Bitten by the fashion for integrated bracelets and by the vintage of the 70s, I started looking for a Tissot PR 516 (we know very well because of whom on this platform).
On the other hand, I was a little put off by the small announced diameter of 33mm of the watch.
During my research I turned to the GL ranges (grand Luxe) whose diameter is larger (36mm) and which offers indexes arranged on a levitating insert above the dial. This very original device gives depth to the dial.
And then I come across this PR 526 GL which is the iteration of the 516 from the end of the second half of the 70s from what I read here and there. Compared to its elder, the 526 benefits from a chamfer on the indexes which makes it a little more chic than sporty (subtle). There are also a few more finishing constraints on the dial. This is what attracted me to this model: the blue-green dial, the orange hand and the cosmetic condition of the watch in general. However, I have a small question mark for this dial whose logo is simply printed and not applied, as well as the absence of an insert around the date and day windows... I don't think it's a fake but perhaps a way to save money during the quartz crisis. I don't know. The three-link bracelet gives it a muscular look and brings a nice presence to the wrist.
As for the mechanism, nothing to complain about; Tissot caliber 2940 (Omega 1022 base) very well adjusted.
An original, affordable watch from a historic watch brand that has its place in the pantheon of chic sports watches alongside the giants that are the Royal Oak or the Nautilus.

She has everything a big girl needs

The Seiko 6139-6002 called "Pogue" takes its name from the astronaut William Pogue who took his personal watch on the Sky Lab 4 mission in 1973. It is the first automatic chronograph to have gone into space and the 6139 movement developed by Seiko is perhaps the first automatic chronograph to have been invented at the turn of the years 1969-1970 (There is an eternal debate on this point between Seiko, Zenith and Tag Heuer). Recognizable by its famous sunray honey-colored dial, the "Pogue" is in my opinion the most iconic of the 6139 range, all absolutely superb with their so 70's design. I love the case shape with its integrated crown, its pepsi bezel, the rotating insert and of course the dial which are all markers of an era. My Seiko dates from 1974, perfectly restored, it is my first beautiful vintage. With this watch I discovered a typical vintage thing, the sound of the metal bracelet which rings in a very specific way when you handle your watch. A watch that belongs as much to the history of watchmaking as to Pop Culture.

Seiko 6139-6002 "Pogue". Fashion effect and true icon?

It just happens to you. You want to see how it works and it's a disaster. Many amateur watchmakers remember opening their first watch and it often ends badly. This is the story of this Seiko whose case I decided one day to open and clean the dial. Result: I ruined the movement and wrecked the dial. I broke this watch that was perfectly functional. A little ashamed, I left it in a corner, swearing to myself that I would repair it one day. That was 5 years ago. And then I ended up restoring it quite recently. I reassembled the movement, replaced the defective parts, found a beautiful original dial. And here it is back, perhaps more beautiful than before! I love these Seikos from the 70s. A beautiful 37mm diameter with a thin bezel that offers a beautiful opening of the dial. I also appreciate the integrated crown which gives a pleasant roundness to the case. The silver tint of the sunray dial goes very well with the date disc. The case is also very thin despite an automatic movement.
I really like this little watch that I always wear with pleasure

Renaissance Vintage

The ultimate field watch, the Sinn 556 is a robust, precise and uncompromising tool watch. The sleek design of the 556A fully contributes to this impression of efficiency. In terms of specifications, we are on safe values, even proven: sapphire crystal, 200m water resistance with screwed and protected crown, anti-magnetism and above all unbeatable readability! The large Arabic numerals 3, 6, 9 and 12 in white on a matte black background and the white hands allow an almost instantaneous reading of the time. The date window is very discreet, almost invisible if we compare the size of the font to that of the hour numerals. The design of the hands is particularly successful, with their black bases they seem to float on the dial. I also appreciate its contained diameter of 38.5mm which gives it a certain discretion. In short, a versatile watch but whose charm strangely lies in its simplicity or even its rigor. A daily watch that is very likely to remain stuck to my wrist!

Sinn 556A: the perfect field

The Meistersinger N01 is the brand's basic model with zero complications.
A single white hand to read the time on a black dial with white indexes drawn every 5 minutes. No date. Suffice to say that not much happens on the dial... And that's fine. It's a watch that gives the time roughly when you need it. No more.
However, the watch is very precise with its ETA 2804 hand-wound movement. Beautifully decorated, it is visible from an open back, essential to know if the watch is working in the absence of a market indicator on the dial side.
The case, with a polished bezel and brushed sides, is 38mm in diameter and is, for me, much more easily wearable than the brand's standard 43mm. Unfortunately, I believe that Meistersinger no longer produces the N01 in 38mm.
It is a watch that I hold very dear, which has accompanied me through important moments in my life, and which, through its unique nature of telling the time, reminds me of a very personal relationship with time.

