Hi OF,

Just wanted to share my latest incoming with all of you. It's not a rare watch but I've been waiting for the right one with the right price and condition for more than 2 years.

The hunt started here, back in the last quarter of 2014, my very first thread in OF

https://omegaforums.net/threads/thoughts-on-this-watch-please.16758/

I came across that particular watch above while I was looking for UG and fell in love with it instantly, I found out later on that it was actually Ben Clymer's watch, though the price sounds fair now, it was quite a hefty asking price from Analog Shift at the time for me. I ended up buying my first vintage watch, which was a beautiful UG Uni-Compax about a month later. And the dial on that Zenith is not even up to my standard these days, thanks to this wonderful forum where I learned about condition, condition, and condition!

Now, without further ado, let me present you my Zenith cal 156 (UG Martel movement),



Came directly from the son of the original owner. He was nice enough to provide some more information about the watch, we had a long conversation about this. These are some of the information about his father, which is the first owner of the watch,




The watch is oversized with the 38mm unpolished case too! This will definitely get a lot of wear from me! Hope you guys enjoy the thread!


Best

Andre

 

Great watch and great story

 

Great find as usual!!! Congrats. Need to see this soon

 

Awesome watch & story!

 

Fantastic sharp case, blued hands, this really hits the sweet spot! Congrats again!

 

Absolutely love posts like this. Thanks for sharing and congrats!

 

Fantastic. Great catch. Congrats!

 

One of my favourite finds of 2017 - congratulations

 

Absolutely stunning watch! Beautiful!

 

Beautiful watch!
Seems that nobody said it before: Dibs!

 

Superb watch and a great story, congratulations on your acquisition.

 

Looks minty af

 

Congratulations, Andre!

This kind of collecting (keeping the history with the watch) is a win for both buyer and seller.

When I become a billionaire, would you consider acting as my personal watch buyer? I'd make the salary more than worth your while ;-)

 

Now this is what collecting (investing? ) is all about.

Great watch. Great catch.

 

Congrats Dre, great find! I got the same reference (actually belongs to my younger Brother now) but no where near your condition. Once again, great find and patience really is a virtue.

 

Appreciate all the kind words guys! Pretty stoked with the watch! I'm thinking of just leaving the bracelet with the watch as found and wear it just like that, but I need to get a jeweller to get the bracelet shortened. Yay/nay?

Here's the watch next to my oversize tri-compax

 

The beautiful bracelet looks to be hallmarked 18k. I would wear the watch with the bracelet, that adds so much style and character to the piece and also that's how the original owner (clearly a fan of gold) would have worn it.

Gold 156 with matching gold milanese band, can't believe I didn't DIBS this earlier!

 

It's a big call Andre. Cut it down to fit you and not many others (big wrists etc)? If it's a long long time keeper then maybe.

The problem is that the watch and bracelet have so much provenance and have been together for so long it would be a shame to change anything. Maybe remove and keep the bracelet and use a strap?

If you really intend to keep it for a long time you would enjoy it more if it was a good fit, so do it.

As you can see, I can't decide, so I can imagine your dilemma.


Hey, I just thought, it has Italian heritage, what about just going Agnelli with it?

 

Dre,
huge congrats, what a beautiful story and the pic with the UG Tri-compax shows just a perfect couple!!
As said before I would wear it with the original bracelet, but I can understand your worry to shorten the milanese.