Evening (or morning) All,

I have a small collection of vintage watches, though nothing from Zenith just yet. However, there are two chrono's that I've admired from afar for some years, but haven't pressed the button on just yet. One is the Heuer 1550 SG, and the other, the Cairelli CP-2. Having sold some pieces over the last few months, I think I'm now ready to hunt down one of these wonderful watches.

Obviously, there aren't a great number of these to choose from, and I appreciate its not going to be like sourcing a 5513 or a 105.003. Most seem to be listed with Italian sellers on C24, which is to be expected I guess, and I've found one that, to my untrained eye, looks quite promising. It's listed by a dealer in Perugia, could you Zenith gurus take a look please and let me know if you think it's worth pursuing?



https://www.perusiawatches.it/watches/zenith-cairelli-cp-2-mm-cronometro-ami-assegnato-militare

 

The watch looks fine to me. I have no idea about how credible this dealer is though. The A cairelli CP-2 was believed to have around 2,500 watches made around 2,000 of which went to the military while remaining 500ish kept as civilian version (which is about the right portion of what is available out there in the market if you look at what has been for sale).

the military issue version is more preferred given the provenance, while the non-issues are usually in better condition.

 

Hi, thanks for the info. Are do you think, due to their relative scarcity, that they are less likely to contain fake parts such as dial/hands/bezel etc, when compared to say vintage Speedy's and Subs? And therefore, can you be fairly sure that most examples for sale are mostly/entirely genuine? Excluding things like relumed plots/hands here.

 

I have not seen anything glaringly suspicious on this particular piece you got for this model. And I happen to also have one of the non-issue watches. As @CajunTiger mentioned below, the watch should be judged one by one.

 

My knowledge of this beatiful watch is low, I like it very much but something is stopping me in try to buy.
If I look on ch24 at the Moment there are about 25 pieces on sale, too much for only 2500 pieces produced compared to a384/5 that had the same pieces produced. Big part of the Cairelli are in very good conditions, all with correct crown and hands, find a all correct vintage zenith is quiet difficoult, not for cairelli. I don’t know why, maybe someone had a lot of this and when the prices went high sold lot of them

 

When you see five-figure asking prices you should assume most examples for sale contain fake/franken parts. Slow down and take the time to become a quasi-expert on these models before putting your money down on one. Learn the secrets of known good reference watches to verify the parts in your target watch are correct.

 

This is an issued piece...but did the dealer blur the numbers or are they rubbed out. The price is good, and I don't see any glaring issues in the photos, except the number on the case back. But I would do my homework on the seller first as the price is odd if its truly an issued piece.

NEVER assume this on anything of value, especially watches

 

2500 is the number of issued pieces ordered, although most sources say that less than 2500 were actually issued. The civilian version is far more plentiful than 500 for sure...I believe many more were produced as you typically see these in NOS or mint condition. For this reason I wouldn't consider the non issued pieces especially since the difference in asking prices is not that great. I have not seen any evidence that would lead me to believe more than 2500 issued pieces are out there. Typically there are ever only a handful for sale, I think the reason you see so many now (and there are far less than 25 issued pieces listed) is because prices have been slowly and steadily rising (bringing out more sellers). Add to this the fact that the original owners are now likely in their 70's...its time to cash in.
It wasn't that long ago that you could find an issued piece under $10k...now they are going for well over $15k.
Mine came from the original owner, the pilot it was issued to...and I would assume many of the issued pieces are hitting the market now as they get older and find out their watch is worth a bundle.

 

Totally agree, has to judged one by one, I have edited my comment earlier to make it clear as well.

 

No affiliation with the seller but there’s one listed on the Sale forum here, in case you hadn’t seen...

https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-zenith-cairelli-cp-2-manual-chronograph.90831/

 

First, thank you everyone for your comments, I've taken them all on board, and will proceed with caution. Of course, familiarising myself with this piece compared to say a vintage Speedy, Heuer or Sports Rolex is a far more challenging task, as there is relatively little by way of published word on this model, and certainly no examples at any vendor near me to view and appraise, or even within my country as a whole!

So, I do rely on the collective expertise of marque specialists here on OF, but will ensure I continue to learn as much as I can about this wonderful watch.

Traveler - no I hadn't seen that one you linked above, thank you, it was listed back in March, and only bumped yesterday, so I didn't trawl back far enough during my initial search. I'd rather have an issued example, as it just adds a little to the history / mystique of a specific piece in my eyes, and as said above, prices seem fairly similar. And this one would be expensive for me at $14.5K delivered to my door.

 

Hi late to the conversation. The one shown looks ok. Did not look at the price. But I know the very reputable dealer Roberto Randazzo, https://www.vwcltd.com/
has a excellent one at a reasonable price. He has great knowledge about military and completely trustworthy.
Hope this helps.