Seikos shrouded diver line started way back in in 1975 with the introduction of the Seiko 6159-7010 Professional. This watch came into being due to Seiko seeking to find a solution to the complaints from professional divers about watch failures at depth. Although the Japanese are famous for taking a design and applying their interpretation to it, the shrouded diver owed nothing to anyone, it was a truly unique design. It included several industry firsts, the first titanium case, the L-shaped single crystal gasket and of course the ceramic-coated titanium shroud. With a 600m depth rating, the 6159 dispenses with a helium release valve in part due to very consistent and tight manufacturing tolerances, but also due to the one piece case and screw down crystal retaining system. This means that the crystal cant blow out as atmospheric pressure drops in a decompression chamber as it’s physically restrained by a locking ring. It’s not hard to see how this watch earned the nickname ‘Tuna can”! The watch featured is a very early production 300m 7549-7010 from March 1978 and was released simultaneously with the 600m 7549-7009 ‘Professional’ titanium divers line. These were the first quartz divers to be seen from Seiko. This one came in for a movement service and a crystal change as it had acquired a non standard AR coated one at some point. Excuse all the reflections but these are buggers to photograph on the bench because of the domed crystal!
Diver
Seiko 6105-8000 NOS build
Sometimes I get jobs in that I can’t wait to start and the watch featured today is no exception. I’ve been watching this one move up the work queue with eager anticipation as I literally couldn’t wait to get stuck into it! The watch in question is a 6105-8000 with a production date of January 1969 but what makes this special is that apart from the donor movement everything else has been collected over a period of years and is all new old stock parts. When I say everything I mean everything, the list reads as a NOS case and caseback, NOS chapter ring, NOS crystal gasket, NOS crystal retaining ring, NOS Crystal, NOS bezel assembly (including tension spring), NOS crown and stem, NOS movement ring and caseback seal, NOS dial and dial spacer and finally a NOS handset. It’s very rarely I get to tackle jobs like this but when they come along I love it! This watch belongs to the owner of the previously featured 6306-7001 – what a collection he has, there are still a few watches of his I’d like to feature in the future. The picture below shows how the watch arrived, in lots of carefully wrapped packets.
Seiko 6306-7001
I’ve featured these JDM 6306-7001 divers before but this one is in such exceptional condition I’d be doing the Seiko enthusiasts that read my blog a disservice if I didn’t show it! It arrived from a prominent Seiko collector based in the far east for a service and re-seal, it always astounds me how examples like this can survive so well. I’ll be featuring a few more of this chaps collection as they get on the bench as he has some truly jaw dropping pieces. Here it is as it arrived, the dial plots have turned a lovely creamy colour.
Omega Seamaster Professional 2265.80
I’ve written about Omegas SMP before but this one has such a beautiful deep blue glossy dial it would be criminal not to feature it! It came in for a movement service as the owner has just bought it and there wasn’t any history with it.
TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5
This Aquaracer came in recently described as “not working as it got wet, it looks clean inside though”. At first glance it looks in remarkably good shape considering it got waterlogged.
Seiko 6105-8110
Another one of these iconic divers has been across the bench, this example is in fantastic original condition and just needed a service and a couple of small jobs doing.
Seiko 6105-8110
There’s not much more I can say about the 6105-8110 that I haven’t said already, but it’s always worth featuring one if I have the time! This example from March 1974 came in for a service recently.
Seiko 6306-7001
I’ve written about these JDM 6306 dive watches before but it’s worth a revisit just to showcase what beautiful condition this example from 1978 is in. It came in recently from a well known Seiko enthusiast for a movement service and a pressure test. It’s in outstanding cosmetic condition for a 37 year old wristwatch, the only negative points were the reason it came in, it needed a service! The amplitude was low and positional variation and beat error were a little high.
Tag Heuer diver 980.023
This Tag Heuer came in recently and had me scratching my head as to what was actually causing the stopping fault with it! The watch is powered by the ETA 963.116 quartz movement and the usual problem with these movements when they get to this age is either dirt stopping the train or the circuit or coil is dead. However, this one had been fitted with a NOS circuit/coil assembly but still wasn’t running correctly. It arrived from the relumers hence there were no hands fitted.
Omega SMP Quartz
Omegas Seamaster Professional series of watches have been produced since 1993 but the Seamaster series was actually introduced in 1947, with that history behind them you can see they are a very popular watch with the non collector market as well as collectors. The SMP comes in many different variations including chronographs, GMT’s, divers and even an APNEA model with a unique timing function for the apnea free-diving breathing technique! In addition to this they come in a huge array of sizes from ladies models through to the 49.2mm Railmaster version, and many different limited editions versions celebrating their link with the Bond movies. This particular quartz powered model came in for a full movement service and basic pressure test.
The Watch Bloke 