Well, after three years of searching, I finally acquired one of my true "grail" pieces - an A386. I had always been a fan of the aesthetic, but it really bit when I tried on one in-person and loved how flat the case wore on the wrist. The contrast between the matte dial and the glossy, multi-colored subdials was also more apparent in-person than in pictures. The thing that held me back for the past few years was the general condition of most examples that came up for sale - either the case was always polished or the lume had blackened (this being the most typical issue), so I was forced to continue waiting as prices slowly rose. I'm quite glad that I waited, though. This example came from Bukowski's auction house, and the moment the catalog was posted, I knew I was willing to out-bid whoever my competition was. This is truly a collector's dream, as the case is as sharp as it was the day it rolled off the production line and the dial is truly perfect. Seeing as how it was in Sweden, my good friend @marturx helped to facilitate logistics and even got to wear the watch for a few days...love how the forum can bring us all together from across the world. Happy to finally join the A386 Club! Now for the pics...
Amazing watch, congratulations. If that's your first Zenith, I don't think you left too much room for improvement.
It´s my graal watch too. When it came up for auction I noticed it too of course. Even consulted @LouS about it. But judging from his answer I realized it would be EXPENSIVE. The ship sailed for me when I missed out a few years when a good one went on Swedish eBay for 3k$ . This one on Bukowski´s was the second one I´ve ever seen on auction in Sweden. An huge congrats to OP! The watch is a wet dream. You need to see it live to realize how great it is.
Beautiful and congrats — and shout out to @marturx for being such a good pal. This forum beautifully reminds me of the networks of traders in the middle ages, who enabled international trade with the invention of the “letter of credit”, they relied on pure trust and one another’s good name to make local payments in local currencies and debts recorded on paper could be transferred. Powerful port cities emerged, new continents explored, paving the way for an explosion of private commissions of arts called the Renaissance. Sorry for thread hijack, a beautiful chrono indeed.
Fantastic piece and well worth the wait. Shows that it pays off to be patient in this hobby! Wear it in the best of health! Cheers, Max
truly spectacular a386 i was discussing these with a zenith expert. . . the lume "darkening" as you put it is normal . . .it is believed that the lume on the markers turns brown with very little exposure to air. that is why most of even the good examples out there look that way. . .there are only a small handful like yours that are all original / perfect lume like this and it probably means the watch has never been opened! and i don't think you overpaid. . .well done