Enicar Sherpa Guide

Sherpa Guide

The Sherpa line from Enicar was introduced in November of 1956, after an Enicar was used in a summit of Mount Everest; henceforth, all of its explorer or tool watches bore the Sherpa moniker. With a Sherpa Date, a Sherpa Diver, a Sherpa GMT, and Sherpa World Timer all having at one point been in production, it seems logical that Enicar sought to combine all these functions into one impressive tool watch. Largely black, with the yellow portion of the GMT track meant to indicate day, white accents on the bezel and the dial, and the interesting addition of a rally-style GMT hand, this watch was clearly intended to be highly legible.

Model Development

The first Guide models came to the market in the early 1960s. They came in a dark and a cream dial version. The Guide was probably the top model of an entire Pilot watch or Fliegeruhr model range (initially Stewardess, Steward, GMT, Guide, and later Jet, Super Jet, Jet Graph / Pilote). Essential features of these early versions were: Dauphine hands, crescent moon 24h pointer shape, stepped index markers, and thin crowns.

THE MARK I GUIDE

The larger size of the Enicar Sherpa Guide allows for a wider bezel, with fewer cities and division markings inside the city names. There is now a black and white internal rotating 24 hour bezel as well. The hands are still Dauphine style, but the feature is a half moon style 24h hand. Then there was a transition in branding to the logo with ENICAR below Saturn. The Mark I Guide used an AR1126 cal movement. The Rubyrotor calibre was introduced by Enicar in 1962.

THE MARK II GUIDE

This second version of the Guide no longer has the crescent moon 24h hand. This model has baton hands with lumes at the end, but now features a thin 24h hand, and a second hand with a round lollipop dot. Black and yellow coloured inner rotating 24h bezels are more common than black and white as in the earlier model. The index markers are now wider and have Tritium dot lumes at 6, 9 and 12 and rectangular lumes elsewhere. The crowns are becoming wider than in earlier models.

The early Mark II guide had a Seapearl oyster back engraved 146/001 referring to the AR1146 movement. Some had T Swiss on the dial rather than Swiss Made, and the word Automatic appeared in various positions on the dial.

THE MARK II GUIDE 33

An early September 1964 automatic Mark II Guide 33. This has narrow fluted indexes at 6,9 and 12 with applied lume. The hands are baton with lume inserts on a black tip. The 24h pointer has an orange tip. Movement is AR 1146 33 jewel. Tritium level on dial marked T < 25 mc. Seapearl caseback 146/001.

Sherpa Guide 33 Jewel

Example of Sherpa Features

• Model: Sherpa Guide 600
• Reference: 146-35-01
• Year: 1960s
• Material: Stainless steel. screw back (bayonet), signed Saturn crowns
• Dimensions: 43mm diameter; 14mm thickness
• Crystal: Acrylic
• Lume: Tritium
• Caliber: Enicar automatic caliber 166 with date and 24-hour function
• Bracelet/Strap: Double-signed Enicar stainless-steel bracelet
• Lug Width: 22mm

Notable Models

• Enicar Sea Pearl 600
• Enicar Sherpa Diver 600
• Enicar Sherpa Dive
• Enicar Sherpa Guide
• Enicar Sherpa Jet
• Enicar Sherpa Graph

Links

• Enicar Sea Pearl 600
• Tornek-Rayville TR-900
• Military Watches
• Military Diving Watches
• Switzerland
• Enicar
• Main Page

Credits and read more: https://thespringbar.com/blogs/guides/enicar-sherpa-pilot-2-crown-models/