When it comes to collecting certain watches, sometimes you just need luck. In my years-long quest for an A386, it was painfully obvious that luck was the one thing I seemed to be missing. I've managed to lose bidding wars at the last second, learn about listings a day after the watch was sold, and most painfully, I missed a counter-offer by less than 2 minutes while explaining to my wife why the watch was all original. So when I got a late night email last week that an A386 had just showed up on the bay, I was cautiously optimistic. After confirming that most everything was original, I decided I couldn't risk asking for a case number or making an offer and hit buy it now. Fortunately, with a little help from some folks on this board, my luck changed and I now have an original A386 in my collection. Now, the real reason anyone looks at these posts, the photos: Here's the beautiful tri-color dial. There are some signs of aging (missing lume, missing paint on subdial hands), but it's in great shape for its age and the blue subdial has no damage. For some unknown reason, the original owner replaced the crystal with a cyclops It's keeping accurate time, but when it goes in for service I'm swapping out for the correct crystal. Original crown: A 3019 PHC ticking away inside: For those that keep track, here's the case back & number. The number puts it in the fourth run and part of the last A386 group to have a D in the sequence. And for the hardcore aficionados, here's the Type C Spillman case back (there's a SP 1205 in the left). Interestingly, it has a matte finish, while others I've seen have the perlage. Obligatory wrist shot: Thanks for reading to the bottom.
Hot DAMN, there is nothing better than having a new A 386 join the fold! Congratulations! There's really nothing else that touches that watch, is there?
Great score! The cyclops is hilarious but the rest looks terrific. My A 386, whose case number is 40 ahead of yours, also has a case back sans perlage.
Nice nice nice. Good fortune for those who wait. And the cyclops is quite subtle as I did not notice it.
Nope, nothing in the collection comes close. I used to think the A3818 was special, but this blows it out of the water.
Well done on finding a mark III a386, as you said when one comes to the market you have to be quick, and have the knowledge when it comes to buying one of these , and as you probably have discovered this site is an array of fantastic pictures and information which are beneficial when the right time comes along congratulations..
Beauty - well done, room for a bit of remedial work if required but still very nice to see (and hold from your perspective!) Out of interest, one went a few weeks ago in Italy (Ebay) for Eu4500 and one went on Chronomania recently for Eu3500, (but basically just the case was original.) You got a very good deal.