If you’re familiar with the Croton brand, and what they’re producing today, you probably associate the Aquamatic line with quartz divers. You may be surprised to know that this line actually hearkens back to the 40’s – and wow, those watches were stunners.
Now before we get too far into the review, I have to give credit where credit is due – this watch line was brought to my attention by my lovely wife, much like the earlier post on the Concord.
So, what do we have with this watch? Much like a dress watch we’ve reviewed in the past, this has very classic and clean styling. While some of the later models have a different case and dial, I do prefer the older ones, in terms of aesthetics. For example, I found this example over here, and it is from the late 50’s / early ’60s. Of course, you can find several examples on the ‘bay, but they’re not as clean and/or don’t have the date display.
When Croton introduced the automatic version, they of course touted that feature, as well as the waterproofness of the watch. At some point, they changed over from bumper automatics to full rotor, which introduced further gains in efficiency. So, if you’re looking for one of these on the second-hand market, you may want to ask some questions (or for some pictures), of what, exactly, is powering the watch.
If you do pick one up, this is definitely going to be a smaller watch in your collection. From what I could find, they measure in at about 32mm wide (40mm tall, so it should cover your wrist), so just bear that in mind. You’ll probably want to have a jeweler go over it to make sure things are in working order, and to ensure there’s some measure of water-resistance still to be counted on as well. With ones in good condition running a few hundred dollars, though, a fully serviced one should make for an affordable vintage acquisition.
