Eff you Swiss people and your stupid chronographs

peasant

For months now I've hankered after an automatic chrono ...but I had to come to the realisation that even my famous bargain sniffing talents weren't getting me anywhere. Anything powered by a Valjoux 7750 (or its derivatives) was plain and simply above my self imposed pain threshold, new or used.

Anything with a recogniseable name and decent design costs roundabout a thousand minimum ...anything below that is either dubious by name, dubious by looks or both.

Nothing against Chinese movements but "Asian 7750" or "Asian Valjoux" doesn't quite sit right with me ...so that was out too.

So today, in an act of despair, I changed my usual e-bay search from "7750" to "automatic chronograph" and my eyes were opened to the weird and wonderful world of vintage Seikos

I had of course heard of the famous bullheads, the "Panda" and the goldy one with yer man's name ...but I had never heard or seen the "6138-3002" aka "Jumbo"...how remiss of me.

Well ...that'll soon change because I just bought one ... after a little bit of research.

I think it looks just class ...I shall report once it arrives




not only does it look good, it also has an interesting movement:
http://www.pmwf.com/Watches/WatchSchool/WS19%20Servicing%20a%20SEIKO%206138%20Chronograph/WS%2019%20Servicing%20a%20SEIKO%206138.htm

peasant

Anyone for a bit of Gerry Rafferty?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy2DG5a0rs8

Kintarō Hattori

I'm a big fan of vintage Seiko chrono's- they really got the styling spot on with so so many of them.

Eoin

How old is that watch? It still looks really current.

peasant

That particular watch is a tender 38 years old ...this design was built throughout the 70's

Blackpitts

peasant wrote: »

That particular watch is a tender 38 years old ...this design was built throughout the 70's

...and stolen from the Omega Speedmaster 3750

fishguy

Very clean design and yes it looks very current. kind of reminds me of Porsche Design watches, specially with the white and yellow on black color combinations.

fg

peasant

Blackpitts wrote: »

...and stolen from the Omega Speedmaster 3750

It may well be that the Speedy was part of the inspiration for this watch ...I still like the execution though.

Plus I can't/won't afford a Speedy, but this one I most definitely can.

There are plenty of "distinct" Seiko chronos from the seventies that can't be accused of looking like anything else ...but I've got enough whacky watches already and wanted something a bit more distinguished looking.

Eoin

It looks a cracker - look forward to the review when you receive it.

peasant

Found this on WUS

It's a US ad from 1969, showing mostly 6139 chronos (with one register) and two 6138's (two registers) that were newly introduced that year.



so let's see ...145 dollar in 1969 ...according to this http://www.1soft.com/todaysdollars.htm equals 709 dollar today ...yepp ...I got another bargain

Nolimits

peasant wrote: »

so let's see ...145 dollar in 1969 ...according to this http://www.1soft.com/todaysdollars.htm equals 709 dollar today ...yepp ...I got another bargain

But then you have to factor in over 40 years of depreciation :pac:


The watch you bought it lovely, and purely because of this I've been keeping an eye on other vintage Seiko chronographs on ebay, you appeared to get an excellent specimen. I've never owned vintage before, but mostly because I don't want to go below 40mm, these watches are a perfect size. I look forward to your own pic when it arrives.

peasant

Nolimits wrote: »

....when it arrives.

I was hoping to get it before the long weekend but apparently her Majesty's Royal Mail doesn't like dealing with peasants ...they sat on my parcel for three whole days before releasing it :mad:

peasant

Well, it has arrived and I'm a very happy camper

I can see why they call it the "Jumbo", it's certainly no shrinking violet, especially not on the thin and narrow period bracelet which makes it look twice as big.

The watch is in great condition for its age, everything works as it should, lume is of course long since burnt out and I'm not sure that me and the bracelet will become friends. It's very dainty and of the hair eating kind (if not as bad as a Vostok bracelet).

I'll do a proper review once I've had more time with the watch and better light ...in the meantime here's a few bad pictures taken quickly before the light failed me altogether.

On first opening the box it came in:



all there



quick size comparison with the 45 mm Vodolaz I was wearing today




on the wrist




fit that under the cuff of your shirt

Eoin

Looks fantastic - great choice.

peasant

The old lady seems a bit slow though ...-6 sec per hour so far with the chrono running (without it running it's somewhat hard to tell,as there is no small seconds hand )

We'll see how that develops over the next few days/weeks.


EDIT:
All it needed was some warmth and a hug
After a day on the wrist it's now running at about minus one minute or so per day. I could live with that, but who knows, it might improve further still

El Kabong!

Very nice. Will probably dip my toe into similar waters at some point.

For now I will make do with my current Citizen auto chronos:

CarltonBrowne

I like the octagonal* appearance of the 2nd one. Can you tell us a bit more about it?


















* I haven't actually counted the sides of the bezel of this watch but I thought that octagonal sounded better than polygonal for some reason......

El Kabong!

They are essentially the same watch/movement, but the octagonal bullhead seems to be a bit rarer.

Triple register auto chromo with day date and flyback, and 28,800 beats per hour.

This is an excellent source of info:

http://sweep-hand.org/citizens-vintage-chronographs