Titus Calypso Sub from the 60's

[alterego]

This particular tool watch  is the diver worn by French Oceanographer Jacques Costeau in the 60s and 70's; if I'm not mistaken.

 

[alterego]

16 minutes ago, alterego said:

This particular tool watch  is the diver worn by French Oceanographer Jacques Costeau in the 60s and 70's; if I'm not mistaken.

 

 

A wrist shot

[alligoat]

You might check out these articles on Cousteau and his watches- no mention of the Titus, but certainly Rolex, Omegas and Doxas were used.

[automatico]

This Titus Calypsomatic article mentions Jacques Cousteau but nothing about him wearing one:

 

https://tituscalypsomatic.com/history-1/

 

[alterego]

Thank you alligoat and automatico for the information . I found myself very much with the same situation when I saw the watch in ebay. I thought the watch had something special and I just wanted to have it so badly. This was about ten years ago. I wore it quite often after the purchase and  gradually lost interest, pressed by the need to try other watches from other brands. I could write a whole page about that, but the most important thing  is that I have rediscovered the watch. I like the simplicity of its lines, love the unclatered dial and I believe me, I hadn't noticed the "Tudor" lolipop hour han, that raises the price of a Tudor Sub considerably. 

Great watch, which I wear today and probably will wear much more often now, that I'm begioning to know its story.  

[alligoat]

Enjoy your watch! These 60-70 dive watches are a cool part of the history.

[automatico]

"These 60-70 dive watches are a cool part of the history."

 

Totally agree. 

 

Twenty five years ago...

I bought a few vintage divers back when they were $50 to $100 used in good condition and still have most of them today.  The Zodiac Sea Wolf is a favorite except for the horrible snap on case back.  They really bit the weenie on that.

Loaded up on Bulovas, especially dressy Oceanographers but they are not really dive watches with fluted 10k gold bezels like a DJ but they were rated at 330 feet and had 'Ocean' in their name.  I call them 'OOs', like in Oh, Oh, is that water in your watch?  They came with yellow or white solid 10k gold fluted bezels with yellow or silvertone markers/crowns.  The white gold bezel models are harder to find, especially with black dials.

 

Caravelle also made some steel '666' and '333' dive watches. 

They made a slew of 333 ft wr 'Half Devils' with Citizen movements in the 1970s and they are good for everyday wear...cool looks, rugged, thin, accurate, and affordable.  Now and then you can find one fairly cheap.

 

Past few years...

Traded into a pretty good vintage Aquadive 3 or 4 years ago but it is gummed up and I never fixed it.  Same with a Hamilton 'Compressor' and a few others that are beginning to be worth fixing.

Many of the less famous vintage dive watches were rated the same as 1960s/1970s rolex submariners but rlx knocked most of them out with a larger selection of models and slick advertising.  

 

Now divers wear a $175 plastic Mares Puck.

While rolex is in the $20,000 Cuff Shooter watch business.     Twenty thousand dollars!!

Times have changed.

 

Here is a good laugh:

http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tree&goto=7621918&rid=0#msg_7621918

 

 

[denimhead]

Beautiful peice and on my wish list at some stage. Getting rarer and going up in price 

[Bart Cordell]

Yes ! A Calypsomatic thread !

 

[mention=1234]alterego[/mention] Beautiful small logo gilt dial mate. Is this a 7085 case ?

 

Here’s mine.

 

[ceejay]

Here's my very similar Smiths Astral Diver from the same era...

 

[Bart Cordell]

Here's my very similar Smiths Astral Diver from the same era...

Love these Skin Divers

[alterego]

These watches are real art pieces from an era when you didn't see the crowd of divers that flood the market today, at prices that are absolutely out of this world.

I'll never let mine go.

 

Best

[automatico]

"These watches are real art pieces from an era when you didn't see the crowd of divers that flood the market today, at prices that are absolutely out of this world."

 

True.

I have a few 1960s/1970s dive watches that I held on to over the years...Bulova Devil Divers (auto and Accutron), Caravelle manual wind and auto, Aquadive, Zodiac Sea Wolf, Benrus Citation, Hamilton two crown compressor, Citizen 62-6198, Wittnauer etc and imho they out class what is available today.  Out class, not out perform of course. 

 

Benrus Citation:

https://gearpatrol.com/2019/08/02/found-benrus-vintage-dive-watches/

 

Citizen 62-6198:

https://sweep-hand.org/2012/11/13/this-weeks-featured-watch-43-62-6198-150m-diver/

 

Similar Wittnauer:

[alterego]

Great pics and information on old divers in this thread. Tomorrow I'll look for an old Sicura from the 70's that is somewhere in my storage area, and I'll take some pics to share. .

 

 

[alterego]

Here are pics of the Sicura

[Bart Cordell]

My small diver collection.

[Miss Understood]

My dear Bart, those small divers are absolutely scrumptous.  Lovely beyond compare, my only complaint being their diminutive size.

 

As you know, size matters.