Mini Overview of "Vintage Military Wristwatches" by Zaf Basha

Lépine · Aug 20, 2023

I got an early first edition copy of Zaf's new book, "Vintage Military Wristwatches".

I doubt there is anyone here that doesn't know Zaf Basha, but if you are new to military watches then you might not know about Zaf who is one of best and most knowledgeable military watch dealers in the world.

I, like a few of you out here, knew about Zaf's project from years back. I have to say having known about Zaf authoring this book and the time it took for him to research and go through his archive of sold watches from Classicwatch.com it took months of time in front of his computer and contacting people he knew to get information about these watches. I remember having conversations with him about going to the Smithsonian and other institutions to look up specifications. He even checked for me about some specifications for watches I wanted some clear background on. I am happy to see that this great project is now on sale as his first military watch book and it looks great!

Hopefully in front of a PC with a large screen you can see some notes I made about the book.
I'm uploading a huge images so you might need reduce the zoom to 90% or pan left and right to read the slides.
Or, zoom the page to make them bigger.

Small run watch books are often not inexpensive so if you want a little more information that what is on this Zaf's page,

https://www.classicwatch.com/asp/buy...k%27%29&Step=1

I thought this might help:

tapaptpat · Aug 20, 2023

Adding to Christmas wishlist.
Especially looking forward to read the Norwegian and Swedish sections.
Thanks for Sharing

Cheers
P

Lépine · Aug 20, 2023

Hi @tapaptpat , great thanks for the comment. Yes, definitely a good book to have if you're hunting for
milwatches. It would have been great if this book was available 20 years ago when these watches
were really cheap and there were many to choose from.

sonicosa · Aug 20, 2023

Related: I was told Mr. Basha would be issuing an updated edition of his JLC book later this year.

watchyouwant · Aug 20, 2023

Zaf is a Watch Dealer. A good one. Often Specialized in Military Watches. That does not make him the most knowledgeable military watch dealer in the World. Now to his Book : All Specs here were well researched before Zaf' Summary . Large volumes of publications have been published many years before. You can classify his Book as an update with recent research , spiced up with great pictures. Zaf, as a French National , was a regular visitor to European Watch Fairs in the 1990's . Not much experience in Military and good Fakes. A few guys had to educate him ( for example ) regarding the subtle differences of new to the market , Blancpain and IWC excellent Fake cases . For MK 9, MK 10 and Amag. MK 11 and Ingenieur . Even Iwc could often not tell the difference and had to use the Swiss Forensic Labs to determine the age of the Steel used by the fakers. Which had acquired the original stamping Tools for the case backs ... If you are new to Mil. Watches: There were a few groundbreaking Military Watch books in the last 20 years , which are cheap in the 2. Hand market.
So, another one. But not a most knowledgeable one . And depends on the Price as well . Shipped.

Lépine · Aug 20, 2023

I said Zaf is one of the most knowledgeable. It's still true despite how you want to interpret my statement.
Another author who is one of the most knowledgeable is Konrad Knirm. You I don't know anything about so if you
are an expert, I am sorry I don't know your name. All I am doing here is pointing out that there is a nice
new book out there on the subject. 1990s is a long time ago have you seen him recently?

SpeedyPhill · Aug 21, 2023

Certainly an intense & great job to write such a book, always "hats off" for people sleuthing specific (esoteric) subjects! 👍
Just wondering how much insight he has on how Mil watches were distributed, got back to forces logistic chain and were later destroyed.

Lépine · Aug 21, 2023

SpeedyPhill
Certainly an intense & great job to write such a book, always "hats off" for people sleuthing specific (esoteric) subjects! 👍
Just wondering how much insight he has on how Mil watches were distributed, got back to forces logistic chain and were later destroyed.

If you have a specific question, you could ask him. I am almost sure he will respond.

Mark020 · Aug 21, 2023

Think I will buy one but I'm waiting for a EU shipping option

Dan S · Aug 21, 2023

watchyouwant
Zaf is a Watch Dealer. A good one. Often Specialized in Military Watches. That does not make him the most knowledgeable military watch dealer in the World. Now to his Book : All Specs here were well researched before Zaf' Summary . Large volumes of publications have been published many years before. You can classify his Book as an update with recent research , spiced up with great pictures. Zaf, as a French National , was a regular visitor to European Watch Fairs in the 1990's . Not much experience in Military and good Fakes. A few guys had to educate him ( for example ) regarding the subtle differences of new to the market , Blancpain and IWC excellent Fake cases . For MK 9, MK 10 and Amag. MK 11 and Ingenieur . Even Iwc could often not tell the difference and had to use the Swiss Forensic Labs to determine the age of the Steel used by the fakers. Which had acquired the original stamping Tools for the case backs ... If you are new to Mil. Watches: There were a few groundbreaking Military Watch books in the last 20 years , which are cheap in the 2. Hand market.
So, another one. But not a most knowledgeable one . And depends on the Price as well . Shipped.

I understand the pushback, the thread is a bit strange. But honestly, I was delighted to have the opportunity to add a book to my library that consolidates a tremendous amount of information in a high-quality and accessible format.

And Achim, if you write a book, please sign one and put it aside for me! 👍

krogerfoot · Aug 21, 2023

watchyouwant
Zaf is a Watch Dealer. A good one. Often Specialized in Military Watches. That does not make him the most knowledgeable military watch dealer in the World. Now to his Book : All Specs here were well researched before Zaf' Summary . Large volumes of publications have been published many years before. You can classify his Book as an update with recent research , spiced up with great pictures. Zaf, as a French National , was a regular visitor to European Watch Fairs in the 1990's . Not much experience in Military and good Fakes. A few guys had to educate him ( for example ) regarding the subtle differences of new to the market , Blancpain and IWC excellent Fake cases . For MK 9, MK 10 and Amag. MK 11 and Ingenieur . Even Iwc could often not tell the difference and had to use the Swiss Forensic Labs to determine the age of the Steel used by the fakers. Which had acquired the original stamping Tools for the case backs ... If you are new to Mil. Watches: There were a few groundbreaking Military Watch books in the last 20 years , which are cheap in the 2. Hand market.
So, another one. But not a most knowledgeable one . And depends on the Price as well . Shipped.

I think @Seiji is justifiably proud of his contribution to this book and has made a great case for why anyone would want to buy it. He is certainly entitled to a bit of promotion and it seems uncalled for to come onto his thread and suggest people buy a secondhand book instead.

Foo2rama · Aug 21, 2023

Can anyone confirm if the Czech Longlines Majeteks are in that book?

AAAKK · Aug 21, 2023

Foo2rama
Can anyone confirm if the Czech Longlines Majeteks are in that book?

Yes, they are

Lépine · Aug 22, 2023

Foo2rama
Can anyone confirm if the Czech Longlines Majeteks are in that book?

There are 4 examples of the Czech Longines.

Lépine · Sep 6, 2023

I had time to visit my bank today. I thought I would take some group pictures of my French Military Issued watches that made it into the French Military chapter. The Beauchat didn't make it even with rare decommissioning papers, there was a better watch than mine out there.