Caravelle Devil Diver

Hello Omega Forums.
Here's a piece that has blown up in popularity recently. Why, I do not know. Everyone's saying that it's because of shared similarities with the Rolex Explorer 1016. Personally, I think it has more to do with the depth rating. What I do know for sure is that this piece in particular could tell one hell of a story if it could talk. I live far away from the USA, 7649 kilometers to be exact(distance measured between NYC, where these were sold and my country's capital), so it traveled a long way. This one also has an engraving which says:"Love, Lynn" which in my humble opinion gives it a charm of its own. This is a no frills piece, being powered by a Bulova 11DP handwound movement, which is actually a "Caravelle" branded Citizen 0241 running at 18000 A/h with 17 jewels. Timekeeping is in the ballpark of +30s/d so no complaints there, maybe I'll have it inspected one of these days. Movement clean and all.
What surprises me is how much the value on these went up. I'm glad I got mine before the craze began.
Bezel is a bidirectional friction fit type, not as satisfactory to operate as a modern bezel, but it gets the job done. Think of a Vostok Amphibia's bezel, they feel exactly the same.
This piece wears like a dress watch, which amazes and confuses me. I can't speak of the practicality of this for its intended purpose because 1. It's 50 years old and 2. I have never dived.
I'm hoping to get a vintage Oceanographer in my collection one day, I wanted the reissue but I was greatly disappointed when they came out, meanwhile this will fulfill my vintage diver needs.

Best regards,

Paul.

If you can’t buy a Rolex - a Caravelle will do! They are slick watches without dates that seem to hold up well. I own one I bought years ago and wore it around as a beater weekend watch. I’ve since replaced it with a modern Seiko so I’m selling mine. But honestly fun pieces with minimal dial and hand variations if you’re the “collect them all” type. Also cheap compared to some vintage dive watches.

Thank you for the input, sir!

Great piece sir! I love the dauphine hands.

I had one of these a while ago. They're a lovely watch. The first mechanical watch that I serviced myself too. Since gone to half fund a gold Rolex ;-)

I like all the funky variations these came in. Dare I say there are almost as many idiosyncrasies as Rolex Subs! Note how all three here have a different combination of hands, despite all being the same model. I've seen two different dials too, one reads "water resistant", the other reads "waterproof".

I know, it's quite interesting to take a look at all of the variations of this model. The change from "waterproof" to "water resistant" had to occur because calling a watch "waterproof" is misleading. I may be wrong, but I believe this change in terms occurred in the late 60's. Mine is a 1970 model and I'm guessing so is yours, judging by the stick hands.
Wear it in good health!

A classic diver, and the 666 evokes the Bulova "Devil Diver." The Caravelle is also considered one of the iconic watches of the Vietnam War. All of the latter (Glycines, Zodiac Sea Wolf/Aerospace, etc.) have been gaining a larger following, especially among military watch enthusiasts, and fetching commensurately higher value as the WWII-era watches become scarcer and more expensive.

https://www.60clicks.com/vietnam-war-watch-guide/

I bought this 1969 Sea Hunter in pieces...all the pieces except the hands....found a NOS Caravelle with the correct hands as a donor...just a great “honest” watch...you can wear it with everything, jeans and tee-shirt to a tux.

No kidding. I bought mine in 2016 for $125 off another forum. Sold it in 2020 for $575. Seems like the next day dealers were listing them for $1200+. IMO, a bit steep, but still these are fun watches and wear really well.