When I was new to collecting I had a voracious appetite. I would buy anything and everything that I thought was interesting. I would do the mental gymnastics on what was acceptable for “patina” or damage, I would trawl late night eBay listings for parts and fixer uppers. My tastes changed several times, the focus of my collection now hardly resembles what it looked like in early days, but we are all made up our experiences and without them we wouldn’t be who we are today. We all have a short list of watches for which we are always on the hunt. As we become more discriminating, our need to check off that list becomes more of a slow burn and less of a red hot priority- we can wait for the right one- we don’t have to have it right now. Some of the watches on my slow burn list was 90’s Zodiac Red Dot (or red point across the pond) full size divers or chronographs. The 80’s & 90’s was an interesting time for watches, several companies that survived the quartz crisis but lost their way were reorganizing or finally dying off completely. One of those companies was Zodiac. I have a soft spot for 60’s Zodiacs, primarily the Sea Wolf variants during their 2 decade run, but the 90’s rebirth of the brand was a tumultuous and fascinating time and I always felt attracted to their sports watches from that period (not to mention it’s the era in which I was becoming interested in watches). I won’t go into the story of this period for Zodiac- a fun read can be found here: https://wornandwound.com/zodiac-story-behind-curious-point-series/ But in a nutshell, TAG Heuer CEO Willy Gad Monnier had a falling out with Tag and went to Zodiac making it his mission to stick it to Tag. The “point” series came out of this era (Red,Silver, Gold) with the Red and some of the silver line being the most “tool-like” of the series resembling much of the Tag Professional series and much of the silver and gold more aligning with the Tag Link series of the time (some of the most hideous watches ever made but like cocaine in the 80’s- everyone was into it). The line heavily focused on Quartz watches (again- it was the 80’s and 90’s) very much like the Tag watches of the time, but they did offer a premium line of auto’s as well. I picked up a couple of these fun and inexpensive quartz divers for my wife which only fueled my desire to get one (ir a few) for myself. As I have become more discriminating, my tolerance for issues has gotten tighter. If I’m going to spend real money (more than the cost of a nice dinner out), the juice needs to be worth the squeeze or it needs to be pretty damn perfect out of the box. I found that most of these 90’s Zodiacs were either trashed, had been cobbled with some Tag generic replacement parts (as some were a direct swap) or missing/replaced bracelets, crowns, pushers, bezels- etc. I’ve come to the conclusion that people viewed these are bargain Tag’s rather than appreciating them for what they were and treated them like beaters. I have nearly pulled the trigger on several but keep having to remind myself that I don’t have to settle, these aren’t expensive watches, so patience will be rewarded if I strike when I see the right ones. Well, this week my patience was rewarded. Case is razor sharp, with all brushing intact. Original squared off pushers and factory crown- these are usually replaced. Case back has never been polished, and no tool marks-still has the original cheese in the engraving (yum) Nearly full length bracelet (one link short of full) fits my 7.5-7.75” wrist. Usually these are sized for children with no extra links to be found. Dial is spectacular didn’t realize the subdials are snailed in any of the photos I had seen- what a nice surprise. Photos are fresh out of the box, just wound and set. After a scrub I think this thing is gonna to gleam. So this just reinforces that there is an endless stream of watches out there, rarely will we ever be in a position that we may not ever find a “better one”. As I don’t care about boxes and papers and plan to wear it regularly, I can’t imagine lusting after a NOS one which would be the only thing that could “best” this one for condition IMO. If condition, condition, condition are words you live by- don’t settle, you will always be hunting for a better one. My hunt is done for this one…now on to finding the blue chrono…and the full sized divers…ugh, this hobby never ends.
Wow dude this looks so much better than the 1 cell phone pic I got earlier. I'm almost jealous now. Lol
A couple more shots- gave it a quick hit with polywatch and wiped it down with a micro fiber including the nooks and crannies Looks at these edges
**me squinting** Is that a Rolex?! ... Very nice pick up! The patience reminder is very relevant for me right now. A couple of recent vintage acquisitions and this forum have fully infected me with the vintage bug. I'm trying to take it slow but it's hard. Deep breaths...
Funny you say that, I vividly remember these sitting in a jewelers case next to the Tudor Tiger Chrono’s in the 90’s. It was the style of the time.
Black dial with the red dot mucho coolito. Seems to enhance the whole look I definitely wouldn’t kick it out of bed.
Wow, that's a beautiful watch man... just when I think I'm out something new pulls me back in. Really love the crown & pushers (not dainty, yet perfectly proportioned) and that red dot is fire.
For that remark, I just bought @JwRosenthal a Komfit as a gift and am having it overnighted from Forstner to him.
You are salty today! How about I send you a bag of cheap Natos to throw in your Speedy that are pre-treated with Creed so you don’t have to go to the mall.
Very nice, really like these Zodiacs. I have a crisp Monnin cased 106.21.07 that I wear often. Full lume dials are super cool.
Very nice watch and cool to learn about the link (pun intended) with TAG Heuer! Those 90s TAGs are what first got me interested in watches so there are a bunch of elements of your watch that brings the warm fuzzies. I’ve drifted away from these though…maybe it’s time to keep an eye out now.