Less is more

The trend is towards reissues among watchmakers. Zenith is no exception to the rule with the release of the Defy or Pilote models. However, vintage or period models offer the advantage of greater authenticity but also the vagaries of time. The brand having clearly positioned itself in the luxury sector since its takeover by LVMH, prices have soared. Oddly enough (and fortunately) Zenith vintages do not seem to be too affected by this trend. At a lower cost, you can still find real gems! I stumbled upon this Zenith Respirator X by chance. I immediately appreciated the shape of the tonneau case, the deep blue hue of the dial, the finesse of the double indexes which echo the finesse and design of the hands from which the tritium has disappeared. The steel bracelet, designed by NSA for the watch, equipped with a clip buckle bearing the brand name, gives a nice presence to the wrist. A nice little vintage

Zenith Respirator X

March 18, 1965. Alexei Leonov performs the first extra-vehicular spacewalk. On his wrist, a Strela chronograph, the watch issued to Soviet Air Force officers. Since this historic episode, the Russian chronograph has acquired a certain notoriety quickly eclipsed by the lunar success of Omega's Speedmaster. I discovered the Strela at the turn of the 2010s through the constant reissues of this watch. Equipped with the famous P3133 movement developed by Poljot, direct heir to the Venus 3017 that equipped Leonov's chrono, the watch retains an incomparable authenticity. There are many variations of the Strela, black dial, white dial, 38 to 42mm case, syringe or sword hands, Cyrillic or Western writing, you will definitely find THE Strela that suits you. I still think that you should prefer the P3133 movement or more recent Seagull economic package but less authentic. My Strela is a model that could be described as "heritage" close to the original model in 38mm format, magnificent white dial. Only big flaw, the imitation denim strap simply filthy. Watch that I love. A real journey through time

Strela Chronograph 38mm

Found at a flea market for €20, this little diver with a typically 70s design immediately caught my eye. It was in a bad way given its initial cosmetic condition: dirty, dull, scratched plexiglass. But something attracts me. I wind the crown. It turns (it is a manual winding). I turn the hands. The date display works and the hands are well aligned. A little cleaning should be enough. We will see the condition of the movement and the precision later.
Disassembly, cleaning. After many difficulties I open the case back: the movement is very clean. I work hard on the plexiglass with the Polywatch. I change the dirty rally bracelet for an old metal bracelet that I had in stock, and here is the little watch that comes back to life and will end up in my collection.
It is by wearing it that I discover it.
Despite its tried and tested design, which can be found on many divers from this era, I love the chromatic details of this watch: the copper insert of the rotating bezel, the green and red hues of the dial and indexes, red that can be found on the numbers of the date disc. All this was obviously well thought out by someone fifty years ago and remains very pleasant to look at today. For precision? Do we really have to be within 2 minutes when we wear this kind of watch (I don't).
Forgotten watch from a forgotten brand ... Not for everyone after all.

A simple happiness

The ideal holiday watch. For less than €200 we have here an automatic watch, waterproof to 200m with screw-down crown. It is a real adventurer with its indestructible Miyota series 8 movement which proves to be quite precise. I had been looking for a diver's watch for quite some time for my collection but I didn't want to break the bank either. I hesitated a lot with the Mako 3 from Orient with which this watch is often put in competition in this price range. The advantage of the Orient is its sapphire crystal while the Citizen has a simple mineral crystal. What made me prefer the Promaster to its competitor is its design which I find more original. I particularly like its slightly "roots" notched bezel and I really like the integration of the date and day windows with a black background on a black dial. A little coquettishness, the crown at eight o'clock gives a really unique look to this diver's watch. The luminova is generous on the indexes and hands and proves to be very effective. A small Tropic instead of the silicone strap and off we go on an adventure! I was lucky enough to find this Promaster reference NY0040-09EE for less than €160 which is just unbeatable in terms of quality/price ratio. 
Made in Japan as we like it!

