...and in the new episode: 80s Darwil Quartz "Diver"



Diver is quoted by purpose. I do not think this little thing would find its way through depths of ocean. It has chromed case, snap on caseback, push crown...so it would probably live through the light rain and that is is it.

detailing on the watch shows it is one of the last runs of the Darwil factory from the 80ies, when it was certain that even low prices cant compete with avalanche of cheap eastern made quartz wristwatches. I know a guy who sold his Omega Ploprof and bought a digital Citizen in 80ies (oofcourse, he also bought a car from the money he got for Ploprof..but none the less)...now he kicks his ass all the time.

Ploprof would be today worth a small fortune, Citizen is long time gone in the trash bin and he sold car long time ago...


so...the Darwil: 37 mm, 18 mm lugs. bidirectional friction type narrow bezel.

case is actually nice. edges are polished and there is slight brush pattern on upper surfaces.





bezel is made of alluminum alloy, has painted markers and slight coind edge grip..and few bumps on edges. As said before, it is harder to find NOS Darwil than a good pork roast in Iran.

also dial is black and simple as it can be, with just a Darwil logo (with crown..I think they had some issues with Rolex at that time), minute markers and large tritium filled markers and also tritium filled hands.

tritium still glows btw, even in sunlight, there is slight greenish eerie hue, that reflects from polished inner edge of reinforced acrylic crystal..in the dark, it shines like butterfly from Chernobil but it swiftly fades away.






bracelet...well I have put it on bracelet from another Darwil, with unsigned buckle, and interesting "bullet" design. Also bracelet has proud "stainless steel AISI 304 16/10" engraving on buckle. whatever that means...




it wears as you would expect from vintage small wristwatch..very comfortable. I have had a lot of oversize watches in the past, but always feel better with undersize piece. It just does not get in our way on the wrist.

my wife calls them "granpa watches"..




overall: nice little diver style watch. Although detailing is not as good as on Darwils from the 50-60-70ies (printed dial, very shallow engraving on the caseback, more or less common movement...this one is run by common quartz movement...which interestingly hits markers very precisely...) it is still a pleasure to wear.

till next episode...cheers.

got this one from service..interesting piece.




one of the diver line Darwils, with 37 mm steel case, push pull crown and screwdown caseback.

Case has very interesting design, resembling Squale cases.

I have seen similar Cauny divers (in fact, Cauny - company from Spain, Tanis - swiss company and Darwil had some corelation in the past which I have to investigate. I have seen Cauny - Darwil badged watches and Tanis Agent 007 diver I had was identical to the Darwil Agent 007 watch and even had Darwil signed movement inside) and also few other brands. It was probably generic case just like todays microbrand offerings







as you can see, it has very long lugs that follow the central line and "frame" top and bottom and also slope down making the watch hug the wrist.

On top bezel is unlike modern designs almost a part of the case and it overhangs, thus making the watch 40 mm wide. It also covers the part of the crown, which is almost invisible from the top. It has no clicks, it is friction type and it probably is missing a tension spring since it spins almost freely as you can see in pictures - all of them have misaligned bezel.

Caseback is also very thick and rounded, like bubble and acrylic crystal isa also high and thick and has graciuos curvature.

Followed by rounded lug cuts, it has harmonic, almost organic and yet remarkably "tool-like" presence.

it is also marked at the back "superwaterproof 20 ATU" and has proud "20 ATU" mark on the dial..but I would not dare to get it wet. Although it has new gaskets on caseback and crown.. And judging by the condition of minute markers (black) someone tried to swim with it once...unsuccesfully

todays designers still have a lot to learn from these 60-ies beauties and also as a surprise bezel has acrylic insert with lumed numerals!? Oh yes, these 15-30-45 marks actually glow in the dark...for a short period. After all, tritium on them surely has died before the fall of the Berlin wall.

dial is black, with outer minute markers, large bars on 12-6-9 and lume dots on hour markers...which were relumed by my watchsmith. Badly. I will probably do it again as soon as I manage some time.





watch is run by ETA 2452, with 21 rubies and non quick date shift...usual for the 60-ies. Currently on Hirsch strap, I have 19 mm tropic strap coming to complement it

Although not in great condition (dial is damaged, bezel has worn out edges and there are few more things that are not ok..) I really like it and wear it, combined with quartz diver mentioned above and the rest of the Darwil herd.

