Zodiac Sea Wolf Datographic 722 - 916

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Hello everyone.
I would like to share my little story.

I am a watch enthusiast, but even more so a photography entusiasm.
I visited the Don McCullin’s retrospective, a giant of reportage photography, in Rome.
His war photos are famous, especially from Vietnam. His professional ethics make him a legend of photojournalism. And also my personal one.
In the center of one room was a display case with various memorabilia, including the Nikon that saved his life by stopping an AK-47 shot intended for him.
Next to this I see his watch: a Zodiac Sea Wolf. Seeing it and wanting it were one and the same.
So I set out to find one exactly like it. A task that turns out to be more difficult than expected.
Thanks to Yuriy Vakulenko I deduced the reference, Sea Wolf Datographic 722-916, but here with the less common trapezoidal window.
Also its steel bracelet is not so common. Vakulenko sold one in exactly this configuration, but years ago.
I found a head on eBay but in really poor condition and at a price that in my opinion was very overestimated. My search continues. If anyone is kind enough to share useful information for research with me, I will be happy. There, that's all. The hunt continues.

Thanks for your attention.

I attach photos of the items
 
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I have a soft spot for Seawolfs IMG_4138.jpeg

The bracelet is not uncommon but was an accessory and didn’t hold up well to extreme conditions- thus have become harder to find.
The trapezoidal date window is not something I remember seeing but zodiac made subtle changes to their models every couple years with some mixing and matching of parts during transitional years- so probably one of many variants.

These watches aren’t rare as they were available in almost every PX at the time hence popular among service men (as were the Helbros “invincible” divers of the time- but finding them in good shape is very difficult as most saw hard duty.

There is a picture of Jim Lovell wearing his Seawolf floating around on the web that shows how much these were trusted beaters for those in service at the time (he also has a Rolex GMT, Accutron Astronaut and of course a Speedmaster among others I’m sure).
Once you get bitten by the Seawolf bug it’s hard to stop. I’ve ended up selling off a couple as you can spend years collecting all the variants.
From my left over unfinished project box
IMG_0934.jpeg

And of course can’t forget the Shewolf
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And if you want a moving and beautifully done book on photojournalists who died during the Vietnam conflict-Requiem is the book to have.

IMG_0937.jpeg

It has been out of print for some time and I bought my copy when new. It’s one of the books I would grab if my house was on fire.
 
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Thanks for clarifying my thoughts on this. For me the vintage Zodiac Sea Wolf are a recent discovery. Very grateful.
Also for the book suggestion.
 
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Thanks for clarifying my thoughts on this. For me the vintage Zodiac Sea Wolf are a recent discovery. Very grateful.
Also for the book suggestion.
It’s important to note for anyone new to collecting Seawolfs (or vintage zodiac in general) that although the base movements were built on common platforms (like ASchild movements), zodiac would add their own special twist to them. So parts that “should” be an easy swap with a stock AS part of the same family usually is not.

It keeps it fun and exciting…always a treasure hunt and new mystery to unravel (it’s what I tell myself to keep from crying). When my watchmaker would tell me the very rare and very expensive parts I got on eBay -that were guaranteed to be correct by the oh-so expert eBay seller in Croatia- actually didn’t fit and I’m back at square one- “this is the fun of collecting Zodiac”, is what I have to keep repeating to myself.
 
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Parts watch, cheap Hong Kong bracelet- seller put one too many zeros on the price- hard pass
 
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I'm no Zodiac expert but I had the same impression. Your confirmation is decisive.
If you have any advice for a good Sea Wolf 916 it would be nice to hear from you. Just in case.
In the meantime, thank you very much for your time
 
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I would also like the details of the book that you indicated I'm better at finding books than watches. Thanks again.
 
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I would also like the details of the book that you indicated I'm better at finding books than watches. Thanks again.
Here’s the info from my copy

IMG_0949.jpeg IMG_0950.jpeg IMG_0951.jpeg IMG_0952.jpeg
 
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My mate, who is an historian of the Vietnam War and its impact on American society, gave me a copy of Requiem as a gift when we completed our PhDs at Emory University. We also had the pleasure of meeting Hugh Thompson, the officer credited with halting the My Lai Massacre. The Herr book he quotes is amazing, as is The Short-Timers. But, imho, it's Patrick O'Brian's short story "The Things They Carried" that stands as the best depiction of the conflict, at least from the American perspective.

Requiem is a remarkable work, and reminds us just how dangerous the job of being a war correspondent and/or photographer is. This is as true today as it was back then (to date, 83 journalists have died in the Israel-Gaza War, 76 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 3 Lebanese). But without their dedication, we would never see the true face of war and all its suffering.

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Edited:
 
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Thank you for your contribution, Dr. Sascha.
I would like to respectfully comment on your text a quote by Don McCullin that Michael Herr's words brought to mind.

In recent years, McCullin has spoken of his move to the countryside as a salve. “The landscape became a kind of process of healing so I could forget about wars and revolutions and dying children, because I was beginning to take those memories to bed with me at night, and having terrible dreams, and terrible nightmares, and feeling guilty, and waking up in a sweat.” The photographs live on, however, lest we forget.