# Picador Watches



## Jaymack (11 mo ago)

Hello everyone,

Hopefully a quick one for you. Can anyone shed some light on Picador watches? Who are they? Are they still in operation? Are their "vintage" watches collectible?

The reason I ask is because my late father had his own "one day Rodney we'll be millionaires" bag and in there is a Picador watch; but I cannot find anything about them?

To me it is a ladies watch with a rectangular face (portrait orientation) and this is blue in colour. The rest of the watch including the strap has rows and rows of "diamond" type stones (probably fake).

I'd really appreciate any help and guidance.

Regards and thanks in advance.

Jay


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## spinynorman (Apr 2, 2014)

Jaymack said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> Hopefully a quick one for you. Can anyone shed some light on Picador watches? Who are they? Are they still in operation? Are their "vintage" watches collectible?
> 
> ...


 Are you sure it is "vintage"? I'm just thinking that a watch found in OFAH merchandise might be more recent than what we understand as vintage. If you could post pictures - upload to a site like https://postimages.org/ and paste the links into your reply here - it would be easier to help you specifically on your watch.

The watch trademark database Mikrolisk says "Picador" was registered to Gunzinger Frères SA / Technos in Switzerland in 1972. I can't see any ladies watches in Google image search that look like they would be by this company.

There's also a UK trademark registration for "Picador" by Sellmoor Ltd of London dated May 1995. Sellmoor are watch and jewellery wholesalers. There's a lot of ladies watches decorated with Marcasite that Google throws up. These are often described as "vintage" because Marcasite was popular in the 1930s, but the watches are quartz and much more recent. For example, from Ebay ...










https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304289624465


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## SolaVeritate (Mar 21, 2021)

I have a Picador bought for its design really at a very very cheap price from ebay (so they won't fetch a princely sum I'm afraid). It's a 38mm but wears both extremely small and bulky at the same time. @spinynorman is probably correct (I use the term 'probably' very loosely as he very knowledgeable about these things :biggrin: ) in that, chances are it's pretty modern.

I think some of them are trash and some are rather interesting (even if they were made rather cheaply) but none will break the bank and very few will be sought-after.


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## spinynorman (Apr 2, 2014)

SolaVeritate said:


> I have a Picador bought for its design really at a very very cheap price from ebay (so they won't fetch a princely sum I'm afraid). It's a 38mm but wears both extremely small and bulky at the same time. @spinynorman is probably correct (I use the term 'probably' very loosely as he very knowledgeable about these things :biggrin: ) in that, chances are it's pretty modern.
> 
> I think some of them are trash and some are rather interesting (even if they were made rather cheaply) but none will break the bank and very few will be sought-after.


 Is that mechanical? I assume it is from the lack of "Quartz" on the dial, and "PICADOR" in block caps doesn't match the UK registration. In which case, that looks more likely to be the Gunzinger / Technos connection. Have you opened it up to get a look at the movement?


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## SolaVeritate (Mar 21, 2021)

spinynorman said:


> Is that mechanical? I assume it is from the lack of "Quartz" on the dial, and "PICADOR" in block caps doesn't match the UK registration. In which case, that looks more likely to be the Gunzinger / Technos connection. Have you opened it up to get a look at the movement?


 Nope. Quartz. Never opened it but it has been badly opened and hacked a few times before I've had it.

I think the capitals on the bracelet are more design than trademark. If I did open it, I would guess it to have an 80s quartz, any earlier than that would put it into the 'interesting' bracket and at the price I paid I would doubt it.

It's still an odd little thing that I hold onto just because the design.


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## Jaymack (11 mo ago)

Hi,

Thank you for the responses so far. In terms of "vintage" that was just an assumption as I know this would have been acquired well back in the day so to speak.



spinynorman said:


> The watch trademark database Mikrolisk says "Picador" was registered to Gunzinger Frères SA / Technos in Switzerland in 1972. I can't see any ladies watches in Google image search that look like they would be by this company.
> 
> There's also a UK trademark registration for "Picador" by Sellmoor Ltd of London dated May 1995. Sellmoor are watch and jewellery wholesalers. There's a lot of ladies watches decorated with Marcasite that Google throws up. These are often described as "vintage" because Marcasite was popular in the 1930s, but the watches are quartz and much more recent.


 I do know that it was pre-1995 and from my fathers movements it could well go back to 1972.

I had a little trouble with Postimages but I think I have sussed it now and these should be the links for the three images:


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## spinynorman (Apr 2, 2014)

Jaymack said:


> Hi,
> 
> Thank you for the responses so far. In terms of "vintage" that was just an assumption as I know this would have been acquired well back in the day so to speak.
> 
> ...


 Thanks for the pictures. In Postimages you need to take the URL from the Share/Direct Link option, without all the "[URL" stuff. I stripped that out of the quoted text and now the pictures show correctly there.

I'm sorry if this is disappointing, but the dial clearly says "Quartz". There were early quartz movements in the mid 1970s, but it's unlikely one would be in a watch like this. You could take the back off and confirm it, but I am sure you'll find a 1990s or later commodity module made in the Far East. The "Picador" on the dial is in the form registered by Sellmoor Ltd in the UK in 1995, and "Picador London" on the back reinforces that. Sellmoor Ltd was incorporated in 1993, but first posted accounts in 1995.

@SolaVeritate I did a wider search for "Picador" trademarks and there was one where the name is in block capitals, registered in Turkey by HALİM UNUK in 2011.

https://www.tmdn.org/tmview/welcome#/tmview/detail/TR502010000029349


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## SolaVeritate (Mar 21, 2021)

@Jaymack here's your pictures.










Anyway, I got curious and opened the caseback. Nothing special in there. I don't know movements and couldn't tell you a year. My blind guess would be 90's - 00's.


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## spinynorman (Apr 2, 2014)

SolaVeritate said:


> Nothing special in there. I don't know movements and couldn't tell you a year.


 It's a Seiko/Epson/Hattori Y121E. TMI Time Module Inc is a subsidiary of Seiko Group. There's a manual here which dates to 2014-16.

There's various "Picador London" caseback styles on watches with the registered logo. I don't see the missing P as a problem, pretty confident the watch is from Sellmoor. They also own the brands "Louis Dino" and "Softech". No idea where they got the watches from though.

Oh, wait, here they are ...


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## Jaymack (11 mo ago)

I had a look and yeah looks like cheap sh....................

Thanks everyone, i'll cancel the Bentley order.

Rgrds, J


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Dear @spinynorman and @SolaVeritate, may I just add my "threepence" about your Picador watch, Sola. The design of the piece is very reminiscent of certain "Storm" models from the 1990s (the firm started in 1989) into the 2000s, including the use of the brand name in upper case on the bracelet. Given that Storm was something of a design leader in decent quality fashion watches at the time, I would suggest that the Picador watch is the derivative model. Here is a picture of a Storm example with aesthetics rather similar to your Picador model:









(Pic from i.ebayimg.com)


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