Why This Watch Matters This Enicar offers a great everyday wear look with a textured white dial while retaining those "turtle" style lugs that collectors love from the brand. The Full Story Ariste Racine founded Enicar, by reversing the spelling of his last name, in Switzerland in 1914. Enicar operated through the golden age, at least in the mind of a vintage collector, of swiss watchmaking but went through financial troubles in the 1970s due to the Quartz Revolution, ultimately going out of business in 1987. The brand was purchased and revived by another company and is still around today, but it's not the same Enicar S.A. that was started by Ariste. The vintage brand's most famous line of watches is the Sherpa series, which put the company on the map. The series represented the pinnacle of the firm's popularity, with numerous well-known models, including a chronograph (Sherpa Graph), a dive watch (Sherpa Dive), and a GMT (Sherpa Jet) as well as a few others. Found on many of the various Sherpa dials is the word "ultrasonic." Watch brands began to place selling points of their watches directly on the dial around the mid-20th century. Not the jewel count of the movement or simply "automatic" but words like "supertest" and "incabloc" found their way right on to the dial. These were selling points, utilizing the watch dial as an advertising tool in and of itself. "Ultrasonic" in "Enicar-ese" refers to an ultrasonic cleaning during assembly. The brand began using this process in 1953 and saw it as a differentiating element of its manufacturing abilities within the crowded Swiss watch market. Enicar claimed that its process preserved movement oils for longer, bragging that its movements could go three years without servicing. Here we have a simple Enicar compared to the others we see in the vintage market, especially under the Sherpa family. Solely branded as Ultrasonic, this watch would have sat next to the Sherpas in the Enicar catalog as a more every day-leaning option. That being said, classic Enicar features like the EPSA made waterproof case with "bayonet" style caseback as well as the unique lug shape are retained. Collectors have referred to these style lugs as "turtle" lugs because if you imagine the crown is the turtle's head, the lugs look like turtle arms. It is always great to see a brand's design ethos shine through in an accessible, time-only watch. It is not common to see an Enicar with a white dial for some reason the brand favored black dials in pretty much every watch they made. Here is not only a white dial but one with an interesting, two-level honeycomb and concentric circle textured finish. This is one we are really excited to offer and get on someone's wrist. We paired this Enicar with our Bedford strap in olive green. The green brings a bit of everyday wear to the look while the finish of the Bedford offers a layer of texture to play off of the dial. The Fine Print Maker: EnicarModel: N/AReference: N/AYear: 1950sCase No: N/AMaterial: Stainless steelDimensions: 34.5mm diameter; 13.5mm thicknessCrystal: PlexiglassLume: NoneCaliber: Enicar signed AR, self-winding, caliber 1034Bracelet/Strap: HODINKEE The Bedford Watch Strap In Olive GreenLug Width: 18mmBox/Papers: No What We Love And What You Should Know Things We Love: - Distinct "turtle" style lugs - EPSA made case - White textured dial- Yellow gold tone dial accents Things To Know: - Scratches on case This Enicar is in great overall condition. The case is strong with scratches and some light nicks. The facets on the lugs are clearly visible. The text and numbers on the caseback are clearly visible. The dial is overall clean with a light patina. There is a bit of patina on the hands and hour markers. The tip of the minute hand is missing the black paint in the center. The lume in the hands have developed patina and have darkened a little bit. The inside caseback is stamped "EPSA-STOP 1-56" indicating the case maker and the year of production. The crystal has scratches. The case, crown, dial, and movement are all signed by Enicar. This watch was photographed on a 175mm/6.9inch wrist.
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