Any vintage watch experts out there please! I bought a box of dealers scrap and this watch was in it. I’m trying to find out a bit more about it. It’s a 1940’s Zenith Stotsaker or Bullseye from my research, I’ve found a couple of men’s ones online but no ladies. It is only 22mm acrosss with a strap for a small wrist. It’s a military watch with 24hr clock. A ladies military watch seems to be quite a rare beast although obviously there were plenty of women in different roles. I’ve put it on a few FB watch groups with little result but several have messaged me asking to buy but until I know what I have I’m holding on to it. The men’s ones I’ve seen have stamping on the back, mine just had the serial number and a name inscription that I can’t read( any ideas?) Svea? Suea? Maybe there just isn’t anything else to learn about it which is why the FB groups are so quiet? Thanks for looking
Despite the Zenith radio collectors and Svea stove collectors, this will garner little interest as no watch collectors like small no name pieces.
Svea, a Swedish girl's/woman's name. Maybe a Swedish military connection? Zenith is a good name, and from the queries it is clear that there is interest in this watch.
Apparently there were 3,600 of the men’s version of this made in the late 40’s, I haven’t yet found another ladies one. Not that it makes it of value as men’s watches are much more sought after but interesting none the less. Zenith want £130 to find out so it may stay a mystery as to how scarce this is.
130 pounds would end most inquires. I imagine they are bombarded with them. Interesting watch. I play a little game with myself when i see an object and the date is not given right off. I try to guess the date. 1940's was my guess. Interesting watch does it still work? I would have loved to meet the woman that wore it.
Yep, £130. I’m going to get the jeweller in town to take the back off as I can’t shift it. The I can get some information about the movement. I’ll keep looking, hopefully someone in the know will pop up.
I also think it is strange to ask this price only for researching their archives. Once I approached Augarten Wien porcelain factory about plates I have, and got their answer within a couple of days, polite, comprehensive and absolutely free.
True AJ- There's thousands of Forums (of course this is the best !). A few months ago I queried a Site in the Midwest,got forwarded to NY,got referred to a collectors group in the UK who passed me on to one of the world's foremost collectors of my item. He emailed me abt 10 pages of patent drawings,descriptions & biographical info re the inventor (he's also interested in the piece). PS-It was all FREE,and I met a few new friends in the process !
Delft are a good example of this. The chap I contacted was so generous with his time (can’t remember his name now ) and gives loads of information all for free.
Wasn't it Kees something or other? At Verwoerd, the Delfts jewellery maker, not to be confused with Royal Delft.
Yes, but it wasn’t just jewellery as he helped me with a plate. Turned out to be a very common worthless one but he treated it with great respect.
Can't imagine how a Company Expert (& employee !) wouldn't feel some pride in sharing knowledge of their firm's heritage-especially an old,historical business. PS-Most of our US firms get bought & sold every other year-you have to go to Japan to get great Levis !
Since the wonderful man at Verwoerd was so helpful, maybe try another Dutch site? These people are collectors, restorers and sellers, and I hope they are willing to help you, or at least know someone who can help: https://www.veldeszenith.com/ Email: info@veldeszenith.nl They have a miltary Zenith stotsäker. Stotsäker is Swedish for shock proof, so it was made for the Swedish market, which is why there is a Swedish name on the back of yours: https://www.veldeszenith.com/watches/zenith-military-3/
In had an inkling, because 'stot' is 'stoot' in Dutch and 'säker' is pronounced almost the same as the Dutch word 'zeker'.* And 'stootzeker' could be a slightly odd way of saying shockproof in Dutch. I just couldn't see how the word stotsäker could be Swiss, but Swedish makes sense, because Dutch is so closely related to Scandinavian languages. *Things you don't want to know, but are there anyway.
