Enicar Sherpa Guide 600 GMT, late 1960s

Dealer description — Analog/Shift

In May of 1956, a team of Swiss mountaineers summited Mount Everest after conquering nearby Lhotse. This was only the second time in history that the mountain, once thought unconquerable, was conquered. Moreover, it was a first for the Swiss, mighty alpine explorers who had left no peak in their native land untouched. Additionally, this marked the first time that climbers of any nationality had summited Lhotse, the fourth-highest mountain in the world. The Sherpas who accompanied them—leading them to the summit and digging out tents that had been covered in overnight snowfall—carried over over ten tons of supplies and equipment. Since the expedition received media attention, naturally the world was curious about what was included. Upon their return, the Bally reindeer boots that they wore, along with the Ovomaltine they drank, became desirable. And the Enicar watches that they wore were renamed “Sherpa” after their intrepid guides. The name conjured images of a desolate wilderness surmounted by snow-capped peaks, but also the redoubtable and courageous men who made that wilderness their home—all perfect qualities for a watch. Over the next decade, Enicar would release over 100 different varieties of Sherpa watches for all sports, not just the mountaineers who made them famous. The Sherpa dive watches, in particular, became some of the most attractive to consumers. So Enicar adapted the sturdy steel cases—capped with rotating bezels—for less aquatic pursuits. Like SCUBA diving, jet travel was on the rise, and watch brands raced against each other to create pilot’s watches that marked time in more than one time zone. The Sherpa GMT at first had only one crown and a rotating bezel, which was, like the Rolex GMT Master, painted in two different colors to delineate AM and PM. However, it’s the later dual-crown models known as the Sherpa Guide GMT that would become the most popular. The Sherpa Guide 600 GMT was released in the early 1960s, and went through three different variations throughout the 1960s. The watch that we offer here is an example of the third variation, Mark III, dating from the late 1960s, which is notable for its thin triangular-shaped seconds hand (here a vibrant red). A beefy tool watch, the Sherpa Guide 600 incorporates date, GMT and 24-hour timing functions that, when used in conjunction with the world-time bezel, enabled the wearer to calculate the time in major cities across the world. Though complex in looks, the Enicar Sherpa Guide is fairly simple to use. Suppose you're in London and it's 2PM and you would like to know the time in San Francisco. First, convert the local time to 24-hour time, making it 1400. Next, rotate the outer world-time bezel so that London (denoted on this bezel as GMT) lines up with the 14 on the inner bezel. Now, locate Los Angeles on the bezel and read the 24-hour time that lines up with it on the inner bezel, and voilà! In addition to the world-time functionality, the Sherpa Guide has a standard GMT complication which, when used with the two tone inner rotating bezel operated by the upper crown, allows the wearer to easily keep track of two time zones simultaneously. Colorful and a touch crazy, this Sherpa Guide is exactly what we love about vintage watches. Functionality and playful looks are rolled up into a package that was designed for rugged every-day wear. A sort of time capsule, where the contemporary cities of Yangon and Mumbai appear as their defunct names—Rangoon and Bombay respectively—make it a charming, wearable reminder of the past.