Opinions on this movado?

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!

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 😀 .

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.

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.

Indeed agreed. Thank you for the advice 😀 .