It has been 10 months since I put Value Barometer #3 online. The market has been moving, but not much honestly. Certain divers are going up, like the Ultradive and the OPS, others are going down, like the Super-Dive (the champaign dial seems less in demand than the black dial). All in all it looks pretty steady to me, especially compared to other brands on the vintage market that were lifted fast. Probably too fast.
I have been collecting Enicar since early 2013. I can’t remember the number of Sherpa Graphs MkI and II offered being so low (on the other hand, many Aqua Graphs and Jet Graphs are looking for new owners). The EPSA case divers from the mid fifties (Seapearl 600 and Healthways) seem scarce too, despite the case size being 35mm. Another popular ‘new comer’ from 1964 is the one crown 40mm Sherpa Dive with straight hands (T-lume). If you can find this model with the candle seconds hand from 1958 – 1962 (or even better, the Diver 600 version with a bakelite bezel and supertest on the dial) you should buy it. For what price? Just buy it, because famous Austrian dive pioneer Hans Hass says so.
In a few months the Enicar book will be released. It will be very interesting to see what the effect will be. Personally, I hope the book will create more understanding and appreciation for the Enicar heritage and the golden decades of the brand (1950-1980). My focus was not creating an overview of as many Sherpa models possible (more than a thousand different variations exist!). I did however put names and numbers on the most familiar ones. Plus I have given these watches their background stories and I collected the faces of the people who made them great. How the book will influence prices on the vintage market is not up to me. I spoke to several Enicar collectors about it. Even the most fanatic ones still call Enicar ‘a niche’ and I tend to agree. So let’s keep these beautiful time pieces our little secret, shall we?
As always, I defined five categories, like before. These represent the most popular Enicar models and the ones I get asked about frequently. Condition is graded in three categories: Very good – mint, average – good and poor – fair. I use Euro in my estimates and I also use a bandwidth. Your comments are welcome.
The Sherpa Graphs
Sherpa Graph Mk I
- very good – mint: € 9.000 – € way too much for me
- average – good: € 6.000 – € 9.000
- poor – fair: € 3.000 – € 6.000
Sherpa Graph Mk II
- very good – mint: € 8.000 – € 10.000
- average – good: € 5.000 – € 8.000
- poor – fair: € 3.000 – € 5.000
Sherpa Graph Mk III
- very good – mint: € 5.500 – € 8.000
- average – good: € 4.000 – € 5.500
- poor – fair: € 3.000 – € 4.000
Sherpa Graph Mk IV
- very good – mint: € 5.000 – € 8.000
- average – good: € 4.000 – € 5.000
- poor – fair: € 3.000 – € 4.000
Aqua Graph Mk I, II / Jet Graph Mk I, II
- very good – mint: € 5.000 – € 8.000
- average – good: € 4.000 – € 5.000
- poor – fair: not currently seen
The other Graphs
Valjoux 72 chronograph, Ocean Pearl Interlagos: no changes
- very good – mint: € 2.500 – € 4.000
- average – good: € 1.800 – € 2.500
- poor – fair: € 1.000 – € 1.800
Valjoux 72 chronograph, cushion case (Gerhard Mitter)
- very good – mint: € 2.250 – € 4.000
- average – good: € 1.800 – € 2.250
- poor – fair: € unknown – € 1.800
Valjoux 23 chronograph (for instance Big Eye, not the yacht dial version)
- very good – mint: € 2.000 – € 3.000
- average – good: € 1.400 – € 2.000
- poor – fair: € 1.000 – € 1.400
Grapho-Matic: no changes
- very good – mint: € 1.750 – € 2.400
- average – good: € 750 – € 1.750
- poor – fair: € 500 – € 750
Mantagraph
- very good – mint: € 900 – € 1.750
- average – good: € 600 – € 900
- poor – fair: not currently seen
The Supercompressors 40+ mm
Sherpa Ultradive and OPS
- very good – mint: € 2.600 – € 4.500
- average – good: € 2.000 – € 2.600
- poor – fair: € 1.000 – € 2.000
Sherpa Super-Dive MkI and II, except MkI dauphine hands are up
- very good – mint: € 1.750 – € 3.000
- average – good: € 1.000 – € 1.750
- poor – fair: € 750 – € 1.000
Super-Jet Mk I and II
- very good – mint: € 2.500 – € 3.200
- average – good: € 1.200 – € 2.500
- poor – fair: € 750 – € 1.200
Sherpa Super-Dive MkIII, Super-Jet Mk III (cushion case)
- very good – mint: € 1.750 – € 2.800
- average – good: € 1.400 – € 1.750
- poor – fair: not currently seen
Sherpa Dive (non-bakelite bezel version)
- very good – mint: € 1.800 – € 2.500
- average – good: € 1.400 – € 1.800
- poor – fair: € 900 – € 1.400
Sherpa Guide (42 mm, long lugs case and cushion case)
- very good – mint: € 1.250 – € 2.500
- average – good: € 750 – € 1.250
- poor – fair: € 500 – € 750
The Supercompressors 36 mm
Sherpa Super-Divette and Jet
- very good – mint: € 1.000 – € 2.250
- average – good: € 700 – € 1.000
- poor – fair: € 500 – € 700
Sherpa Divette: no changes, except MkI hands are up
- very good – mint: € 1.250 – € 2.000
- average – good: € 750 – € 1.250
- poor – fair: € 500 – € 750
Sherpa GMT and World Time: no changes
- very good – mint: € 1.250 – € 1.900
- average – good: € 750 – € 1.250
- poor – fair: € 500 – € 750
The other Sherpas and power pieces
Sherpa Star Diver
- very good – mint: € 2.200 – € 3.000
- average – good: € 1.500 – € 2.200
- poor – fair: € 1.000 – € 1.500
Sherpa Star (37 mm): no changes
- very good – mint: € 250 – € 400
- average – good: € 100 – € 250
- poor – fair: € 75 – € 100
Sherpa Memostar
- very good – mint: € 1.350 – € 2.000
- average – good: € 1.000 – € 1.350
- poor – fair: € 750 – € 1.000
Sherpa Seapearl 600, Healthways
- very good – mint: € 800 – € 1.600
- average – good: € 600 – € 800
- poor – fair: € 400 – € 600
‘Regular’ Sherpa (Date, Day-Date)
- very good – mint: € 300 – € 400
- average – good: € 150 – € 300
- poor – fair: € 75 – € 150
Sherpa Electric
- very good – mint: € 400 – € 600
- average – good: € 150 – € 400
- poor – fair: not currently seen
DISCLAIMER: All photos used are from my own personal archive. I don’t want to valuate a specific watch that is not mine. Also, my estimates are not official watch dealer prices, no guaranteed sale gainings and no official asking prices. This Watch Value Barometer is nothing more than my own personal opinion of the current (October 2019) market value of the Enicar watches mentioned.