Citizen Promaster, everywhere and anywhere

Classically designed, this three-hand watch with date is ideal for starting a collection. Mainly intended for the northern European market, the Certina brand, belonging to the Swatch Group, is more confidential in France than Hamilton or Tissot for watches in this category. I discovered the DS1 model (and the Certina brand) in I don't know which annual watch magazine from the 2010s and I was seduced by its design (at the time I only swore by black dial watches in a dress style... I have since broadened my spectrum). I chose it with a leather strap with a folding clasp. What I really like about this watch is the proportions of the case with a fairly thin bezel that gives a nice presence to the matte black dial. I also like the design of the dial without numbers, just with the raised indexes. The finishes are very correct, we are on classic Swiss Made: Sapphire glass, open back on the movement with a nice treatment of the oscillating weight in black PVD which recalls the color of the dial. In the end a very endearing little watch to use the words of Maxime who had presented it during a Dual Time on the channel.

A very good choice to start a collection

Here are my favorite chronographs from the Soviet era given to the Aviator Officers and the Navy Officers (with another caliber that had the hack stop second but equal to the 3133). The 3133 is the descendant in some way of the 3017 of the famous Strela first watch worn in space during extra vehicular activity. The 3133 is a Valjoux 7734 with a few more jewels and great reliability added to what it already was! Here are some of my models

Les navigators, Ocean 3133

In 1980, tritium in watches was commonplace so since this watch is Russian and from an unlikely era, I imagine that the luminescent material is highly more radioactive... and I like it. It looks like a pressure gauge from a nuclear power plant with its arrow indexes and crude hands. I am lucky enough to own the model with Poljot written in Cyrillic which, for sure, gives it power and makes this watch work as soon as I pick it up. It commands all eyes with its resemblance to a Tag Formula One from the same era. Its bakelite bezel and its typical shape of the fifties divers recalls the Blancpain except that my Полёт is not water resistant to fifty Phatoms and dates from the eighties. An automatic 2616.2H movement animates this improbable watch and it purrs. The strap provided with it, which is probably not the original one, is a leather strap that gives me a sado maso biker look... so I put a nato strap on it (Daniel Craig) to give me the appearance of a KGB agent infiltrating the English.

The Fifty Phatoms of the East

We would like such a beautiful watch to be automatic but Poljot equips almost all of its chronographs with the 3133 inspired by the famous Valjoux. Reliable and quite pretty, this movement allows this watch to be precise and relatively thin for the time, date, a chronograph and, a small manual function, a crown at 9 o'clock that turns a bezel with a second time zone under the sapphire crystal. It is a replica limited to 300 copies of a Russian naval officer's watch from the 80s.

I call this watch The Masked Clown because of the blue that cuts the dial and the red hands. I like it because it has the face of a Russian Speedmaster or the Universal Genève Compax Exotic that is impossible to have.

That's exactly what's good about the Poljot brand! Rare elegant watches that seem to be worth 20,000 bucks but that remain totally accessible.

For a sailor's watch, it could be waterproof to 30+ meters because its waterproofing keeps me from taking it to the beach and on adventures. The straps provided by Poljot are beautiful but of poor quality. If I could find a gray one, as beautiful but a little more resistant to time, that would be great.

The Russian watch for officers.

