Citizen 62-6198

I never pass up the chance to showcase one of these 1970’s Citizen dive watches, they do seem to fly under the radar somewhat, at least compared to the 1970’s counterparts from the Seiko stable. They come in many different varieties, far too many to go into detail here but well worth a read is Stephens blog section about the vintage Citizen divers of the 1960’s to 1980’s.

This particular one came in for a new crystal and insert. It’s one of the more sought after Citizen 150m dive models of the time as it has the red date numerals and “6000” on the caseback in place of the more usual “Citizen Watch Co”. These can be dated via the serial number using a similar system to that of Seiko. If you know the decade the watch was produced in the first digit represents the year of manufacture, the next two digits represent the month. This example starts 406, as these were produced in the 1970’s we can tell it’s from 1974, the 06 means June was the month it was manufactured. Stephen has produced a wonderful movement table for determining the date of production of vintage Citizen watches.

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Seiko Chronometer

This 1972 Seiko 5626-5020 Chronometer came in for refurbishment at the end of last year.

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It’s screams 1970’s from every pore with its TV style dial, chunky case and faceted crystal. It’s powered by the 25 jewel, 28,800bph, calibre 5626a automatic movement. It also has the benefit of manual winding and hacking, the lower grade Seiko movements of the day tended not to have these features. These movements were a step up from the 21,600bph 5606a which normally found their way into Seikos Lord Matic range of watches. The 5625/6a was destined for the King Seiko range which also includes their line of “Superior” Chronometers which were produced at the Suwa plant, and “Special” Chronometers which came from the Daini plant. This particular model isn’t branded a King Seiko, but it is in all but name and has the legend “Chronometer Officially Certified” below the Seiko logo. The 56xx Chronometer was built to a specification of -3/+8spd and was certified by the in-house Seiko chronometer standard testing, the equivalent of the BO (Basel Observatory) Chronometer standard. A nice touch is that these chronometers were serialised with individual numbers engraved on the movement. (more…)

Another 62mas saved

I make no apologies for the fact that the Seiko 62mas is my favourite vintage Japanese dive watch. For me, the case size at 37mm is perfect and the design is a classic. I’ve owned every variant and restored many more of these beauties so when I was offered a case, bezel and dial I thought they would be fine for spares at the least. When it all arrived the case had no tube so was essentially useless and the dial had no feet! The bezel was a nice example though. Well these parts were put in stock and I thought no more about it. As time went by I picked up a spare 6217a movement complete with the case ring and some NOS crowns, stems and crystals. In the mean time I was contacted by a friend of mine who mentioned he was actively looking for a 62mas diver and did I know any for sale? I remember I had this project tucked away so I said if he hadn’t found one by the time this was finished he could take it if he liked. This gave me renewed interest in the project and when I revisited the case I realised I had enough parts for a complete watch if it wasn’t for the missing case tube that had been butchered out. I thought I’d have a go at fitting a generic tube of the correct dimensions, after all I had nothing to lose! I reamed out the hole in the case to the size of a suitable tube, however there were still some rough spots in the hole that I couldn’t remove as the diameter would have ended up too large. Although the tube pressed in nicely I decided to smear some slow curing two part epoxy around the inside of the hole and on the tube to prevent the possibility of any moisture ingress. The pictures start here, I didn’t take any earlier ones because in my mind at that time they were essentially just spare parts!

Here is the new tube in place in the case.

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Rolex calibre 2235

A calibre 2235 powered ladies Rolex recently came in for a service with the problem that it “keeps stopping”. Once the back was off it was apparent why it kept stopping as the witness marks made by the rotor dragging on the movement showed.

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The rotors axle had come loose, not enough to come off completely but enough for it to catch the movement and prevent it from turning freely and properly winding the movement. Once the rotor was removed the axle appeared to be in fine fettle with negligible wear so it was restaked back in place. (more…)

Gold Omega dress watch, calibre 1030

This lovely 1970’s Omega dress watch came in for a service a short while ago. I was struck by the simple, very elegant styling, the whole watch hangs together beautifully from the baton hands and applied indicies to the dial that fills the slender 9k gold case with its baton type lugs. It just looks right!

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Once inside, the calibre 1030 movement is every bit as lovely as the external components, you can tell the rhodium plated movement hasn’t been built down to a price, again it’s just right. (more…)

The Seiko one button chronograph

This little one button chronograph came in for a service and crystal change earlier in the year, It’s a Seiko reference 5719-8992. As you can see it’s actually out of the case and in a movement holder in this shot.

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These little one button chronographs are interesting watches in Seikos development. They marked the first commercial chronograph that Seiko developed for the mass market, whilst Seiko had made a chronograph model back in the forties it wasn’t available to the general public as all production was destined for the Japanese military forces. The 5719 and 5717’s were brought to market on the back of the 1964 summer olympic games in Tokyo where Seiko were the official timekeepers. (more…)

You can ring my Bell

This Seiko 4006-7011 came in recently for a service and to sort out a problem with the date changeover.

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The Bellmatic line was originally released in 1966 and carried on to the late seventies. The earliest Bells used the date only calibre 4005a movement, these were soon phased out and the day/date 4006a was used from thereon in. The alarms spring is wound by the crown whilst the movement is wound automatically.  To set the time of the alarm you pull the crown out one click and rotate the indicator on the chapter ring to the desired time. As soon as you pull the button above the crown out the alarm is then set, when it sounds just push the button back in to stop it. (more…)

The Seiko 6159-7001 – the SBDX001’s grandad

The 300m 6159-7001 (and 7000) diver is Seikos first proper attempt at a “professional” dive watch. When I say the first there was of course the 300m 6215-7001 which was released a year earlier in 1967, and the 150m 6217-8001 released in 1965, but according to the Seiko parts catalogue of the time these two models are listed as a divers watches and the 6159-7001 is listed as a professional divers watch – so who am I to argue with Seiko? Of course another clue is the fact the 6159 has”Professional” printed on the dial and the 6215 doesn’t! The 6215 and 6159 cases are very similar, both are monocoque and both share the same dimensions but the 6215 has a larger diameter crystal and slightly different bezel. It’s inside where the biggest changes are, instead of the 6215’s 35 jewel 19,800bph movement it has the beautiful 6159a movement, the 25 jewel, 36,000bph masterpiece that allows the seconds hand to almost glide around the dial. The case style and distinctive lines continue to this day in Seiko’s SBDX001 more commonly known as the MM300.

The example featured arrived looking rather sorry for itself.

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A little Revue

I refurbished this charming oblong cased Revue earlier in the year. As you can see it was looking a little tired with a marked dial and glass, and it didn’t run for more than a few seconds. It was decided that the watch would benefit from a replacement crystal, a dial refinish, a complete movement service and a clean up of the case.

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With the movement removed from the case you could see the amount of damage to the dial, and the bent seconds hand. (more…)