Occasionally, someone will walk into my Midtown watch repair shop with a timepiece that is like stepping back in time. And when it’s a Zodiac, I always smile. Zodiac watches were born in a time when “tough” didn’t mean digital, waterproof meant tested in the ocean, and style meant you just didn’t care what anyone else was wearing.
During the 1960s, the Zodiac Sea Wolf was the watch for young Americans going abroad — particularly soldiers off to fight in the Vietnam War. It was rugged, dependable, and affordable, which made it as close to a standard-issue dive watch as you could get without an official stamp. I’ve had vets haul them in, still ticking (well, barely) after fifty years of mud, sand and jet fuel. You don’t get that kind of loyalty with a smartwatch.
The American Connection’: Edward Trauner, Inc.
Here’s a little history that few people are aware of. A man named Edward Trauner was running the U.S. distribution for Zodiac watches. His business, Edward Trauner, Inc., was based in midtown Manhattan — 521 Fifth Avenue, to be precise — at a time when that area was the heart of American luxury. He later set up shop at 1212 Avenue of the Americas, from which Trauner developed his nationwide connections.
Thanks to Mr. Trauner, Zodiac watches found resonance among American consumers. They found their way to PXs and military bases where service members could actually afford one. That is how Zodiac became a household name. They were found on the wrists of people who took those watches into hell and back again.
When Zodiac Nearly Died
Trauner died in 1976, and shortly thereafter, the entire Swiss watch industry drove headlong into a buzzsaw that we now know as the “Quartz Crisis.” In plain English, the Japanese developed battery-powered quartz watches that kept the time perfectly, at a fraction of the cost of Swiss watches. All of a sudden, nobody wanted to wind a watch. Swiss mechanical names like Zodiac began falling like dominoes.
It wasn’t a “crisis” — it was a massacre. Many awesome companies went out of business. Even many collectors thought the mechanical art of watchmaking was going to die when everyone started buying $10 quartz movements at the mall.
Zodiac’s Resurrection
But it would prove impossible to keep the Zodiac name buried. (It has since been resurrected, and while Swiss-made is still very much a rebellious brand at heart, proud of its dive-watch origins. They’re chronicling modern interpretations of their classics — Sea Wolf, Super Sea Wolf, Astrographic — using in-house movements and maintaining dimensions proportional to the originals. Of course, I am a fan of vintage Zodiacs, and I am known as the go-to watch repair shop for vintage Zodiac watch repairs here in New York, NY.
If you have a vintage Zodiac — perhaps your dad’s, or one you pulled from a dusty drawer — please wear it. These watches can live again. I rebuild and service all the old Zodiac models: Sea Wolf, Super Sea Wolf, Astrographic, Aerospace GMT, etc.
Whether it’s a simple cleaning or requires a full rebuild, I can get that movement humming again. Because, after all, these watches weren’t born to be museum pieces. They were made be worn on the “cool kids’” arms.
Don’t let your Zodiac whither and fade away. Keep it ticking, and maintain a little of that Swinging Sixties cool on your wrist.Contact me for New York City Zodiac watch repair, and let’s share history together.