai Fang Zhen

Swatch irony scuba 200 “Sine Curve”

The Swatch Group is a Swiss company and the biggest watch manufacturer in the world. It was formed in 1983 through the merging of the two Swiss watch manufacturers ASUAG and SSIH, and took its present name in 1998. Some of the more famous brands in the group is Blancpain, Glashutte, Omega, Longines, Tissot, Certina, Hamilton and Rado, which means that Swatch owns the largest Swiss watch brands in the world.

24hour Swatch

The launch of the new Swatch brand “Swatch” watches in 1983, by Ernst Thomke and his young team of engineers, was marked by bold new styling and design. The quartz watch was redesigned for manufacturing efficiency and fewer parts. “Swatch-a” was a slim plastic watch with only 51 components (instead of the usual 91 parts or more) that combined top quality with a highly affordable price. This combination of marketing and manufacturing expertise restored Switzerland as a major player in the world wristwatch market. The brand saw its glory days in the mid 80ies and early 90ies,

One of the first Swatch-Watches, 1983

In 1994 Swatch launched the first collection of stainless steel gent and medium size Ironies in the USA. It was an instant success.

My watch was purchased in 2000 and is water resistant up to 100 Meters (300 ft). The Swatch Irony Scuba 200 Chrono has a chronograph and a date function. The case is made of aluminum and has a rubber bezel with an illuminating dot at 12 a clock. It comes with the original rubber wristband which is in good condition.

Overall this is a very nice 10 year old watch that works perfectly. I personally have taken this one down to about 25 meters (80 ft) during one of my dives, but I do not recommend this because of the age of the watch.   

Swatch Irony Scuba 200