Wakmann triple date

Here’s mine... calling these watches a great bang for your buck would be an understatement...

Also at 39mm It hardly feels underwhelming on my wrist!

Well, I took the leap and bought one. It should be here in a few days. I wanted the larger 39mm size and found a pretty nice one. Mark, yours has some differences from most I've seen. Does it have a different maker name? Oh, now I see. It doesn't have the white outer ring. I like it. And Dan, sorry. I made the underwhelming comment when I thought they were all 36mm. The larger size should be just perfect. Excuse my ignorance. Imagine if someday there is a "Triple Date Only" book printed for your coffee tables and Wakmann geeks discuss the finer points and variations of the Wakmann Triple Date Panda. Does anyone know the reference numbers for the two sizes? We may need our own SUB FORUM! Carpe Wakmann!

Congrats... you won’t regret it!

After a quick check, it seems there may be dozens of different refs. A check on ebay just now led to finding 6 refs just for the rev panda style, and none of them are the same as the one above. The 39mm models seem to begin with 1315, but that is probably not always true. Mine is 1315.01.75. Others of that size are 1315.30.75. This may become an interesting little subculture. Maybe it already is.

It already is.

Is there a group in another forum aside from those who have been part of this thread? We could start collecting data and creating a source for related info. Or does that already exist, too? If so, where can I find more info?

And I bought a second triple date/rev. panda that is not running and was listed very poorly. I'll put up photos after it's spiffed a bit and running. It has yet another ref. that I have not seen on any of the others. And I believe that is an original bracelet. I may begin cataloging ref numbers for these unless there is already data collected somewhere. Anyone?

For those who are interested, I did some data collecting tonight from eBay listings, sold and for sale. There were an amazing 24 triple date reverse pandas (TDRP) which is pretty crazy. I found 7 different ref. numbers so far. Most common was 71.1309.70. These were the 37mm size and most or all had val. 730. Next most common was 73.1307.70, also 37mm, also val. 730. Next was 1315.30.75, 39mm, val 730. Next was simply 1309, 37mm, val 723. Next was 72.1307.70, 37mm, not sure of cal. Least common were 71.1311.21, 37mm, cal unknown. And 1315.01.75, 39mm, val 730.

There must have been A LOT of these made and sold. A few observations: Maybe the 71, 72, 73, 75 are prod. years? I don't see a correlation with ref. numbers and mvmnt type. Generally, watches with the crescent shaped date hand are 37mm size. Those with square ends are 39mm, but there seemed to be a couple of exceptions to that. If any of you have ref. numbers that do not fit those I listed, please let me know. Markthetime, your ref number is unlike any of the others. Can you check to see you had it right? You showed 725.1309.

Crazy. So now with nearly 30 samples, there are 3 one-off refs. If anyone knows anything about the meaning of the numbers, please share.

And excuse my current fascination with these watches. I'm just discovering them. Something else I'd like input on is the prices I see. If you check sold items on eBay, you'll find a huge disparity from 1400 to 4000 on watches that often appear basically equal. I try to only use auctions with actual bidding to help determine value, as I'm sure many of you do. Condition is obviously a main factor, but in some cases a watch that appears NOS will sell for 1400 while a very worn example sells a month later for 3500. I know there are no certain answers but am interested in opinions and utter speculation.

Who has too much time on his hands? Pun intended.

It's raining and generally yucky outside, so I will continue observations on these watches. There is a FB page for Wakmann triple dates, but there were no entries after 2014, so that doesn't appear to be an active group of enthusiasts. Given the apparent numbers of these produced, there should be enough fans of this watch to have a serious following, not quite like the Speedmaster pro, but it's a cool watch.

It doesn't appear that there were any serial numbers, so one can only get so deep into these, which after seeing the lengths to which Speedmaster lovers have gone to determine originality, correctness, etc, it is probably better because absolute answers will be impossible. My observations are merely for discussion and bring out more info. I am noticing some interesting lum/indices characteristics. If you look at the photos of Dantheman's watch and the rough photo of the 2nd one I posted, you will see tiny "balls" or dots of lum on the inner edge of the hour indices. I have not seen that on any of the 37mm case watches, but that is not to say all 39mm examples have them. If you look at the close up of the dial on the photo of the first one I bought, you'll see no lum "balls." On that watch, it appears there is no luminous material on the indices, and that is common. I saw mention of that white stripe in the middle of the indices as being odd because it was lum that showed no age/patina. My thought here is that it is not lum, same as the white that outlines the ends of the hands. However, there are other examples that DO have lum that is aged in that same spot. If I'm missing the mark on any of this, please correct me. Yet another variation has the same indices as those with the balls or with nothing, and in place of the balls is a segment of lum to the inside of the indices. So I count at least 4 variations in that area already.

I'm sure many of you have noticed at least two types of hands, those with open ends and those with closed ends. I believe they all had lum in the cavity when new. The date hands show a few variations as well. On the 39mm watches, most I see have silver shafts with red squared ends. Most 37mm versions have black or silver date hands with the curved/crescent ends. Mark020's has several unique differences, probably due to the fact that it was sold under a different name. (maybe Commodoor?) I believe all of the crowns were marked with a, wait for it... crown. That could be totally wrong.

Tex, sorry, I don't follow. Did you mean that question for me? Your JB question was distal. 😉

And Markthetime, see what below.