La marque Ollech &amp; Wajs a &eacute;t&eacute; cr&eacute;&eacute;e en 1956 par Joseph Ollech et Albert Wajs &agrave; Zurich en Suisse. Albert &eacute;tait charg&eacute; de la conception, de l&rsquo;ing&eacute;nierie et de la fabrication des montres, tandis que Joseph s&rsquo;occupait du marketing et de la vente au d&eacute;tail. Avant de cr&eacute;er leur propre montres sous la marque Ollech &amp; Wajs, ils ont commenc&eacute; leur activit&eacute; en 1954 en fabriquant des bracelets en acier pour d&rsquo;autres marques.
La marque est connue pour avoir distribu&eacute; des montres &agrave; des unit&eacute;s de l&rsquo;arm&eacute;e am&eacute;ricaine pendant la guerre du Vietnam et pour avoir gagn&eacute; sa renomm&eacute;e aupr&egrave;s des plongeurs et pilotes du monde entier.
Apr&egrave;s 12 ans de n&eacute;gociation et apr&egrave;s avoir &eacute;t&eacute; son distributeur pour le march&eacute; fran&ccedil;ais, en 2017, Charles Le Menestrel, un passionn&eacute; d&rsquo;horlogerie, rach&egrave;te la marque. La gamme actuelle comprend des mod&egrave;les comme la Ollech &amp; Wajs P-101 et la <a title="Page Ollech &amp; Wajs P-104" href="https://www.dialicious.com/ollech_&amp;_wajs/p-104">Ollech &amp; Wajs P-104</a>, la <a title="Page Ollech &amp; Wajs C-1000" href="https://www.dialicious.com/ollech_&amp;_wajs/c-1000">Ollech &amp; Wajs C-1000</a>, la <a title="Page Ollech &amp; Wajs Ocean Graph" href="https://www.dialicious.com/ollech_&amp;_wajs/ocean_graph">Ollech &amp; Wajs Ocean Graph</a> et la Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron.
<h2>Combien co&ucirc;te une montre Ollech &amp; Wajs ?</h2>
Les prix des montres Ollech &amp; Wajs &eacute;voluent et diff&egrave;rent selon les mod&egrave;les. La plupart co&ucirc;tent entre CHF 1,500 et CHF 2,000 selon les mod&egrave;les et les finitions. Comptez CHF 1,456 pour une Ollech &amp; Wajs 350CI et pr&egrave;s de CHF 2,300 pour une Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron Chronographe. Le march&eacute; de l'occasion est &eacute;galement une opportunit&eacute; &agrave; regarder pour acheter une Ollech &amp; Wajs moins ch&egrave;re. Les mod&egrave;les Vintage notamment les Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron et&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/ollech_&amp;_wajs/astrochron">Ollech &amp; Wajs Astrochron</a>, sont tr&egrave;s pris&eacute;es des collectionneurs et ils convient de bien se renseigner sur le vendeur avant de franchir le pas de l'acquisition d'une vintage.
Ollech &amp; Wajs est une marque de montres ind&eacute;pendante et produit plusieurs centaines de montres par an, tous mod&egrave;les confondus. Pour choisir une Ollech &amp; Wajs qui vous correspond le mieux,&nbsp;les avis clients Dialicious sont une pr&eacute;cieuse ressource pour &eacute;valuer chacun des diff&eacute;rents mod&egrave;les &agrave; travers l'exp&eacute;rience r&eacute;elle des clients.
Consultez le <a href="https://www.dialicious.com/top/les_meilleures_marques_de_montres_suisses">Classement des meilleures marques de montres suisses</a> dont Ollech &amp; Wajs fait partie.
(Mise &agrave; jour Octobre 2024)

The brand Ollech &amp; Wajs was created in 1956 by Joseph Ollech and Albert Wajs in Zurich, Switzerland. Albert was responsible for the design, engineering and manufacturing of the watches, while Joseph handled marketing and retail sales. Before creating their own watches under the brand Ollech &amp; Wajs, they started their business in 1954 making steel bracelets for other brands.
The brand is known for distributing watches to units of the American army during the Vietnam War and for having earned its reputation among divers and pilots around the world.
After 12 years of negotiations and after having been its distributor for the French market, in 2017, Charles Le Menestrel, a watchmaking enthusiast, bought the brand. The current range includes models like the Ollech &amp; Wajs P-101 and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/en/ollech_&amp;_wajs/p-104">Ollech &amp; Wajs P-104</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/en/ollech_&amp;_wajs/c-1000">Ollech &amp; Wajs C-1000</a>, the<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/en/ollech_&amp;_wajs/ocean_graph"> Ollech &amp; Wajs Ocean Graph</a> and the Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron.
<h2 dir="ltr">How much does an Ollech &amp; Wajs watch cost?</h2>
The prices of Ollech &amp; Wajs watches change and differ depending on the model. Most cost between CHF 1,500 and CHF 2,000 depending on the models and finishes. Expect to pay CHF 1,456 for an Ollech &amp; Wajs 350CI and close to CHF 2,300 for an Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron Chronograph. The second-hand market is also an opportunity to look at to buy a cheaper Ollech &amp; Wajs. Vintage models including the Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/en/ollech_&amp;_wajs/astrochron">Ollech &amp; Wajs Astrochron</a>, are very popular with collectors and they should find out about the seller before taking the step of purchasing a vintage one.
Ollech &amp; Wajs is an independent watch brand and produces several hundred watches per year, all models combined. To choose an Ollech &amp; Wajs that best suits you, Dialicious owners' reviews are a valuable resource for evaluating each of the different models through real owner experience.
Consult the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/en/top/the_best_swiss_watch_brands">Ranking of the best Swiss watch brands</a> of which Ollech &amp; Wajs is part.
(Updated October 2024)

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