Quirky watch alert! …this time it’s a Stellaris Moonstone.
(Click pictures to enlarge)
Though branded ‘Stellaris’, any reader with an interest in vintage Mondia watches will likely recognise this watch as one of their Moonstone models. Mondia produced these and other Stellaris models, exclusively for sale in branches of the US department store, Sears & Roebuck.
Rather than produce their own watches, Sears, Roebuck & Co. commissioned other manufacturers to produce watches under the Stellaris name. Seiko being another manufacturer who produced Stellaris branded models in the 1970’s, powered by their transistorized 3302A calibres.
According to this article by Tomas Rosputinsky over at Fratello, Mondia first registered the Stellaris name in 1963 and you can find watches from that period with both Mondia and Stellaris branding on the dial. How and when the Stellaris brand name transferred to Sears, Roebuck & Co is unclear.
It’s also worth mentioning that Sears, Roebuck and Co, had another in-house brand, Tradition, under which Heuer produced versions of their Carrera chronograph.
I’ve had several of these watches on the bench over the years, some having both Tradition and Stellaris branding (and now I know why!)
While I can’t date the subject of this post accurately, this vibrant Mondia Moonstone advert from 1970 shows the full model range and I imagine the Stellaris models will have been produced around the same time.
Inspecting the Stellaris more closely, the watch is devoid of any Mondia branding – an original Mondia Moonstone has a branded dial, case, crown and strap.
The Stellaris arrived as a non-runner and with a number of technical issues. As you may have noticed in the first picture, the watch was missing its crown and looking at the side profile, things didn’t get much better as the case tube had been squashed and the crystal had been broken in an attempt to lever it out.
Ordinarily, you’d use an air pump to blow out the crystal, but the only option here was to break out the rest of the crystal and hope for the best.
Regarding the missing crown, I was pleased to see threads still on the end of the stem. If it had sheared off, splitting the two-piece stem would have been pretty much impossible. Thankfully, I was able to repair the crown tube and screw on a suitable crown to separate it.
With the crystal and stem split removed, we still aren’t out of the woods as there is a thin ring of metal around the dial which needs to be carefully levered out without damaging the dial. After that, the watch can finally be removed from the case by inserting a screwdriver into the crown tube and teasing it upwards.
After all that effort, inside is a 17 jewel manual A. Schild cal. 1950/51 with date and Sears Roebuck Co. branding – the ’17’ in the lower half of the dial corresponding to the number of jewels in the movement.
In a Mondia Moonstone, the movement is a little more upmarket, being Mondia branded and plated, but operationally, they are identical.
If you’re thinking the ‘faff-factor’ is high with the disassembly of this watch… we aren’t finished yet!
Next are the main hands, which as you can see, are two large discs. The traditional sweep second hand can be removed using a hand puller as normal, but levering off the discs with hand levers risks bending them, so the best way is to loosen the dial securing screws and use the dial for leverage to prise them off.
Care must be taken here to avoid the date ring which sits just under the dial edge, and this kind of delicate operation always takes more pressure than you would like, but eventually… pop! The discs dislodge.
Despite the rough handling the watch had suffered in the past, it was in pretty good condition overall, needing no more than a routine service to get it back up and running. With the case cleaned, a new crown and crystal in hand, I could start the assembly process which was relatively straight forward, the only real issue being fitting the crystal which needed to be squeezed in the claw to the point where I was worried it was going to crack.
Eventually, with a sigh of relief, it squeezed in and this project was at an end.
Here is the watch all freshened up…. ain’t she a beaut! (Don’t worry, I’m fully aware that this watch won’t appeal to everyone! 🙂 )
If you’re tackling one of these, it’s well worth taking the extra time to ensure that the calendar works flawlessly and running the movement for an extra day or two to ensure there are no unexpected issues, otherwise you’ll have to go through the whole disassembly process again.
Rich.
