Good size. Good price. Nice watch. You cant go wrong with this one. Enjoy!

 

Great looking watch. I think a lot of collectors overlook these watches because they aren’t a “brand” that is associated with quality- but the sum of the parts makes an excellent watch- which is why I have been fascinated by them.
A well made no-name all stainless diver with Bakelite bezel and ETA movement....how far is that from a Tudor??

 

And I certainly hope you find a link! There's something very satisfying with owning a watch that has the same DNA as a watch that's 10X the price, simply because of a different screen print on the dial.

 

I have a 1950 Gruen with Switzerland on he dial

 

That's a cool find! It really looks like a mini Seamaster 300MC.

 

A very long way…

 

Nothing wrong with AS movements, but they were not made by ETA.

 

Agree- just making a dramatic point of comparison.

 

This I know, but most of these types of divers use AS or FHF movements that are worth little on the used market, but appear to be well made and run reliably and accurately for decades.

 

Seems like a good price for a fun watch.

 

This watch makes me think of the Rotary Aquaplunge.

 

the key is "well made no-name" as in my opinion that is going to change in the upcoming years and these snazzy what was once referred to as "generic swiss" pieces are going to climb in value. I would bet the farm that the bezel in the watch you pictured is painted aluminum and ETA or Schild makes no difference as both are great.
also speaking as one who has come across many of these vintage generic divers in the tropical islands as well as tudors, your comparison to tudor quality-wise is not as far off as one might think.
nice catch there Jay Dubbuyah!

 

Thank J&F- the Tudor comment was made tongue in cheek- and yes, I know an A.Schild is not on the same level as ETA was back then for quality, nor are they affiliated.
But I have a 60’s Tudor- and I have a few beautiful stainless Benrus’ (which used ETA movements), and a few “no-name” 60’s divers with ETA movements, and when you take them apart and look at the sum of the parts side by side ....I’ll give it to Tudor for fit and finish, but parts is parts sometimes.
I agree about the value of these divers- it’s already happening. Whereas the Tudor, Doxa, Wittnaur divers could be had for under $500 year ago- these cheap divers were available for under $100- as the upper line stuff climbs, this stuff goes up with it.
5 years ago I would have laughed at $500 for a Tradition watch....but it’s not so unrealistic these days and I can’t afford to swim in the deeper end of the pool, so I have concentrated on the “values” out there- like these.
We all have our value brands that we like to think are our little secrets (Zodiac, Certina, Squale, Mido, Eterna), it thanks to the internet and retailers like Fratello and Hondinkee- these aren’t value brands anymore....the word is out.

 

Hello- Columbo?


Getting closer- dial layout is similar, numeral font is similar, the >T25mc (although in a different place)....hmmm. Who made Rotary?

 

I honestly never gave much thought to comparing these two movements quality-wise as I thought both are great.
here's one of our '50's watches from the deep tropics with an A.S. movement. manual wind. the movement still looks like new and the original dial is more than presentable. try finding a mid 50's non-screw-down-crown tudor in the tropics that still looks this good. some of these "lesser" brand watches have very high quality construction and used top-shelf paint in their dials.

 

they're still made now.

 

Oh- I know they are still a current brand, but I assumed they had been bought and sold like so many others. Wondering if they were a subsidiary of a larger company back in the 60’s.

 

And agreed on the finishes of some of the cheaper watches versus the $$$ watches. I have Bulova’s and Gruens that look like their case and crystals went through a war (some did actually), and a quick clean and new crystal and they look like new (no moisture inside). I have often wondered how some of the “beaters” that have clearly seen hard duty have fairer so much better than some of our beloved $$$ watches.

A friend of mine who services high end Audio gear had racks of Audio Research, Krell, McIntosh. & vintage Marantz awaiting service in his shop. He came home with a stack of Pioneer gear from the Goodwill that he got for $40, plugged it in and it all worked perfectly with just some cleaning of the potentiometers and actually sounded excellent. I marveled at the fact that this “cheap Japanese” gear still worked when all this mega-buck gear had crapped out...he likened it to Ferrari vs Toyota...one is built to run, the other is built to Fly at Mach speed....obviously the jet will run hotter and burn out faster.
The comparison doesn’t work for watches- I know, but still interesting that the mass consumer stuff sometimes holds up better over time.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_Watches

 

Yeah, I read that- not much info in there that’s uselful. What I’m looking for (which as has been suggested may not exist) is a major manufacturer that may have taken the contract with Sears to make these- and which company that is. Like we have seen with so many house brand watches (Birks- Longines and Eterna), Baylor/Zales (Heuer)- they all came from somewhere.

We know Sears didn’t have a shop of elves making watches in the back of their stores- they bought OEM spec’d merchandise on a massive scale as they were the largest mail order house in the US at the time, a contract with them would have been as attractive as one with the government! Their buyers obviously picked designs from a catalog, I doubt they had an in-house design team for their clothing and accessories lines- i want to know who’s catalog.