Here it is in front of the framed Darwil newspaper ad from 50 -ies (I have the original one but it is too fragile so I copied and framed it..in red...on my night stand...my wife thinks I am little bit nuts..nevermind)




and also in arty farty "never mind whats on the picture, look at that simbolism" shot on my army shorts




till next episode of the boring representation of opscure brand, cheers

Excellent post sinner and certainly not boring . Its great to have some information on a brand that we know little about .
These must be a favourite brand of yours . Please keep up with the informative posts .

Fascinating. Do you think there was any connection with the Soviet manufacturers?

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Not at all. Darwil was based in Ticino,italian part of the Switzerland. Before the fall of the Berlin wall,you simply could not have any connection with russian factories.



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Quick bump on this thread;

Got this little square :



And have this incoming:

The diver is finally on wrist. Rescued from pile of parts and non working watches I have at home and started to clear. Small but thick at 37 mm and 16 mm (?!) high.

Automatic, screwdown crown,lumed bezel,similar to the one I had before but with very short lugs it wears differently

Also acrylic crystal is very thick,this one was serious diver watch 40 years ago.

Lovin it

Hello

I am new to this forum, and happy that I found some story on this brand.

I have just found this Special Flat Luxe 66 17 Rubis in a box.

I wonder if anyone has any information on this piece.

Hi mahaha.
nice one you ve got there.

black dialed Darwils are bit scarcer.

it should be from end of 60-ies - beggining of 70-ies (dont let the 66 mark confuse you...)

it is around 34 mm, with somewhat odd 17 mm lugs, chromed case, snap - on caseback.

Movement is Darwil 7041 - rebadged FHF 76, with 17 jewels. it is sturdy, robust movement, with regular service it could last for ages.

have it cleaned and oiled and wear it with pride. I had similar one in NOS condition, with sticker on back, and original pouch.

and if I may add..it is in great condition. no pitting on case, just light scratches on crystal. If it has original crown, signed with Darwil and original strap, it has never been worn. stunning .

sinner777 wrote:and if I may add..it is in great condition. no pitting on case, just light scratches on crystal. If it has original crown, signed with Darwil and original strap, it has never been worn. stunning .

Thank you for the details. I inherited this from my father, it was in a box and unused for at least 11 years. He occasionally wore it before, and might have changed the strap.

How can I know whether the strap is original?

I was amazed that when I wounded it, it started to work perfectly. It's been on so far for about 5 hours now.

Good idea, I will take it for a cleaning service.

The glass has a nice feel when touched, and the whole watch is quite slim. When I put it to my ear I can hear a quite slow tik-tak, well compared to a Swatch automatic that I also have.

Thanks for the very interesting read. I really like some of these and will be keeping an eye out for one in the future

thanks sinner! thanks for taking the time to put together these posts. really interesting.
keep enjoying your passion for these vintage watches

MaMaHa wrote:

sinner777 wrote:and if I may add..it is in great condition. no pitting on case, just light scratches on crystal. If it has original crown, signed with Darwil and original strap, it has never been worn. stunning .

Thank you for the details. I inherited this from my father, it was in a box and unused for at least 11 years. He occasionally wore it before, and might have changed the strap.

How can I know whether the strap is original?

I was amazed that when I wounded it, it started to work perfectly. It's been on so far for about 5 hours now.

Good idea, I will take it for a cleaning service.

The glass has a nice feel when touched, and the whole watch is quite slim. When I put it to my ear I can hear a quite slow tik-tak, well compared to a Swatch automatic that I also have.

Possible it is even original strap. Yes it is incredibly slim. If you take off snapback case and remove acrylic crystal that actually comes off with its surrounding ring (but don't...) it would be 3,5 mm thin.

It ticks loudly due to its thin case and it is slower than Swatch due to its lower BPH - FHF works on 18 000 bph,ETA in Swatch is 21 600 bph.

Have it cleaned ,oil is probably dried up,it could use some basic oiling. Have the acrylic crystal buffed out and polished,you can even use toothpaste.

I had a bunch of these vintage babies,at this moment a older brother of your on strap gifted to me by a member of CW forum:



And a very small square one



And also a diver



They came in lot of shapes and types.


Enjoy your Darwil,as much as they can be found cheap it is very hard to find one in good condition.

Cheers. Thank you all for kind words,hope this obscure brand has some more followers and wearers. Although simple watches ,they're all swiss made and very charming.

Sinisa, thanks for the very interesting articles on the history of Darwil. It is fascinating reading and their back catalogue of watches includes some excellent looking pieces over the years. A few of the ones I particularly like are below. The first one has a strong resemblance to the Longines Heritage models which I also like



Those chronos are also gorgeous