With thanks to Roy, for sending me a fascinating Ollech & Wajs booklet without charge - I hope I do that kindness justice here.
The Americans are probably more familiar with the products of Ollech and Wajs then we British, but there is no reason why those of us in this country who like good quality, reasonably priced, Swiss mechanical watches should ignore this company. Therefore, I thought I would give a little history, focusing on one particular range of watches, the Caribbean.
The story of Ollech and Wajs begins in the middle of the nineteen fifties. A certain Albert Wajs, who still heads the company, had been manufacturing stainless steel watch bracelets and in 1956, he formed a partnership with Joseph Ollech in Switzerland, and they soon began the manufacture of wristwatches. Operating from their retail premises in Zurich, the new company concentrated on the production of rugged, good-looking sports watches at affordable prices. The firm was soon receiving many orders for watches, and began to expand its customer base, partly because of their advertising in magazines that were popular with aviators, sportsmen and members of the military.
How about this modern mechanical tonneau watch by Ollech & Wajs, the picture of which was posted by Silver Hawk on the forum back in 2010. The watch received favourable comments and had rather good lume. Although the name, Frank Muller was mentioned in the context of this model, I have discovered that this design of dial actually dates back as far as the early period of wristwatch production in the nineteen twenties (pic from electric-watches.net):
Ollech and Wajs watches soon reached the attention of potential customers in both the UK and the US, but it was really in North America that the products started to take off. An American student, on a visit to Swizerland apparently suggested to Ollech & Wajs that they sell in the Sates on the basis that the company was making the sort of watches that everyone in America could do with. The partners decided to do just that, but instead of going the normal route of selling wholesale to retailers, Ollech & Wajs thought it would be better to cut out the middleman and sell direct to retail customers. By this means, quality could be kept high and prices relatively low.
The sale of watches by mail order direct from Switzerland proved to be a successful move, and in the US particularly, Ollech & Wajs watches became quite popular. In the 1960s, Ollech & Wajs were selling a variety of professional automatic and hand-wind mechanical military and dive watches for an average price of $12 per piece, and the M65 military model was often sold at PX's on US military bases. American soldiers were prone to replacing their government issue watches with privately bought models from Ollech & Wajs, and during the Vietnam War, sales of the company's watches in the States reached a peak with thousands of sales being attained via mail order.
Mid 1960s New Old Stock Ollech & Wajs W-10 military automatic (pic from pinterest.com):
Modern re-issue by Albert Wajs of the Ollech & Wajs W-10 military watch, this time with a slightly larger 37mm case and now powered by a 25 jewel ETA 2452 automatic movement with 42-hour power reserve (pic fromwestcoastwatches.com, where the watch is available for the sale price of US$268):
In the late 1970s,, perhaps in an attempt to thwart the growing influence of quartz watches, Ollech & Wajs were able to buy up a considerable amount of Breitling stock - particularly relating to the aviator watches such as the Navitimer - and the company began to produce its own branded version of the Breitling chronograph that they called the Aviation, using Breitling cases and the same calibers. This continued into the early 1980s.
Vintage Ollech & Wajs chronograph from the 1960s (pic from antiquewatchcouk.com, where this watch is priced at £895).
The mechanical watches made by Ollech & Wajs, pre-quartz, were of the 17-jewel variety, and they were discontinued in the mid-1980s when the quartz crisis created a lack of demand for mechanical models. However, in the 1990s there began a resurgence in the demand for quality mechanical watches, and former customers began to ask the company to restart production of rugged and solid timepieces like those they had sold before. Once again then, Ollech & Wajs entered the market for mechanical watches, and today's products are 100% Swiss-made and designed to be of high quality combined with affordable prices. It needs to be stated here that the modern company is technically owned and run by Albert Wajs alone, even though the products bear the Ollech & Wajs name and logo. Albert Wajs is a respected figure among Swiss watchmaking companies, and he continues to innovate and design new watches, although I would personally say that the watches are aesthetically quite conventional.
Vintage Ollech & Wajs Aviation chronograph - or is it a Breitling?... See text above about the so-called Aviation watches (pic from pinterest.com):
It is always nice to find a particularly classic model from any manufacturer one writes about, and in the case of Ollech & Wajs, I would say that the Caribbean collection has to be mentioned in this context - more specifically, the Caribbean-1000. Indeed, I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a fascinating little German-language promotional booklet concerning the Caribbean collection, which are classic dive watches of different levels of water resistance depending on model number. Unfortunately, the booklet I have is not dated, but it was printed in Switzerland, indicating a date that is not current. My original feeling was that the booklet dates to the mid-1970s, but given that it has been stated that the Caribbean-1000 model was only in production in the mid to late 1960s, I have now revised my dating of the booklet backwards a few years. I shall be saying more about the Caribbean-1000 in particular, but using the booklet, I have relevant promotional details of the different watches produced by Ollech & Wajs under the Caribbean banner.
