1970s Zodiac Astrographic SST 'Mystery Dial' Automatic 882-963
Ref: 882-963
Specification
Lugs : 24mm
Condition : Pre-Owned
Box & Papers : None
Case Material : Stainless Steel
Warranty : 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty
Points of Mention
This watch is sold as "Watch Only" and, therefore, comes with no original Zodiac box or original Zodiac paperwork. The watch comes paired with its original 24mm Zodiac signed stainless steel bracelet with a folding clasp and will fit up to a 7.1-inch wrist. The watch is from Circa. 1970s and sold in worn but fair condition, with a few scratches on the crystal, as you can see. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.
For more photos see here - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rjk5rzSnYBoN23-dsZDwDagvdmGApA3q?usp=drive_link
4K YouTube video, skip to 10:07 - https://youtu.be/1bA13ZVSwjg
The Watch
Here we have an amazing example of a 1970s Zodiac Astrographic SST 'Mystery Dial' Automatic 882-963 with its distinctive 36mm TV-shaped rectangular stainless steel case. The case shape hides the lugs with a case thickness of 12mm and a lug-to-lug length of 41.5mm, giving the watch an impressive wrist presence. On the right side is a signed crown. A TV-shaped crystal sits above a sunburst blue dial. The outer minute track has lume plots marking the hours precisely painted. At 12 o’clock, a framed date window. In the centre, we have the Zodiac motif with the illusionary hands and sweeping second hand on a rotating disc that appears to float around the dial. Text on the dial consists of “Zodiac Automatic” and “Astrographic SST” printed in white. Zodiac designed this style of the dial to reflect “two satellites and a fiery red moon”, which can be seen in their advertising of the time. On the reverse is a screw-down case back, inside an automatic Zodiac Cal. 88D, 36,000 beats per hour. It has hacking and a quick set date function by repeatedly pushing in of the crown, the automatic mechanism was a joint development of Doxa, Eberhard, Favre-Leuba, Girard-Perregaux, and Zodiac. The watch comes fitted on its original Zodiac 24mm chunky brushed stainless steel bracelet with a signed folding clasp.
Personal Note
If you have visited our appointment-only office in Clerkenwell, London you'll see many photos on the walls of different watches and one of them is one of these awesome Zodiac Astrographic's with their epic 'Mystery Dial'. This reference 882-963 features an amazing deep blue dial in an unapologetically 1970s case and this continues on to its original Zodiac bracelet, which is surprisingly comfortable on the wrist. As a collector who owns and enjoys many watches from this era, this is a hard one to beat. So snap it up today before I consider how to keep this one!
The Brand
Zodiac was founded in 1882 by Ariste Calame. Their headquarters can be found in Locle, Switzerland. The name Zodiac was patented in 1908 when he started to manufacture wristwatches. In 1953, we saw the introduction of the Sea Wolf, one of the first commercial purpose-built dive watches. On October 1, 2001, Fossil Inc. purchased the worldwide rights to the Zodiac brand name for approximately $4.7 million.