Description
Splendid, all original and rare Kontiki 20
Screw down crown and expandable (dated 2/69) Gay Freres (GF) bracelet
Perfect blue dial with original (5 dots) crystal
A real and impressive vintage Eterna-Matic KonTiki 20. The details such as a smashing dial, sharp 37,4 mm case, very good Kontiki signed (long!) Gay Freres bracelet underscores this! The yellow gold Kontiki logo on the back (an artist impression of the Thor Heyerdahl expedition raft) is great, showing that this watch has not been overused. Please notice the 5 balls Eterna trademark/logo in the sail 🙂 . The dial has applied white gold hour markers with black onyx fill which are all intact. All the lume is there. The extra detail of the generously sized and dated GF bracelet adds to the fact that this is a vintage from, in our opinion, the very best time in the history of vintage mechanical Swiss watches. The (5 balls) ball bearing showing in the Eterna-Matic logo can be clearly seen in the centre (top) of the movement. The caliber is 1489K with serial number 5770657. It runs at 21600 beats with good amplitude and very little beat error. The test results are fine for a vintage, and it should show an accuracy within +/- 15 seconds per 24 hours. We have not serviced it, but will guarantee this result for 12 months and have it serviced if it is returned to us within a year of purchase.
The “Brevete” stamped next to “Eterna-Matic” means that there has been patent (-s) applied for. Many ETA movements come from Eterna´s use of similar movement build. This demonstrates clearly the importance of the Eterna-Matic in the development of Swiss watch movements.
How Eterna came to use the Kontiki name is a secret Thor Heyerdahl seemingly never clearly communicated, but the name has been used by Eterna (and still is) from the nineteen fifties.