Hi everyone,

Would like to ask for some opinions on this Movado I got recently. It's my first post here as I've mainly been a hobbyist of old japanese models (citizen, orient etc) in the past and only registered on the site some months back to learn more about other brands (longines, omega, eterna, zenith), which one comes across relatively frequently (and got me curious about them) while digging through auction sites .
This Movado popped up recently and looked to be in not too bad condition from the seller pics, plus it came with a BOR-like bracelet that I've always had a soft spot for.

The caseback has the words 'SUB-SEA' written on it


The inside of the caseback has the case ref of 'J13091' which upon googling, reveals examples all with the 'Trans-Atlantic' words below the 'Movado' name, but none without it, like my example. (sorry had forgotten to take pictures of the inside of the snapon caseback before replacing the cover the first time, and haven't been able to get it to open again )

Its movement is a manual-wind Movado 346 which according to Ranfft, is the equivalent of a Universal 1105.

It seems the case had been polished before (the inner lug edge of the bottom left and right lug seem different)


The bracelet seems to be an original one a movado branded clasp, and uses spring loaded link pins, which I haven't come across much in japanese bracelets.


What I'm more concerned about would be whether the dial is original or been worked on before as I haven't been able to find pictures of similar examples with only the 'Movado' name and without the 'Trans-Atlantic' text on the dial.



To my untrained eye, the 'Movado' text looks original (doesn't look blobby or overly bolded?). There are no minute marker hashes between the hour indices which raises some suspicions but I've been able to find other Movado models whose dials don't have such minute marker hashes as well.
The only clues I've been able to find which were a parts dial listing(but with date) in similar configuration on the Bay (listing: 255152901958) from Israel after keying in a search of 'vintage movado dial'.

Any help/opinions would be greatly appreciated

Thank you!

 

I don't know much about these, but I had a Movado subsea like this one where the crystal was very specific. It was quite hard to find an acceptable replacement, so maybe double check yours is in good shape...

 

Thank you, the crystal seems to be in good shape though I'm not too sure about how to check its originality. It's also acrylic and I always seem to have a tube of polywatch lying around somewhere these days just in case .

 

The dial appears to be original. The end-pieces of the bracelet appear not to be correct for the case.

 

Thank you! It does seem to be so. The endlinks seem to 'slope' differently from the lug shape of the watch. Moreover, assuming that it's supposed to have the same bracelet as the 'Trans-Atlantic' dial models, I guess there should be 5 'rice beads'(midlinks) as opposed to the 7 'rice beads' on the one I have. So maybe the whole bracelet is not correct for the watch, even if Movado branded.
Great to hear that the dial might be original after all

 

On a side note, the cal 346 movement has gained around 20 seconds over the past 3 days, which doesn't seem bad considering the overall condition that the movement is in.

 

It looks very nice

 

Nice watch, and the dial looks fine to me. Just a bit unusual with very minimal printing.

There is plenty of interest in Japanese watches on this site, so don't hesitate to share, in the appropriate sub-forums.

 

Thank you for the kind words.

Thank you. I've noticed the seiko subforum as well. I've been on a 'swiss brand research' binge these days. It seems much harder for me to discern the authenticity/originality of dials/cases of swiss models, especially for popular models (eg. vintage constellations/seamasters, certain longineses, IWC etc) as opposed to when trying to discern seiko/citizen AM dials/redials (I haven't seen much redials with regard to takano/ricoh/orient to my knowledge). Not sure if it's due to my having had more experience with said japanese brands or that swiss redials are of a 'higher standard' that requires a keener eye for detail. But it definitely means much more reading before making bigger ticket purchases.

 

I don't think it's intrinsically more difficult, just new styles for you to learn. Each one of those brands has its own subtleties, but most re-dials are not really very good once you tune your eye to it. Seiko collectors are extraordinarily good at using fine details to identify aftermarket parts. For most of these old Swiss watches, one doesn't find so many AM parts (with a few exceptions, e.g. vintage SM300/SM120), but the same observational skills will help you identify re-dials and incorrect parts.

 

Indeed agreed. Thank you for the advice .