Talismanic

I know I have a type (30mm 1940s sub-second 15J mechanical Swiss jobber), but that wasn’t always the case. For a long period of time around 10-12 years ago I was obsessed with vintage “divers and drivers” as I used to call them. I had a mad Orient phase, I bought a rare Scuba Amfibia from the factory and wore it daily, and a pin-pallet rabbit-hole that thankfully I more or less managed to climb out of.

I was browsing eBay one Sunday, late, full of red wine and Chinese takeout, and I remember when I first saw her… a Talis Skin Diver from the 1960s. Shark mesh bracelet. Silver dial. 25J. Incabloc. I put a decent bid on her (£80), she went for around £96.52 at the buzzer. Sniped.

I was gutted.

I never forgot that watch.

About 3-4 months later, I saw this on another auction. Lovely blue dial instead, crappy strap, a little more beaten than the other, but no bids. £35. It was the easiest decision.

SO yes – a 1960s Talis Skin Diver, with a blue dial. What would you call it – marine blue?

Talis are an odd brand, again there is not much online, but they are quite cool. Talis Watch Co. seems to have started in 1916 as a partnership between James Reichenberg and Samuel Norman Burgess. Talis Watch is a trademark registered to Reichenberg & Co in 1916, and Talis seems to be registered to The Talis Watch Co. from 1917 – 1937 AND to Reichenberg & Co Ltd. in 1962.

Reichenberg & Co was an established company based at 7 Hatton Garden, London, founded in 1899 by James Reichenberg. Reichenberg retired in 1925, and the business was continued by Burgess until his death in 1938. Reichenberg & Co were makers of carriage clocks, and were authorised distributors of many bands, including Girard-Perregaux.

The brand name was mysteriously resurrected in the 1960s (1962 as per above?), and the watches could be purchased through catalogues in the UK; it is widely believed that Burgess’s widow was responsible for this reboot. Sadly, not much information is available from beyond this point, but I believe there are sightings of digital watches as late as 1982 in a Kays catalogue… I remember taking a dead one to my watch guy (many might remember that episode) and him muttering “ooh… a Talis”. He has a poker face most days, but that was an outburst I didn’t expect. I pressed him further, but he had moved on.

This watch is clearly quite large for a 1960s watch: 38mm wide without the crown (41mm with), 39mm lug to lug. Strap is 18mm. The case itself is steel-plated, with a stainless steel back. With the acrylic glass, it’s 11mm thick, surprisingly slim for this sort of watch. The watch is rated for 100m water resistance, and is marked as “Waterproof” on the dial – it’s not anymore, but it seems quite solid.

The movement is interesting – 25J Automatic Incabloc… popping the back reveals an unsigned ETA 2472. This is a pretty common movement that was used between 1963-1971, decent enough.

Dr Ranfft says:

Automatic, sweep second, date: set by changing 20:30-24:00h
11.5”’, Dm= 25.6mm, Do= 26.0mm
H= 5.3mm
F= 1.4mm
T= 1.85mm
17/21/25 jewels
f = 18000 A/h
power reserve 42h

This places the watch probably around the mid-1960s. How is it holding up today – yes, it probably needs a service, it loses around 2-3 minutes as it loses power, and I think the reserve is around 24 hours. It’s probably a lot worse now than when I first had it, but hey, that’s understandable.

The dial – relatively clean, lovely blue, it has a lacquer-y type of finish rather than brushed or sunburst, so it doesn’t really sing like others I have. The white text on the blue is quite difficult to pick out under certain light conditions, but it is 60 years old, what do you want from it. There is a slight “pie-pan“ to the dial, a subtle curve, not like the sharp and ultra-desirable Omega pie-pans, but it’s understated. The handset is a bit… meh, although I like the little arrow on the sweep seconds hand, I think it’s cute. The indices are just simpler rectangular lume strips, it’s not brilliant, but they extend across the curve of the mini-pie-pan, so they are in proportion to the rest of the watch. The lume though, still decent; you get a little bit of glow after a day in the sun, so this MUST have been reapplied at some point.

The bezel – bi-directional, smooth, no clicks. Lume pip clearly long gone (maybe like a Pelagos it fell off underwater). It has black paint that has somehow survived all this time and the abuse I’ve subjected the watch to. The bezel itself is very thin, around 1.5mm, and with a slight serrated edge, its difficult to grab at times and you will need to use a nail to start moving it. It also wobbles a little, so there is a little bit of numeral drift. Slightly annoying. 
 

So… it’s probably quite average. You might even call it unremarkable. That’s fine, I sort of agree. This watch does mean something to me though as it is one of the first vintage divers I bought that I feel I got it “just right” – good movement, nice size, reliable (to an extent), comfortable, rugged. If it looks familiar, the you might remember back in the Luminox article I revealed that I also travel with this watch: this watch has been with me on every trip for over ten years. It started with numerous Arctic excursions (Iceland, Finland, Norway/Russia, Sweden, Greenland, Canada), and it’s gone into the depths of numerous rainforests and up various mountains. From -35 to +40*C, it has kept decent time, and kept up. It struggles with the humidity, but so do I. It’s survived animal attack, trips, falls, submersion. It’s seen Northern Lights and Solar Eclipses, and I love this watch dearly. If I’m travelling, this watch was the first on the wrist along with the Gulfmaster running as a GMT in the roll. Alas, the Luminox ensured it retired from service.

So, what would this be worth? I think £35 was a good price. I probably wouldn’t pay more than £50 for one in this condition, I certainly wouldn’t want to pay more. I think a service would be in the region of £180-£200, and whilst I don’t think it would be one that deserved that as an investment (the case isn’t great, the dial a little bland) as there is a lot of sentiment tied into this watch, I’d willingly see her fixed if she eventually broke down.