Hi all,

this post is to share with you all my latest catch, picked up just few days ago at an ex-Zenith dealer, a very rare and hard-to-find NOS Movado Chronodiver “Super Sub Sea” with manual wind M95 movement:

The watch comes with its box (honestly I don’t know if it is the correct one but is identical - “Movado” logo apart - to the black Zenith ones used in that period (end of ’60)):

It has the original strap (really rigid and nowadays impossible to wear) and I assume the original buckle (but is not MV marked while I saw on the web the same buckle but with Movado logo):

Before this find I didn’t know anything about Movado watches (until now I collected only Heuer, this is my first non-Heuer) but in the last days I widely surfed the web and found some beautiful posts, the best one on an Italian Forum (Kronos). I beg your pardon in advance for any imprecision that I should say…

In this post the author said that this watch is dated at the mid-end of ’60, before the fusion between Movado and Zenith.
After the fusion the M95 movement had been replaced by the Martel-Zenith 146 (in fact a similar Super Sub Sea version exists but the 3 subcounters are more spaced each other, image taken from the web):

The M90/M95 movement is the first modular chronograph ever produced, in anticipation of at least 30 years respect to any competitor. In fact, the M95 it is the 3 counters version of the M90, developed by F. Piguet and produced by Movado in the 1938, the year later they presented the 3 counters version. The M95 has been produced until 1970:

Three screws fix the chrono module to the base movement (likewise the Chronomatic Cal.11):

The serial number (correctly stamped between the lugs and inside the caseback) is 267, this means that not many samples have been produced (someone tells less than 1000):

Inside the caseback is stamped the reference number 95-704-541

The caseback has the typical Movado logo, here in the engraved version (second version has instead the embossed logo), here with a protective sticker (don’t know if it is the original one but I assume it is judging by the old glue all around):

Marked crown:

Another particularity of this first version is the two sub-dial hands with the typical “kriss” shape and the sexagesimal scale on the dial:

This watch (that is this movement) has the particularity to have the chrono start/stop button at 4 and the reset button at 2 (while the Zenith HP146 movement is the opposite, as usual happens). Some models were produced with the tachy fixed bezel, some others with the rotating bezel (mine has the bidirectional rotating one, rotating time indicator shows diving elapsed time):

Here a price list dated 1968:

Now next steps, before enjoying it, will be to find a proper strap (probably a 22mm Tropic one or a custom one) and then to send this beauty to the watchmaker for a complete overhaul.

Thanks to all of you for your patience if you arrived until here :-)

Best.

Gianluca