Story behind my watches Pt.1: Enicar Aqua Graph Mk II

A thing that is almost as important to me as the watch itself is the story behind it. It’s that small piece of history that differs a new watch from a vintage one. A 50 years old tool watch often shows its scars and when I buy a watch I allways like to know the story behind it. That’s why I love to buy watches from the first owner, or sometimes near relatives. If you buy from a dealer, those often cool information are often lost. Think about it, those watches back than were true tool watches. A dive watch was for a diver. What could he have seen, what was his job? Diving for sunk ships (like the Vasa expedition) or other treasure. Pilot watches were used by…of course pilots. Was he one of the first guys with big balls flying over the oceans without GPS or was he maybe a military pilot and can talk about his duties.

I’d like to start to tell more about my watches and the stories they are connected with. First story is also about my first Graph watch, an Aqua Graph MK II (more info about the MK II Aqua Graph in general you can find here).

Back in 2017 I wrote a request at a German flea market page with not much hope. After some weeks someone wrote me he has an old Enicar and if I want to have a look on it. this was the first pic I got from him:

A nice honest Enicar Aqua Graph. We agreed on a price and the watch was mine. As I stated earlier, tool watches back than had a real purpose. The seller of this Aqua Graph was a rescue diver for the police in Würzburg, Germany. After his training in 1968 he was aloud to buy a watch on police costs. He decided to buy this Aqua Graph and wear it on his duties.

Interestingly he wasn’t buying the watch at a jeweller but at a sports equipment dealer. The company Sportshaus Brümmer still exists, but looked a bit different (smaller) back than. I guess the pic is even older than the 60s, but this is how the shop looked back than too.

Back in 2019 I found a matching NOS bezel and red ring and applied both to the watch. Somehow this changed the watch and maybe its history, but now its my turn to add some stories to the watch too, never forgetting its initial owner.