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When last we reviewed a Zodiac watch, it was of the highly anticipated Sea Wolf 53. With this watch, Zodiac brought back a diving legend; a watch with a true cult following, historical gravity and style to spare. And they did it right. It wasn’t a grotesque, over inflated, dolled up version of a classic, but rather a modernized version of the original that kept all the right aesthetic cues while giving it a beefier, but still very modest 39mm case (up from the original 35mm), and a water resistance of 200m, letting you use the watch as originally intended.
Continuing their revival of heritage models, Zodiac followed up the Sea Wolf 53 with another model from the same family, the Super Sea Wolf 68. Bigger, bolder and meant to dive deeper, the original Super Sea Wolf 750 was one of those late 60’s and 70’s barrel shaped divers that was racing for the bottom, so to speak. With a water resistance of 750m and a locking bezel mechanism, it was a functional tool watch. The 750’s are actually more coveted than the original 50’s Sea Wolfs, bringing in $1-2k on the vintage market.
With the modern version, Zodiac stuck very true to their source material, but re-built everything from the ground up, achieving a water resistance of 1000m. The case, dial and hands are straight out the books, but more interestingly, so is the cool locking bezel which is possibly the watch’s best feature. Additionally, on the blue-dialed and LE models, they included a remarkably well crafted Milanese bracelet. Like the Sea Dragon and Sea Wolf 53, the 68 is powered by Fossil’s STP1-11 movement, their answer to the ETA 2824. The Zodiac Super Sea Wolf 68 is also the highest priced of the set, reflecting the build and engineering, with a starting price of $1,395 for the black dial on rubber, jumping up to $1,595 for the blue dial on mesh, and topping out at $1,995 for the LE COSC model.
