Seiko Champion

Despite my love of 70s watches including Swiss brands, I still collect mostly Seiko watches. There weren’t a lot of Seiko auctions of real note in the past few months, more of the “same old, same old” that I’ve reported on before, but even so a few items worth mentioning.

Let’s talk about the three that got away first. First, this vintage Seiko went for $US$159 … my bid didn’t quite make it. For a watch from (roughly) 1944 it’s in really good shape. It was called a “Seiko banana” on the auction, have not heard that phrase before, it might be a Japanese to English translation glitch. Putting that aside, this is a wonderfully patterned dial for the era, with the old Seiko “S” symbol, looks great.






From about 1950, this watch was labeled Seiko Extra Flat (another model I was not familiar with before), and had the old Seiko “S” symbol as well. I did not bother bidding on this one, assuming it would go for more than I wanted to pay, despite the slight hand scrape near the middle of the sub seconds dial, and the missing lume on the minute hand. So now I’m kicking myself … it sold for $27!




And the third that I didn’t get? A 6308-8020. Looking at this you might wonder what’s special about it? Notice there is a date but no weekday… most models of this movement family use the 6309, which had both date and day wheels. The 6308 models were much less common, and worth picking up one in good condition like this if you are a collector. I low-balled my bid at $25 using Auction Sniper, and lost to another person’s low-ball bid of $25.49.



Speaking of 6309, you can still find these really cheap on eBay if you look, like this 6309-5330 “television dial” model in good shape, which sold for US$9.99 – skip the later 7xxx models unless it’s something special like a chronograph, with a few exceptions the 6xxx models are usually a better watch (plus the 7xxx era was when Seiko started making it’s really cheap-looking lower end models in the Seiko 5 lineup).



Need an even cheaper beater? This Pulsar diver is quartz, has seen some use, and has a scratch on the crystal. So why am I showing it here? Because the price INCLUDING SHIPPING was $19 on the SCTF. Get it for a kid’s watch if nothing else!



Keeping with quartz for a sec, on the other end of the spectrum was a 48mm 800m Citizen professional diver from 1992 – quite rare to see, much more so than the high-depth Seiko quartz divers. This one was selling for US$490 on SCTF. In many ways that makes it a reasonable buy in my mind, considering scarcity and pricing of equivalent Seiko watches. Having said that, Citizen is still a less desired brand for collectors.



Back to vintage models, this Seiko Cronos Special was in fairly good shape (better shape than I normally see watches in from the particular seller who auctioned this – typically they’re not bad, but have a bit more wear), and sold for US$232.



Let’s end today with three 6138 chronos. A bit of background … In spite of the numbering order the 6139 actually came out slightly before (early 1969), then the 6138 (1970). The difference was that the 6138 added a 12-hour register. You’ll find that less 6138 models were produced than 6139, so you’ll see less of these.

I’ve notice a drop in sell prices for 6139/6138 chronos lately in “average” shape. However, the three that I followed were all in excellent condition. The first, a 6138-8030 with an internal tachymeter bezel, is actually my personal favorite of the lot – the black and gold combo is something that can really backfire on a lot of watches, but here I find it really works well. It sold for US$230, a reasonable buy given the condition.



The second, although to my eye not quite as nice a design as the above, is still in great shape. This is a 6138-0030 with the more familiar styling of an external tachymeter bezel. Selling price was US$333.



Those amounts, despite being more than I would pay at the moment, are lower than they would have been a year ago. I’m finding that 6138/6139 chrono prices are dropping lately, and you may be able to find a good purchase at the moment if you are interested. I’ve seen this not only on eBay but also on the forums, where a number of collectors have been selling more than expected lately (it’s the economy, of course).

The third 6138 is in a different category … this geek-cred 6138-7000 “slide rule bezel”, aka “calculator bezel” model, has always held a special place for Seiko collectors, and this one is New Old Stock … unworn and with the box. Even the plastic slide rule indicator ring is in perfect shape! It sold for US$854.



Despite my comments on 6138/6139 prices dropping, there will always be specific watches that make you go “wow”, check your wallet, then sigh and close the window!