I collect a lot of military issued watches and this was one of my favorite one's out of the collection next to my Heuer Bund. The Eterna Kontiki Super IDF issued to the Israeli Defence Force there Navy cammando unit Shayetet 13 in the 1970's. It has a eta 2824 hacking movements with a 41 mm case rated at 200mm a cool dive watch for it's day.



The issued marks on the back of case.

 

Lucky you river rat, I also collect military watches and this is one I've been after for a loooong time. Is it the original bracelet?

 

Ubik that's the original bracelet a while back the clasp broke the local jeweler had a laser welder made it as good as new and proberly stronger than when it was new. Dam glad he was able to fix it would of been tough to get another original bracelet. The clasp is spring loaded to adjust to your wrist the only other vintage bracelet I seen that was close was on vitage Doxa 300T bracelet that adjust in all most the same way.

 

Very nice watch! Enjoy it in good health!

 

bump for these great watches

 

Just paid for the bronze Eterna Kontiki LE
Never thought I'd be interested, but it blew me away!


August delivery... ugh...

 

Yes, these are very special.

 

I'll play.
here's another genuine IDF early version
same IDF SKU as the newer more "common" ones 1000 8943 and serial is 2xxxxx צ
watch keeps great time BTW

 

NSA also made a bracelet that adjusted by means of a spring in the clasp. I have one on my Zenith Defy, it's very comfortable.

 

Although the complete history has some gaps, pretty sure my mid/late 70s Scubapro 500 is at least distant cousin. Although not nearly as cool (and I have coveted your Kontikis all), these were commissioned by premier dive equipment manufacturer Scubapro and only sold at hard core dive shops. Not uber rare, but not in great numbers either due to narrow distribution channel. Case is identical dimensions as near as I can tell (41mm) with added crown guard. ETA 2784, same as early Tudor subs. I have three including pretty rare white bezel and one with original Isofrane that's still butter soft.

 

I recently acquired an older super kontiki. it's worn as hell, and has been aggressively polished, which makes me mad, but I still love it.

I fear the IDF models though. some serious forgery going on in that market. original models are worth every penny.

 

Man, I love it. There's so many nice ones on this thread. I've given up on getting a military-issued IDF. I'd be perfectly happy with a civilian model.

 

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Thats a beauty ! congrats.
Agree with you about the forgery in the market, seen many variants, but I've seen enough to thibk I can tell the diff.
As I own few IDF pieces, I can tell that each compared to diver book before purchase...

 

I'd never heard of, read of, or saw the Eterna brand before now.

 

That's one of OF's biggest dangers. Abandon your wallets, all ye who enter here. You'll see wonders never imagined that you'll have to have.

 

You are in for a treat. The vintage ones having a grand history and many of them are nicely priced (not the IDF:s though). Picture google "vintage Eterna" and you will have hours of fun.

 

WOW to all of the above watches.

 

vintage eterna pricing has, like many brands with a great history, gone up the past few years. the strongest performers are, of course, divers, chronographs, and verified military models.

the super kontikis always command a good price. as seen above, real IDFs are bonkers. the first generation kontiki with the distinctive black dial and triangular markers has seen a sharp rise in price. the dirty dozen british military eterna has always been scarce.

5 years ago, I picked up my centenaire 61 for $100. it was, and is, in beautiful shape with a lovely patinated dial. recently, nice centenaires have been going for 200 to 300. still a steal, in my opinion. an absolutely perfect, and frankly rare, black-dialed variant recently sold on ebayuk for just north of $300. it is a crime that it isn't mine right now.

all that said, there is no comparison to the madness that is vintage omega pricing we are currently seeing. it is truly nuts how much some standard vintage omega stuff is going for. and when you consider the production numbers- eterna produced a tiny fraction of the watches omega did- I think the scarcity, or lack thereof, will cause adjustment.