Ever heard of the Zodiac ‘Sea Wolf’? Following the publication of my article debunking Blancpain’s baseless claim of the ‘Fifty Fathoms’ being the first modern dive watch, a number of readers were surprised I did not mention the Zodiac ‘Sea Wolf’ from 1953 with a single word. I must admit, the quirky Zodiac was never on my radar and neither was I aware of the 1953 claim. A quick search in ‘The Watch Library’, my favourite online database for all things vintage watches, brought to light the ‘Sea Wolf’ was not presented at the Basel Watch Fair in 1953 as perpetuated by Hoodwinkee and co., but only five years later in 1958. As with the now disputed Blancpain ‘Fifty Fathoms’, there is no evidence to substantiate the 1953 claim but lots of proof to the contrary.
Presented at the Basel Watch Fair 1958
Originally founded in 1882 in Le Locle, Switzerland, Zodiac went bankrupt in late 1997. In October 2001, the brand name was acquired by the American Fossil Group. Today the watches are produced by STP/STC in Switzerland. On their website, Zodiac claims the ‘Sea Wolf’ was introduced in 1953:
1953
The Zodiac Sea Wolf arrives — one of the first serious diver watches manufactured for the masses.
As a Zodiac retailer, Hoodwinkee must follow suit:
“Zodiac was on the forefront of dive watches with the release of the Super Sea Wolf in 1953,…”
Source: Zodiac (shop.hodinkee.com)
Always on Hoodwinkee:
While the Rolex Submariner wouldn’t make its official debut until the 1954 fair, two other brands proudly introduced their divers in ’53: Blancpain with its Fifty Fathoms and Zodiac with the Sea Wolf.
Source: A Week on the Wrist – The Zodiac Sea Wolf (hodinkee.com)
These are bold claims, considering it puts the watch in terms of date of development on par with legends like the Rolex ‘Submariner’ and the now disputed Blancpain ‘Fifty Fathoms’. If we search The Watch Library, there is no mention of a ‘Sea Wolf’ in 1953, and neither is there in 1954, nor 1955 or 1956. The earliest result is from late 1957 and is a Zodiac double page advert for the Zodiac ‘Pharaon’ published in the Swiss Horology Journal No. 11-12 (November-December 1957) in which the ‘Seawolf’ is mentioned in passing together with other Zodiac models. A far more revealing mention was published in the May-June 1958 edition (No. 3) of the same journal which discussed the trends at the Basel Watch Fair 1958. On page 324/325 it says:
Voici les frabricants qui ont pénétre cette année dans le domaine sous-marin:
- Enicar, avec une montre nommée “Sherpa-Dive”
- Omega, avec la “Seamaster 300”, version renforcée de la fameuse montre de sport Seamaster
- Eterna, avec sa montre “Kon-Tiki”. Bien que n’ayant pas d’indicateur de réserve de marche, la “Kon-Tiki” résiste à la pression correspondant à 220 mètres de fond
- Zodiac, avec son modèle “Sea-Wolf”
- Léonidas présente une montre de plogeur qui est en même temps un chronographe. C’est là certainement une pièce unique en son genre
Translation: Here are the manufacturers who entered the underwater sector this year:
- Enicar, with a watch named “Sherpa-Dive”
- Omega, with the “Seamaster 300”, a reinforced version of the famous Seamaster sports watch
- Eterna, with their watch “Kon-Tiki”. Although it does not have a rotating bezel, the “Kon-Tiki” withstands the pressure corresponding to a depth of 220 meters.
- Zodiac, with their model “Sea-Wolf”
- Léonidas presents a diver’s watch that is also a chronograph. This is certainly a piece that is unique in its category.
Source: Swiss Horology Journal No. 3, May-June 1958, page 325 (watchlibrary.com)
“Manufacturers who entered the underwater sector this year.” That is pretty compelling. It becomes evident the ‘Sea Wolf’ was only presented to the public at the Basel watch fair in 1958. However, new watch models were sometimes soft-lauchend months earlier. This appears to have been the case with the ‘Sea Wolf’. That is why there was a mention of the watch in late 1957. More on this later.
On page 421 of the same Swiss Horology Journal No. 3 edition, the Zodiac ‘Sea Wolf’ was finally depicted in a photo, next to a picture of the Zodiac display from 1958. The watch in the photo looks nothing like the watches claimed to be from 1953. Notable is also the peculiar ‘countdown’ rotating bezel and of course the awkward crocodile leather strap for a watch meant for diving.
“Sous le signe du zodiaque, la fabrique du même nom présente ses plus attachants créations. Parmi celle-ci, relevons la montre pour plongeurs. Zodiac Seawolf, automatique et étanche jusque’à une profondeur de 100 m.”
Translation: Under the sign of the zodiac, the factory of the same name presents its most endearing creations. Among these, highlighting the watch for divers. Zodiac Seawolf, automatic and waterproof to a depth of 100 m (330 ft).
