Eterna Matic 1000 Kon Tiki

[ricardopalamino]

Howzit Watch Fans, ...I'd like to share a nice watch with a history with you . I just acquired an Eterna Matic Kon Tiki . Eterna is famous for Introducing the ball bearing rotor on todays self winding watches . The Logo for Eterna is 5 ball bearings .

I have attached a link called The story of Eterna :

http://eterna-fanatic.com/pages/eterna-information.php

The Kon Tiki commemorates the the Pacific Voyage of explorer Thor Heyerdahl on a Balsawood raft in 1947 ....

 

The Kon Tiki watch I have has a movement numbered 1422 UD , and is from 1961 . Eterna chose to date their watches by movement numbers instead of serial numbers because they changed movement numbers so often as demonstrated by the fact that in 1961 alone , there are 9 movement numbers .

The watch commemorates the voyage with a gold emblem on the case back depicting the sailing raft "Kon Tiki " .

On to the watch....the first few pics are the sellers...

 

On to my pics .....The wach was serviced according to the seller , and I found fresh silicone lube on the case back and crown gaskets . Also a very clean movement with virtually no marks or scratches  visible . I cleaned the case and installed a new crystal , and although the original Gay Freres bracelet came on the watch , I found the links to feel too lightweight and rather chintzy ,[ that's my take ] . So I installed the links from a bracelet I had in my stash but used the original end links , which needed a bit of body and fender work , and also kept the original deployment buckle with the Eterna / Kon Tiki logos and the Gay Freres inscription .

 

 I hope you enjoyed looking at this watch as much as I do .   Aloha , Louis

[Cad101]

That's a lovely time piece indeed.

[SeikoWatch]

Yes my friend it's a lovely time piece.Unfortunately , I've never seen one in Quebec.

[frenchie]

Eterna-matic are very nice (also, why is the date changing at 8:10 ?  )

[ricardopalamino]

7 hours ago, frenchie said:

Eterna-matic are very nice (also, why is the date changing at 8:10 ?  )

Sellers pic ,...good question ...I dunno...

[sperki77]

Thanks for the background, Louis!  Nice watch and nice bit of history.  I never knew that about this watch.  I remember reading about the Kon Tiki, but somehow missed the part about the Eterna.  Nice watch, by the way.

Shirley

[anilv]

Hi Ricardo,

Nice watch. This model is probably one of my earliest memories of watches as I remember reading Eterna's advertisement in the Reader's Digest of the early 70s which gave a summary of Heyerdahl's feat.

Also in those magazines were Rolex's which were found on the inside cover (full-spread) and Seiko's (one page only!).

I have a few and I noticed that they 'do' have individual serial numbers so maybe their policy changed?

 

Anil

 

 

[ricardopalamino]

27 minutes ago, anilv said:

Hi Ricardo,

Nice watch. This model is probably one of my earliest memories of watches as I remember reading Eterna's advertisement in the Reader's Digest of the early 70s which gave a summary of Heyerdahl's feat.

Also in those magazines were Rolex's which were found on the inside cover (full-spread) and Seiko's (one page only!).

I have a few and I noticed that they 'do' have individual serial numbers so maybe their policy changed?

 

Anil

 

 

Their Policy may have changed , and I did notice a serial number on my watches movement . I mentioned the dating system from a site called "Wrist Chronology ". I am including that information....

 

Maybe someone with more knowledge on the subject can shed some light on Eterna's dating system .

[anilv]

I would imagine that table would indicate what movements would be in use at the time. Individual movements having individual numbers.

Frankly I'm surprised that your watch doesn't have a serial number as the Kon-tiki was their flagship and would have been the highest priced (unless they had gold models). The ones I have are the basic 1000 and basic autos and these have serial numbers on the movement.

Will dig them out and post some pictures.

Anil

[ricardopalamino]

Hi anilv ,  in my last post I wrote that I did notice a serial number on my movement . 

I would like to see your Eternas . What year are your watches ? How did you determine the year ?

Thanks , Louis

 

[anilv]

Hi Ricardo,

Sorry I missed out the part where you said you had a serial number.

I don't know how to date them... they're not like Omega or older Rolex where the serial numbers are available online.

IIRC I have two automatics and a manual-wind. I currently have a ladies auto (1441) on my desk which is giving me a headache and I may put it aside for another day. Will try to locate them and post some pics.

Here's a link to a post I made on the hand-wind.

Anilv

Edited February 15, 2017 by anilv