Hi All,
I have never done a watch review in my life, so appreciate it if I get any details wrong, please step in and correct me. The info/review posted below was mainly based on 2 sources, (1) my own observations/feelings about the watch I own, (2) reading and compiling whatever information I can source from various mediums, books, internet resources, etc.
The Seiko 7A28 series, introduced in 1983, Seiko produced the world's first all-analog-display quartz chronograph. 11,307 RAF-issued Seiko chronograph ( Gen. 1 ) was procured from Seiko UK and issued primarily to Royal Air Force pilots and navigators from October 1984 until November 1990. These used the 7A28 movement.
Today we will be taking a closer look at the "civilian version" as mentioned by online collectors communities, the 7A28 7040.
For the benefit of those who do not already know, 7A28 represents the movement and 7040 represents the dial model number of the watch. I understand that there are 2 versions of the 7A28 7040 dial. The 7040 dial which I own, versus the "100M sports version"(Last picture at the bottom). The dials were almost identical right down to the watch and chronograph hands, there were 3 main differences that I spotted;
Compared to the non-sports version, the sports version had the additional details inscribed on the dial:
1. The chronograph face at 9 o'clock had the extra word "MIN"
2. The chronograph face at the 3 o'clock had the extra "1/10S"
3. For the sports version, the dial indicates SEIKO, QUARTZ, then a cursive Chronograph and finally SPORTS 100. For the other version, it simply says SEIKO, CHRONOGRAPH, QUARTZ.
I did some research weeks ago vaguely recall coming across a forum posting explaining the difference, it seems that one of the versions were meant for the Japanese Domestic Market and the other version was for export. Now I don’t know how true this is, but it seemed like a logical way to differentiate the versions.
Anyway back to the watch review, the case is a brushed surface, no shiny, polished, mirror finishing parts, possibly designed for a more rugged everyday wear watch. The rotating bezel is Bi-directional which means you can turn it clockwise or counter clockwise. Clicks as it passes through each second, hence you get 60 clicks on a complete revolution. The bezel action is smooth and clicky and offers a good grip for rotation. It comes with a brushed, stainless steel bracelet not sure if its original or another original Seiko bracelet fitted.
The 7Axx series had 15 jewels (base the 7a38 had 17 and is the day date model) it has four stepper motors and all metal gears, no plastic parts.
3 pushers and 1 crown in total. Crown and 1 pusher on the left, 2 on the right. The pusher at 2 o'clock starts and stops the chrono, the one at 4 stops and resets, the one at 10 is the split function, and the crown for setting time, and zeroing all the counters is at 8. The counter at 3 is the 1/10th counter, the one at 9 is the 30 min, and the one at 6 is secs. Dial is matt black color, tachy on inner chapter ring, there are some forums which mentions that the hands are promethium coated enabling glow in the dark, however mine doesn’t appear to be promethium coated it certainly does not glow in the dark.
Dimensions:
Diameter 40mm across bezel
Thickness 10mm
Lug width 20mm
Case:
Stainless steel - brushed finish with polished highlights
Bi directional rotating bezel (1 second clicks)
Mineral glass
Non screw down crown
Screw down caseback
Dial:
Matt black dial
Gloss white hours and minutes hands
White metal central chrono seconds hand and sub registers
Movement:
Seiko 7A28 quartz 15 jewels
Chronograph measuring in 1/10 seconds to 30 minutes
Constant seconds at 6
Hacking
The watch with its quartz precision, is amazingly accurate for its age. This is the first watch I bought from ebay, about a month back, and am not sure of the servicing history but a few weeks back I brought it to the local authorised Seiko dealer and had the battery replaced.
This concludes my review of the Seiko 7A28 7040. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed making it. Appreciate all feedback from data accuracy to my presentation format.
Thanks for reading.
Jon
Removed water resistance.
