First post here, i was referred by the Dutch Horlogeforum for some Zenith expertise. I bought a small lot of watch parts wich apealed to me bacause there was a square case of a Zenith in it. It came with a badly damaged dial and hands. The inside of the case says it comes from mid 1965. I think it is a Zentih Respirator but the square dial only says Zenith, nothing else. There was no movement and there was some glue on the top of the lower case and the back of the dial. I will make some photo's tomorrow.
Not a brochure, but this one does look a whole lot fresher! http://archiwum.allegro.pl/oferta/zenith-kwadrat-respirator-cal-2532-c-rarytas-i3535238195.html
It just so happens that 1965 was Zenith's Centennial, and that resulted in (for Zenith) an avalanche of promotional material. Here's your square model selection from the Centennial catalog. Some assorted advertising of similar models:
Thanks, my model look like the 7.46 although my hands dont look like the one in the picture. I have a donor dial hands crown and mkvement on the way. When i receive them i will post them to. But with Italian transporter you never know.
I think i'm still missing some parts. How do i hold the movement down in the casing? Or is that done by presure of the casing and glass with a rubber? I also just found out that it is a tiny watch on my wrists.
You must have quite a big wrist, the 30x30mm square case will have a diagonal line of 44mm, which makes it decent size.
You are richt Stewart, it can be done, put the stuff i have now together and added an Eulit strap to it (i think the go well together) and it looks okay in size.
The movement is in and when i took it out of the packaging it was still running (always a good sign). However, the second hand is touching the minute hand and then it stops working. So i have to take of the second hand and make it straight again. I also have to figure out how to get the stem loose so i can fit it in the watchcasing. The movement is very clean and the dial could use a cleanup. It is the gold version, the gold casing is probably melted down in Italy somewhere underway.
IIRC, the 25x2 movements have a push detente so if you press the small piece that has a recessed head, the setting lever is pushed away from the stem and you can withdraw the stem.
Thanks Stewart, that worked. I was convinced it was either that or the screw on the other side. I have the following problem. The donor movement is a bit newer then my casing. The newer dial has curves where the badly damaged dial is flat. So when i put in the new movement, the curved dial is lifting the movement to far up so i cannot put back the stem with crown. I have ordered some more tools to get the hands off. But i think i have no other option then to refinish the original dial if i want this watch restored to former beauty. Any ideas and references on that one?
The automatic movement does not fit, it's a little to high. I cant fit the stem back in. So the 1965 case is less high then later models with the automatic movement. So now i will try to hunt the 2532c movement. Since i already spend an € 100 on this movement i will try to get it really cheap. Lesson learnt! http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&0&2uswk&Zenith_2532C Anyone has some laying in a drawer somewhere?