Link: Swiss Horology Journal No. 3, May-June 1958, page 421 (watchlibrary.com)
Another picture of the Zodiac ‘Sea Wolf’ was published in the ‘Revue Internationale de l’Horlogerie’ from March 1958. Coincidentally, the Zodiac sits right next to the famed Eterna ‘KonTiki’. It was often claimed the ‘KonTiki’ copied the dial of the ‘Sea Wolf’ but as we can see on this page, when both watches were introduced in 1958, the ‘Sea Wolf’ had a completely different dial. If you google ‘Zodiac Sea Wolf 1953’, one has to scroll for a long time until a first generation ‘Sea’Wolf’ pops up. Most of the results show the second generation of the model (claimed to be from 1953) which was only introduced in 1959/60 and was water resistant to 660 ft/200 m, making clear how little knowledge there is on this matter. The first generation of the ‘Sea Wolf’ was only water tight to 330 ft/100m.
Zodiac a créé la montre « Seawolf », à l’intention du plongeur, et en collaboration avec le laboratoire du commandant Cousteau. Etanchéité garantie à une profondeur de 100 mètres. Lunette tournante, divisée dans le sense inverse des aiguilles et permettant de mesurer avec la plus haute précision le temps de plongée.
Translation: Zodiac created the “Sea Wolf” for the diver, and in collaboration with Commander Cousteau’s laboratory. Guaranteed watreproofing to a depth of 100 meters. Rotating bezel, divided counterclockwise and allowing diving time to be measured with the highest precision.
Source: Revue internationale de l’horlogerie, March 1958, page 39 (watchlibrary.org)
The claim the ‘Sea Wolf’ was developed in collaboration with the laboratory of Commander Cousteau is also quite interesting. Not sure what the idea behind that peculiar ‘countdown’ rotating bezel was but it does not strike me as a concept coming from the highly experienced Cousteau team. Obviously it was not a great idea as it was quickly discontinued.
‘Sea Wolf’ Trademark
The ‘Sea Wolf’ trademark was first registered in Switzerland on September 12, 1955 as can be seen in the following trademark registration document from 1961 issued by the United States Patent Office document which was discovered by the amazing Nick Gould (IG: @niccoloy).
It is interesting to note that the above document does not state when the trademark was first used as in other trademark registrations. Given the date of the Swiss registration, can we assume Zodiac began thinking about their own diver watch following the presentation of the first copy of the Rolex ‘Submariner’, the Blancpain ‘Fifty Fathoms’, at the Basel Watch Fair in 1955? I think we can.
Early Advertisements
The earliest Zodiac ‘Sea Wolf’ advertisement so far was found in the ‘Star Gazette’ newspaper of Elmira, New York in the United States. It dates from October 17, 1957. As mentioned earlier, new watch models were sometimes soft-launched months before the official presentation. This ad is proof this was the case for the Zodiac ‘Sea Wolf’.
Update April 30, 2024
It was brought to my attention that the Zodiac ‘Sea Wolf’ was mentioned as a new product as early as late August 1957. I found a slightly earlier mention from August 13, 1957 in the American newspaper ‘The Daily Advance’ from Lynchburg, Virginia. The report was according to Zodiac Watch Co., New York.
The following ‘Sea Wolf’ ad from September 19, 1958 was published in an American newspaper named ‘The Wings’ based in Hoopeston, Illinois. Note the ’10 Atm’ designation on the dial in lieu of the typical ‘Sea Wolf’ logo. For some reason, some versions of the ‘Sea Wolf’ did not bear the model name.
Update March 10, 2024
Some ‘Sea Wolf’ enthusiasts believe these ’10 Atm’ labeled watches were the very first version of the ‘Sea Wolf’ and that it is possible they were introduced in 1953. First of all, there is no mention of such a watch from Zodiac in 1953 and if we look at the date of the above ad, it is from late 1958. I came across an original invoice of one of these ’10 Atm’ labeled pieces and the sale date was October 20, 1958.
Update March 15, 2024
There was a second Swiss watch company that registered the trademark ‘Seawolf’, named Basis Watch, A. Thommen from Tecknau, Switzerland. The most plausible explanation for the existence of ’10 Atm’ labeled Zodiac dive watches is that there was a dispute over the trademark following the official presentation of the Zodiac ‘Sea Wolf’ at the Basel Watch Fair in May 1958. During the litigation, none of the parties were allowed to brand their products with the disputed trademark.
It is further interesting to note that Zodiac did not introduce their logo symbol consisting of cross and circle until mid 1954. For this reason alone, ’10 Atm’ labeled watches cannot be from 1953 as they clearly feature the logo symbol on the dials.
The next ad was published in the Swiss Horology Journal No. 5 from September-October 1959. It shows the second generation Zodiac ‘Sea Wolf’ with typical triangles dial and a depth rating of 330ft/200m. These kinds of watches are often claimed to be from 1953 but as you can see, they were only introduced in 1959.
Source: Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie No. 5, November-December 1959, page 556 (watchlibrary.org)
Update March 15, 2024
An earlier publication of the above adverisement (almost identical) can be found in the Swiss journal ‘La Suisse Horlogère’ from July 1959.
