1958 Seville

Most vintage watches are small, especially by today's standards.  By the end of the 1950's though, some models started to get larger, even if the movements were still the same smallish size.

A good example of a nice-sized vintage watch is the 1958 Seville.  Although it was produced for four years, you don't often come across them in the wild.

The Seville was part of the Medallist line, the third level in the line of models with US-made movements.  Top of the line models were in the Masterpiece series, then came the Medallion lineup and the Medalist models.  After that were the Fine models... still quite high end but priced to be more competitive with other makers.

The Seville has a 10K gold filled case with a unique textured dial with a white finish and gold embossed markers and numerals.

Inside the Seville is the 8/0 sized 735 movement, the shock-jeweled replacement for the 748 grade that was used since 1948.

I recently landed a Seville and it's the first one I've ever seen.  The crystal has yellowed with time and it was rather dirty but I thought it would clean up nicely.

The case has a wear spot near the crown.  It's not a hole and a jeweler could probably fill it in but I'll leave that project for another day.

This watch reminds me a lot of the 1956 Whitman produced at the same time.

The case is a two-piece design and the bezel pops off to reveal the textured dial with a gold pearled track.  This dial has a slight patina around the perimeter and although it's very tempting to try to remove it, I would hate to lose the finish and printing on the dial.  Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Check out how much extra dial there is around the outside of the movement.   This movement is very dirty and I can't see an obvious reason for it not running.  Hopefully a good cleaning is all it needs.

Everything is cleaned and dried.  Putting one of these 748 / 735 movements back together is a daunting task.  The first couple of times I tackled this grade, it didn't go very well and I have gotten more than a few emails from people looking for replacement escape wheels for movements others have goofed up.

Despite my confidence, I still breathe a sigh of relief when I get the train bridge to fall into place.  You have to get four wheels to align perfectly and it can be a challenge.

With experience, you eventually realize that the bridge falls into place when things are lined up and if the bridge doesn't fall into place then one of the wheels is out of place.  Any extra pressure will result in a broken pivot or two.  It's a simple lesson that is hard to learn.

Installing the balance is a breeze compared with the rest of the movement.  The tricky part is getting the shock jewels back in place and closing the inca springs.  Now the movement is ticking away with good motion - it's off to the timer.

Not too shabby... I'll leave it here and let it settle in.

A new crystal and a fresh lizard strap complete this Seville's restoration.  The Seville is a very sleek and elegant model, in my opinion.  The dauphine-shaped hands and thin hour markers help with that.  The watch seems very thin though, considering the movement it uses, and the 35mm wide case makes that possible.  The crystal for the Seville is over 31mm - close to the largest I've used.  This is a big watch by vintage standards.