A Closer Look At The Zenith S.58 Dive Watch
No, It’s Not Named After A Helicopter
It had all the makings of a great story; the Swiss manufacturer Zenith naming their new amphibious watch after a helicopter that was famous for pulling people out of the ocean. Problem is, the story isn’t true. Let’s first unpack the name; ‘S’ stands for ‘super,’ as in ‘super water-resistant’ or ‘super strong.’ The number 58 stands for the year it was introduced.
As a lot of watch nerds like to add, 1958 was the ‘international geophysic year,’ a year where a worldwide program began to launch cooperative scientific projects between countries. The biggest thing about this ended up being the Soviets’ launch of Sputnik 1, the first-ever artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. The U.S. of course responded with Explorer 1 that same year, and soon there were a few satellites floating above our world.
Major Arctic and Antarctic explorations also took place during ‘58, and of course watchmakers rushed to associate their tough new devices with the frontiers of space and the Arctic poles. Rolex had the Explorer watch, Jaeger-LeCoultre launched the Geophysic, and Nivada Grenchen put Antarctic watches on the wrists of those exploring limits in the extreme southern hemisphere.
Not to be left out, copywriters at Zenith produced advertisements touting the new S.58 as perfect for scientists and explorers. At first, the watch had a wind-up Caliber 120 movement and fixed bezel. But as technology advanced and people began to expect specific features on a sports watch, Zenith of course added them. The automatic movement dropped in was a Zenith caliber 133.8, but the version many collectors prefer is the third version with a cal. 2542 PC. This movement added a date function and a now-standard bidirectional rotor to the S.58 mix.
Externally, Zenith designers added a black Bakelite bezel with a triangle at 12 to the design. If you think it looks a lot like a vintage Fifty Fathoms, you’re probably right! That watch was also coming into its own at the time, and it’s easy to imagine a prospective buyer cross-shopping an S.58 with a classic FF or Rolex Submariner. Compared to those other two, the Zenith is a bit smoother and a bit more refined. One could even call it beautiful.
Unlike the more-famous Rolex, you could also find the Zenith with a striking white or silver dial. Production numbers for the S.58 are not known exactly; but you could at least say ‘they didn’t make too many of these.’ It is thought that Cairelli purchased the first couple thousand made in the early 50s specifically for the Italian navy, and there’s word going around that the last iteration (with the rotate-able bezel and date function) were only made in a block of 1000.
So if you find one and you like it, scoop it up. It has a certain vibe and it’s a small piece of watchmaking history.
