#TBT A Legendary Czech Prim Sport Made Into A Unique Timepiece
Imagine taking a €500 watch and giving it to the Artisans de Genève workshop to create something truly unique. That’s sort of what happened to one beaten and forgotten Prim Sport watch, which I received as a Christmas gift from my beloved watchmaker Tomas Sinal in 2019.
You have read about Tomas Sinal quite often in the last six years I’ve been carrying the #TBT torch. My watchmaker, now also my good friend, is one of the most curious minds with patience and understanding of my exploratory heart. Many times, I brought him timepieces with movements, complications, or states of disrepair that most watchmakers would not even touch. Although he often had to take a deep breath, he never disappointed me and made impossible efforts to save some of my watches. Thank you, Tomas.
A Czech legend
Tomas knows how much I like quirky watches, so he decided to surprise me. It was already six years ago when he set himself on a challenging mission to create a special version of a Prim Sport watch, a legendary Czech diver watch from the 1970s. The watch is not so famous among collectors. It comes from the Prim manufacturer, which made Czechoslovakia the eighth country in the world that could produce watches in 1949.
How the idea came
Earlier in 2019, I stormed into Tomas’s workshop and put the bizarre Timex Heinz on his bench. Yeah, it’s a watch that, after being introduced on #TBT, found its way into Ed Sheeran’s watch collection. Well, what he doesn’t have in there, I’m sure, is a Prim Sport with a phantom seconds disc and a cartoon drawing of himself.
When Tomas was thinking about a gift for me, the Timex Heinz came to his mind. When he spotted an abandoned wreck of a Prim Sport in his parts stock, the idea was born. The movement is all original, but the Plexi crystal, hands, and dial are fabricated, as is the transparent disc with the character.
The tough part
Fitting a transparent disc under the crystal so it could turn without friction was a real challenge. He had to heat the disc to achieve the particular shape. This was done with a hit-and-miss approach, so he spent one whole day full of countless attempts to get the disc ready. Once complete, the second real challenge was to find the exact center of the disc. While the movement was all original, Tomas had to make a new tube on his lathe to which the disc was glued.
Turning the Prim Sport around
Another surprise awaited me when I turned my new customized Prim Sport watch around. However much I dislike the term “exhibition case back,” here, it fits. The Prim Sport is nothing but a utility watch for me. Still, even if the movement is super simple, seeing it through the sapphire glass is a stunning experience. What makes it so special is not just the Prim engraving but also my name! Yes, I have my name engraved on a watch movement. That’s pretty moving! Thanks again.
Dial beauty
I could not get enough of the dial. And it’s not only due to the character itself. I love the pale white Prim Sport dial, which is unusual on its own. What pleases me most, though, are the big, fat lume indexes. This is probably the best shot I have ever taken that shows the plasticity of the lume application. There is no framing to hold it there. The way Tomas applied it is just phenomenal, from the statue-like feeling the indexes offer to the precision towards each black index outline. Hats off to Tomas for the lume, its patinated tone, and the method of application.
Last thoughts on the Prim Sport
At the time of its production, the Prim Sport could easily compete with the best divers available. The fact that the first Czechoslovakian swimmer to make it across the English Channel (known to the French as La Manche) wore a Prim Sport on his wrist is a testament to its quality. I am not sure if my watchmaker would be willing to make another unique piece with a cartoon version of you. But if you want to have one timepiece in your collection from the Czech brand Prim, it should be a first-generation Prim Sport.
