A small family owned Chinese company sold this watch as New Old Stock. When it arrived, I compared it to similar watches since it looked "too" new. I tend to believe it's a reissue unless someone placed it in a air-tight time capsule. Regardless, it's an unusual find.
They family claims this is a "New" Shanghai Watch Factory 上海手表厂 1963 men's wristwatch with a model A-581 hand wound mechanical movement. It's came in an attractive box with packaging.
(Click on any image to enlarge)
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VCW collector's look for this kind of watch, especally when they work well. The dial has a butler finish with raised gold numerals, markers and a sweep second hand. The movement has 17 Jewels and a 36 -40 hour reserve. I tested it twice.
Authentic A-581 movements have characteristics readily visible in this watch, for example, Shanghai 581 series did not use Incabloc or other shock absorbers. The movement holders are metal and the ratchet and crown wheels have flat edges.
They usually have flat hour and minute hands and the second hand has a narrowing pointer. Shanghai signed the crown. If you look carefully, the hour and minute hands are not completely flat.
Collectors consider watches in Shanghai 581 series highly desirable. Three models exist in the series: A581, A-581 and 581 - produced between 1958 and 1967.
The back is a low-grade stainless steel, while the case and bezel are chrome plated.
We derived the following information from shwatch (Official Site of Shanghai Watch Factory):
"A581 was the first generation of diamond-inlaid mechanical watch of China, with seventeen jewels,three needle core diameter, 25.6mm, 14 screws on balance wheel, which can continuously work more than 36 hours, daily travel time accuracy is less than 1 minutes per day. The Accuracy of the movement meets the1st class level of national Ministry of China’s Light Industry Standard.
"After A581 was launched into the market, Premier Zhou Enlai, the first generation of the China’s Power center became one of the A581 owners. Premier Zhou Enlai wore A581 during his lifetime and this watch accompany Premier Zhou witnessed every important moment of China diplomatic in history. A581 watch is in the permanent collection by China National Museum."
Model : A-581
Manufacturer : Shanghai Watch Factory (上海手表厂）
Year of Production: 1963
Movement Model : A581 (17 jewels)
Type : Hand Wind
Shanghai Watch Factory 上海手表厂 opened in 1958 after three years of trial production of early China-made watches. It soon became China's most prominent and productive watch factory, manufacturing about 120 million watches by 1995. After restructuring around the turn of the century, it continues to produce watches under the name Shanghai Watch Industry Co.
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