Read every one by LouS here

Then everyone by him at WUS

and remember these were made at limited numbers then quartz brought all to their knees.

Enjoy for another healthy 30 years!

Oh, I’d stick with a small etching not the sharpie, inside. Lots of nasty offgassing vapors over time.

Or ask for nothing.

I always ask for nothing.


And my sundial hands were 1st gen Service hands from my readings. And to be clear, I “believe” were used to augment as the stock dwindled for the flat hands.
Much like the circle on the crowns, as Bill has confirmed a factory 386A of his had the small circle variety. And these were 1st gen factory crown replacements.

Pure conjecture but follows.

 

I looked through many of the late production watches listed on Alpha Hands sales chart (https://alphahands.com/vintage-watch-research/zenith-a386-el-primero/) and the one thing that stands out to me is how many have point sub-dial hands.

One could argue that the original sub-dial hands break so easily that many have the replaced with the pointy service hands--- or that many of the 5th series had pointy sub-dial hands originally.

So when looking at some of the available data I can easily agree with your supposition. And- after 30 years I have grown accustomed to the pointy hands of the correct length.

 

Good catch Mark, every watch need to be nice for the buyer
If you like and love it, you dress it happy, day after day...

GIGI

 

Possible the 3 sub dial hands are all made for the hour counter (bottom middle)? That hand is meant to be slightly shorter than the other two. AFAIK the pointy hands are service replacements, the flat top hands are generally accepted as being the correct ones.

As an offer for $2500 goes.... The bracelet and end links would be more than half that. Your dial is worn though not terrible. The overall patina is consistent through the watch. Current climate most collectors want mint new looking watches and anything below suffers.

 

Collectors certainly pay a major premium for mint/near mint watches, but the offer of $2500 for this particular watch is brutally bad.
The watch that forms the subject of this thread is not perfect, but it's still an honest a386, I do not know what it is worth per se, it's a watch so many people want and they only made between 2500-4500 of them.

 

About the length of the register hands-- I was also thinking that perhaps I received three middle register hands. My eyeball measurement of the registers is that they are all about 10 mm in diameter. So the hands would have to be two different sizes.

But after reading many of the A386 threads and looking at the photos of recent factory serviced A386's with service dials and hands, I have come to the conclusion that these are the current service hands for the registers. Perhaps rather then make two different sizes the factory felt it was easier to source all the same.

Since mine is in the last series of A386's produced, and looking at how many of these 5th series had pointy register hands per the chart on Alpha Hands, I am going to put the pointy register hands back on with the thought that after 30 years of ownership they look better to me then the shorties, and perhaps they are the original hands put on at the factory. My crown is also the small circle which also may original.

At $2500- there was no way I was going to sell it- would rather die with the watch and not care what it sells for after my death.

Yes- putting a price on a less than pristine A386 is a bit hard when the dial is so-so but comes with a sought after complete GF bracelet and a good movement--most sold and shown on the forum are magnificant examples and bring over $14K. Others seem to be "lucky finds" located at estate auctions or other off the grid sales- and priced based upon circumstance rather than critically assessed condition. Not many in between to help with value assessment.

 

+1

 

How right you are, and don’t forget the correct ZJ end links that are impossible to find. I paid roughly his offer price just for a bracelet for my A386!

 

Yours is one of the magnificent A386's I was referring to.

 

Aw shucks, thank you. Well, it was much more than $14K