A Near-NOS Movado Super Sub Sea

I occasionally feel privileged to share some of these watches with you. This is, of course, quite silly. I don’t own any of the pieces I feature. I often have no acquaintance or relation to the seller. But in spending hours digging through forums and retailer pages, I occasionally find overlooked gems. Today is one such scenario. The Movado Super Sub Sea remained an obscure vintage diver until around 2010, when collectors saw it for what it was: a zenith-based oversized diver with tritium for days and bundles of charm. Since then, good examples have been rare to stumble across. What I share here today is not merely a good example: it’s a nearly perfect one.

The Movado Super Sub Sea was manufactured in collaboration with Zenith (A277) during the late 1960s. The model housed a caliber 146HP from a Martel ebauche. The modern, almost speedmaster-proportioned case is an oversized compressor with strong water resistance. The reverse panda dial sports large subdials pushed to the very outer edges and tons of tritium. The reference has taken off for obvious reasons: it sports all the things we love in vintage watches with abundance.

As I alluded to in the intro, this example is exceptional. Many, in fact most, Super Sub Seas one will come across have degraded tritium which has gone from yellow to brown or even begun chipping off. This one shows not even a hint of losing its golden markers. The bezel and dial blacks are still strong and not ghosted at all. The case is robust with extremely light marks. Its back shows hardly anything. The movement appears perfect. I can go on, but let’s just say you won’t find a better one for some time. What equally surprises me is that our seller hasn’t chosen to be extortionate in pricing, waiting for the market to catch up to some outrageous ask. The chosen asking price is quite reasonable. I don’t suspect this beauty will last too long.

Find this Super Sub Sea here from Uhrgut in Austria for 10500 EUR.