Incoming...a386 early 70s

looks very nice wear it in good health. Try Bob Ridley from Watchmakers International http://www.watchmakers.com/

Thank you for the recommendation, I just emailed him for a quote and like that he is right next door in Texas.

Perfect and keep us updated with the repairs

I have a call scheduled with Mr. Ridley tomorrow to talk about my baby, er watch. I'm looking forward to hearing his insights, but wanted to reach out with a few questions to the community, the most ameteur first, what's the proper way to ship this? I feel like next day FedEx or UPS but I'm intimidated to tell a clerk & "please insure this for 30k*" (*replacement value plus misery award if this was lost or stolen from me).

I spent sometime thinking about the polishing of the crystal and have decided against. I want to keep the piece in an "as found"/preserved state. I'm personally not in to new things, the patina of aged objects fascinates me; I, inactively these days as I'm more in to watches, collect antiquities, so I'm always drawn to the really old and the really old essentially never looks "new" or polished.

With the above stated, certainly in no way reluming the hands.

I'll be nervous the whole time it's gone. I know it's not terribly reasonable but I hate the idea of it being out of my house where I feel it's safe with me & to have it around to put it under the loupe like I seem to do WAY too much (like before work for a few minutes, right after work and generally before bed...) anyway with all that said, please excuse the poor macro shots enclosed .

Also any questions/concerns I should have on my list, please feel free to chime in. Extract order from Zenith hasn't place yet, but is on the to do list. Thanks in advance .

Having just bought one of these myself, I wanted to ask the rest of the Zenith sub-forum for their respective and more knowledgeable advice when it comes to servicing A386s (which is particularly relevant for the OP as well)...as many are aware, the vast majority of A386 dials have sub-par lume that has darkened / discolored over the years, and the most commonly cited factor is the dial being taken out of the case during servicing, which exposes the dial to the air. If that's the working theory, what are owners with nice lume (such as this one) supposed to do? Never service the watch? Have it serviced in a vacuum sealed environment?

I'm certainly following this! Congrats on your pick up ChiFrog and thanks for bringing this up, I've seen those lumes go black and it's not as nice as the more preserved ones and now you have me concerned about the oxidation doing damage to the lume Oy, ya yo...anyway...here is my lume in action. Had to coax with a flashlight to get going and doesn't last long but still makes me happy

Congratulations - it's a grail of mine too!

outstanding👍😀

I had a very productive conversation with Mr Ridley the other day about service and asked about the lume being exposed to oxygen during service being the culprit for changing the lume to black and he did not believe that to be so & not a concern during service.
I'm also re-thinking buffing the crystal; I just got my Ruhla back and forgot to tell my guy not to touch the crystal...he did and the watch really pops. I love that the Ruhla and a386 have essentially the same same unique red second hand and both my examples I believe are 1971.

Interesting - did he give any reason for thinking that it wouldn't have an effect? There's clearly a common reason that so many darkened over the years and outside of exposure to the elements, it's hard to think of what it would be. Poor sealing / humid climates? Just guessing at this point, I suppose. I'll be eagerly watching this thread to see how it comes out post-servicing!

I didn't probe for specific reasons as to why there would not be the lume degradation, but he had assured me that lume degradation would not be an issue, but I am sure if it were to happen, I would not be happy, but as he has many decades of experience to my few years, I would defer to his judgment.
BGrisso - Thank you for adding stabilizing the hands! That is added to the repair list. I am not sure my time frame to get the work done, but will update when it's back from service and on a strap, ready to wear.

The Ruhla was a barn find from a loooong time ago. The second hand had always fascinated as well as the rest of the watch as that particular Stoppmeister is a strange but intriguing bird as the lower chrono button just stops the red second hand while the button is pushed and when the button is let go of, the red second hand continues; it's doesn't stop like a more traditional chrono and the top button sends the red second hand back to 12 o'clock. From what I have seen there are three Mk's of this Ruhla Stopmeister and only the Mk1 like mine has that particular red seconds hand.
When my a386 landed it cracked me up how somewhat similar the two are and pretty sure they are both from 1971.

Congrats

Congrats man!!
Mine says hey😀

Jealousy, but in a good way. Congrats and thanks for sharing. I may never get a 386, especially since it's so hard to tell wants right and what's not for us mere mortals, so for now I'll stay with my reissue that I love.

Congrats. My grail for now is the modern version of this. Lol