Source: Ad Zodiac Sea Wolf, La Suisse Horlogère (watchlibrary.org)
In the same journal, the second generation ‘Sea Wolf’ is depicted in an article named ‘La mesure du temps et les activités de l’homme’ (The measurement of time and the activities of man).
Source: La mesure du temps et les activités de l’homme, La Suisse Horlogère (watchlibrary.com)
It has further come to light that the second generation ‘Sea Wolf’ was advertised in the United States as early as June 18, 1959 (Take-Off’ Tinker Air Force Base publication, Oklahoma City) while on March 19, 1959, in the same publication, they still advertised the old ‘Sea Wolf’ model labeled ’10 Atm’ (as seen above from September 1958).
Thoughts
There you have it. Brands, just like most auction houses and the majority of watch dealers, cannot be trusted with telling the truth. Lying is systemic in this industry. It is not a new phenomenon though. A neighbour of mine, a Swiss gentleman who retired to Malaysia in the early 2000s, worked for several decades in the Swiss watch industry. He knew many of the big names personally, Jack Heuer and Ives Piaget for instance. The amount of lies the industry unleashed on their customers back in the day is unbelievable. We laughed so hard when he recounted the old stories. Seriously, if Blancpain (and Zodiac) did not claim they created the first modern dive watches, nobody would buy those hideous modern watches. The desirability is clearly attached to the legend they created, a false legend as we know now.
The ‘Sea Wolf’ fairy tale is just another one of those stories the mainstream watch media took at face value from a brand without doing proper research. As with other exposés of mine, it will be interesting to see which watch blogs will revise their incorrect articles. Watch “journalism” seems to lack the humility to admit when they were wrong, or they have been paid to write all the nonsense and of course, their loyalty belongs to the ones that put bread on the table and certainly not the readers. Readers are just numbers, which they can brag about to ask for more money for advertising. The simple truth is, most mainstream watch media “journalists” are not qualified to write about vintage watches and their histories. What they mostly do is copy/paste press releases. Any writer has got to know his limitations. Research in horology is hard work as lots of information went lost over time. Sometimes you have let interesting stories rest, and wait until the answers find you. Those not willing to put in the necessary work should perhaps simply stay away from writing about things they have no knowledge about. “Cobbler, stick to your last!”
Thank you for your interest.
Read more: Debunking the Fictitious History of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms
Vintage Rolex and other iconic timepieces under the loupe at Perezcope 
I never even knew anyone was claiming the Seawolf was a 1953 watch. It’s defintely later, as evidenced here. Still one of the classic early divers mind you.
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Another excellent article from the master watch researcher. ”The simple truth is, most mainstream watch media “journalists” are not qualified to write about vintage watches and their histories.” This is unfortunately the case for most mainstream journalists who are nothing more than glorified copy/paste artists and are simple too lazy or too embedded in the system to do any serious research. Next up the 4113 myth debunked? 😎Sooo looking forward to your take on this.
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Rolex use the 4113 model number for an elongated tonneau (or rounded rectangular) Cellini, so it’s always confused me why they would use the same model number for an entirely different watch ??? My guess is more Space dweller type shenanigans.
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interesting. Thanks. I once bought a zodiac sea Wolf from a watchmaker in the Caribbean for $70! Those were the days.
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would be interesting to research Cousteau’s correspondance and the archives of companies he owned (Aqua lung La Spirotechnique etc…) to establish a chronology of his watch “partnerships” over the years (Blancpain, Doxia, Zodiac, Auricoste, Triton, etc). So Rolex was probably first and by 1958, micro brands and even big ones jumped on the concept as best they could. Sounds like a “steel watch with integrated bracelet and a blue dial” story… nothing changed …😅
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Hello Jose, the correct dates for the sea wolf and Zodiac story have already been published in the French version of the Zodiac story on wikipedia https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_(montre) KR, Joel
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Thank you for your comment. They say production started in 1955 but that is unlikely. The watch was soft launched in late 1957.
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Production does not mean marketing. 2 years to develop a diving watch is plausible. It’s like the Rolex Oyster Perpetual, patented in 1931 but launched in 1933. But I agree that the Seawolf was not marketed in 1955.
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To me, especially with that weird countdown bezel, the Sea Wolf looks like a shot from the hip. I doubt too much planning went into it. My gut feeling is that it was hastily developed in 1957.
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I’ve seen the triangle (pizza slice) indexes on many watches – but who was the first watch brand to use them? Was it Eterna?
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Great investigative watch journalism once again. It seems that the industry and maybe even most consumers prefer fabricated myth over the hard and sometime boring truth.
Personally, I wouldn’t be so harsh on current generations Sea Wolf’s – They are pretty close in design to the 50s/60s models and target the budget market, where most buyers don’t really care about the myths.
For me, the fact this watch was a favorite among Vietnam War GI’s gives it more important glory for being tough, affordable and reliable – similar as Willard Seikos, O&W Caribbeans and, yes, Rolex Subs.
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