A vintage Ollech & Waijs Precision Caribbean-1000 dive wristwatch (pic from h-spot.net):
The booklet illustrates the Caribbean watches, which were more formally called "Precision Caribbean", and three distinct varieties are listed. Firstly, there are the Precision Caribbean-1000 watches - automatic dive models with date window and water resistance of 100 ATM or 1000 metres. The earliest date for these watches has been given as 1964 but given other information plus a patent of 1967 mentioned in the booklet, I would estimate that the Caribbean-1000 is a product of the mid to late 1960s, and is significant especially for its monobloc steel case. Caribbean-1000 timepieces came in three sizes - 27mm, 32mm and 38mm - and the largest models featured a bezel with complex three-zone numbering. The second variety of Precision Caribbean watches were the 400 range, and these watches also came in three sizes, though with the largest having a 35mm case. The Caribbean-400 watches were also significantly water resistant, to 400 metres, and like the 1000 series, they feature steel monobloc cases. All of the 400 watches illustrated have a magnified date function at 3 o'clock - with just one plain-bezel example having a date/day window that has no magnification. Finally, there are the Precision Caribbean-100 watches shown, and these are water resistant to 100 metres and generally have either plain bezels or bezels with grooved serration on the upper surface. All the Caribbean-1000 and 400 watches have stainless steel bracelets in the booklet while the 100 range have leather straps. The main logo on the booklet is of a red and white stylised fish, but on the watches themselves, the standard Ollech & Wajs logo is used, resembling a beetle with open wing cases and having the letters "o" and "w", one on each wing. I have learned that the name, Caribbean, has been used on dive watches by other companies, and I have a feeling from looking at relevant pictures, that some of these other-brand "Caribbean" watches originate from Ollech & Wajs and/or the Jenny watch Company.
It is fortunate that one of the Caribbean-1000 dive watches has recently been the subject of a vintage watch review, and I am indebted to Christopher McNiell and his review of 17 August 2015 on Worn and Wound for the following information:
The Caribbean-1000 was a high-point in the watches produced by Ollech & Wajs, and it resulted from a team effort with the Jenny Watch Company who designed and made the monobloc steel cases for the Caribbean watches. The Jenny 702 case in the watch reviewed on Worn & Wound measures 40mm wide, so this example is one of the largest of the 1000 range, The dial and movement are accessed through the crystal/front of the case, and after the bezel is removed, there is a threaded ring that holds the crystal in place. The lack of a caseback is a feature that assists in water resistance even if it must have made servicing the watch more difficult. As for the bezel on the 1000 watch reviewed, it is steel with an acrylic insert, with numbers and markers under the acrylic. The glass is a 5mm-thick domed acrylic item that sits on a substantial rubber gasket and is held down by the screw-in ring. Interestingly, Ollech & Wajs offered an optional tool and spare crystals so that the customer could replace a cracked or scratched watch glass without having to send the watch away - how unlike most watches today, where the retailer selling the watch often explains that after opening the watch without the maker's/producer's supervision, water resistance will be compromised and will no longer be guaranteed. As for prices at the time, a Caribbean-1000 could be had in the 1960s for about $75, and I have illustrated an original late 1960s Ollech & Wajs price list at the end of this topic.
The technical details of the movement used in the reviewed Caribbean-1000 are not difficult as the watch is powered by a workhorse 17 jewel ETA 2452 automatic movement with a semi-quickset date, and with all the Precision Caribbean watches in my booklet being calendar automatics, it is likely that this movement features in many, if not all, Ollech & Wajs Caribbean watches. The dial in the reviewed 1000 model is apparently of distinction, being a high gloss lacquer-black with lumed steel bar markers at the quarter-hours and simple lumed bars at the other intervals and the hands are substantial and dauphin in style, with a wide band of lume. The reviewer rates the comfort of the watch as being high, and is certainly complimentary about the watch in general.
Fascinating picture showing a vintage Ollech & Wajs Caribbean-1000 dive watch with what appears to be a promotional picture of the same watch, dating to about 1970 and then priced at $135 (opic from scubawatch.org):
The Ollech & Wajs Precision Caribbean-1000 is now a desirable collector's watch. The production run of this range of Caribbean watches was not extensive in either time period or number, and the watches are of superior quality. A large-case Caribbean-1000 with an original rice-grain steel bracelet will now cost about US$2,000 to US$2,500 - not cheap but probably worth the money in the long run. In the context of this price for a vintage Caribbean-1000, the prices for other vintage and pre-owned Ollech & Wajs watches as revealed by a price list issued by the Wilson watch Works who are authorized US dealers for the company seem to be within similar price bounds, depending on model, case material, etc. etc.. genuine vintage watches by Ollech & Wajs are actually quite thin on the ground, and prices for the more "legendary" models reflect that scarcity.
New "West Coast Time" branded Ollech & Wajs 200-metre dive watch with ETA 2842-2 movement, stainless steel case and bracelet with diver's wetsuit extension clasp, screw-down crown and sapphire crystal. Priced at US$385 (pic from westcoasttime.com):
Ollech & Wajs are still going and still producing quality Swiss hand-wind and automatic watches. The firm has gone on in the same vein as when it was launched, with an emphasis on aviation chronographs, dive watches and military style timepieces. When I started to examine the prices for new Ollech & Wajs watches, I thought that we would be looking at pieces costing in excess of US$1,000. It was a pleasant surprise therefore to find that the current range contains many well-specified mechanical models for US$400 to US$600. It does seem that Ollech & Wajs still keep their promise to produce watches that are both workmanlike and affordable, and I have also read that the watches are sometimes used for "modding" by those who are able to carry out such work to provide a unique timepiece. I do have one caveat though, because I am not absolutely sure how far the company is involved in actual watchmaking. The movements used by Ollech & Wajs seem to all be from established Swiss ebauche concerns, including ETA and Valjoux, and even the patented case for the Caribbean range was not an Ollech & Wajs item. I would suggest that the company certainly has always had near-complete involvment in the design and production process of most, but not all, of its watches, even if it is not essentially a watchmaking concern. Clearly though, Ollech & Wajs products will be found bearing different brand names, and sometimes these are direct brand switches, while others may show work performed on the watch in addition to rebranding. Presumably, having originated as a bracelet manufacturing company, original steel bracelets on Ollech & Wajs watches will have been made by the company.
1960s Ollech & Wajs Selectron Computer automatic wristwatch (pic from pinterest
.com)
Period 1960s advert for three Ollech & Wajs mechanical chronographs (pic from sometimeago.com):
Period price list and details for Ollech & Wajs watches from 1969 (pic from sometimeago.com):
