G
Guest
·Authored by sharpie
Hello to all
At first: Thank you all very much for this great forum here at watchuseek. Another "two thumbs up" goes out to Isthmus for starting this great idea of collecting reviews of vintage japanese watches on this site and for showing me the structure for my post with his great review of the true classic 6309-8239
So I´m happy to contribute a review of my vintage 7016-5011 Seiko chronograph.
Here we go:
[b]OVERVIEW[/b]
This Seiko Chronograph is often called the "Seiko Monaco" - cause of its case-design similarities to another famous watch: the Heuer Monaco.
Another interesting thing is, that the Swiss company ENICAR (does not exist anymore) sold a watch called the "Enicar Mantagraph" in the 70ies. This chronograph was equiped with the 7016A movement from Seiko, even the case was the same. So Seiko must have sold movements and cases to Enicar. By googeling the term "Enicar Mantagraph" some nice examples of this watch show up.
Anyway - let´s get back to the good old SEIKO 7016-5011 [img]
[img]http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/2824/seiko01.jpg
The grandfather of my wife gave it to me with some other nice watches after I told him that I am collecting wristwatches I was stunned and he was just laughing cause he said that he can´t read the time on his old watches anymore because of his bad eyesight.
He told me that he bought it maybe in the end of the 70ies or the beginning of the 80ies. So I used the Seiko production date calculator and it dated this watch to November 1984. But since the movement was just built between 1971 and 1978 - I would say it is from November 1974. Please correct my if I´m wrong or misinterpreted the serial number (it starts with: 4N).
Everything on this Chronograph is original and it has never seen a watchmaker since it was bought new by its former owner.
I would never get it polished or anything like that, cause I really like watches with wabi - I think watches that show their signs of usage are always telling great stories.
[img]
[b]DIAL AND HANDS[/b]
The middle part of the dial is a matte metallic-grey. The outer dial part is black.
The metal hour markers have polished edges and a small lume-dot on the ends.
The outer chapter markings are printed in silver color.
Dial is marked in silver lettering with: Seiko Chronograph Automatic Japan 7016-5010T.
The small chrono register at the 6 o´clock position has two hands on top of each other (minute and hour). The register is marked on top with "30" and "60".
The chapter ring around the chrono register is silver colored, the little inner dial is light blue and has silver colored chapter markings.
Datewheel on my watch is in German/English. Saturday is blue colored, Sunday is red colored.
The minute- hour- and chronograph-hand are polished stainless steel. Hour- and minute-hand are half-filled with lume (still glowing a little bit).
Chronograph hand has an orange colored tip.
The 30-minute counter hand is white, the 12 hour counter hand is black.
[img]http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/8723/seiko14.jpg
CASE
Typical Seiko quality - made out of solid stainless steel in a nice square design.
The crown is safely covered by the case.
Case diameter: app. 37mm without pushers (looks, feels and wears bigger I think) and 41mm lug to lug.
Caseback is marked with: Seiko Water Resistant Stainless Steel 4Nxxxx 7016-5011 Japan A.
The case of this watch is an interesting design-concept. I would call it "sandwich-style". To get access to the movement - first thing to do: remove the bracelet. Then the two "buttons" between the lugs have to be pushed and the upper part of the case can be lift off. The movement is housed in the backpart of the case. To get the movement out: the crown with the winding stem has to be released and then the movement can be lift out.
![]()
![]()
[b]MOVEMENT[/b]
The 7016A movement is based on the Seiko calibre 7005A.
When Seiko released the 7016A in 1971 it was the world´s thinnest (6.4mm high) automatic movement. It kept that title until 1987, when the Swiss company Piguet released their caliber 1185 which was only 5.5mm high.
The 7016A has 17 jewels and 21,600bph (6 beats per seond).
The functions of the movement:
- automatic winding with sweep second
- chronograph with 12-hours recorder and 30 minutes recorder (both chronograph registers share the same subdial at 6)
- calendar (day and date)
- bi-lingual change-over system for day of week
- day and date with quickset (quickset of the day by pressing the crown, date correction by winding the crown)
- "Diashock" shock resistant device
[img]http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/8779/seiko12.jpg
This is how the chronograph function works:
Pressing the 1st (upper) button at 2 o´clock releases the chronograph function, pressing it again stops the chronograph function. Pressing it again starts it again. Pressing the 2nd button at 4 o´clock resets the chronograph seconds hand to zero.
Another option is the flyback function: pressing the 1st button starts the chronograph function - by pressing the 2nd button the chronograph function resets instantly and it starts again.
The movement can not be wound up by hand, so if you have not worn the watch for a while you have to shake it a bit before you wear it.
![]()
CRYSTAL
The crystal is plastic (acrylic?) with an outer and inner metalring. The shape of the crystal is a nice square shaped "TV-screen" design. Once the upper case part is released you can see that the crystal is sitting there and was hold in place by the upper casepart.
BRACELET
The watch got the original bracelet with folded stainless steel links. It is marked on the clasp with: Seiko, and on the inside with: All Stainless Steel Japan B. The endlinks are not marked.
Lug size: 19mm.
![]()
![]()
CLOSING OPINIONS
Compared to most of my other watches which are mostly "tool- or military-watches" this is the most "dressy" one.
I like this watch a lot and enjoy wearing it. It is a watch with a nice history for me and has a nice history in the Seiko timeline.
All in all a true Seiko classic
Thanks for reading. I hope you all enjoyed this review. If someone has any questions or corrections to my review, please let me know.
All the best.
sharpie
Hello to all
At first: Thank you all very much for this great forum here at watchuseek. Another "two thumbs up" goes out to Isthmus for starting this great idea of collecting reviews of vintage japanese watches on this site and for showing me the structure for my post with his great review of the true classic 6309-8239
So I´m happy to contribute a review of my vintage 7016-5011 Seiko chronograph.
Here we go:
[b]OVERVIEW[/b]
This Seiko Chronograph is often called the "Seiko Monaco" - cause of its case-design similarities to another famous watch: the Heuer Monaco.
Another interesting thing is, that the Swiss company ENICAR (does not exist anymore) sold a watch called the "Enicar Mantagraph" in the 70ies. This chronograph was equiped with the 7016A movement from Seiko, even the case was the same. So Seiko must have sold movements and cases to Enicar. By googeling the term "Enicar Mantagraph" some nice examples of this watch show up.
Anyway - let´s get back to the good old SEIKO 7016-5011 [img]
[img]http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/2824/seiko01.jpg
The grandfather of my wife gave it to me with some other nice watches after I told him that I am collecting wristwatches I was stunned and he was just laughing cause he said that he can´t read the time on his old watches anymore because of his bad eyesight.
He told me that he bought it maybe in the end of the 70ies or the beginning of the 80ies. So I used the Seiko production date calculator and it dated this watch to November 1984. But since the movement was just built between 1971 and 1978 - I would say it is from November 1974. Please correct my if I´m wrong or misinterpreted the serial number (it starts with: 4N).
Everything on this Chronograph is original and it has never seen a watchmaker since it was bought new by its former owner.
I would never get it polished or anything like that, cause I really like watches with wabi - I think watches that show their signs of usage are always telling great stories.
[img]
[b]DIAL AND HANDS[/b]
The middle part of the dial is a matte metallic-grey. The outer dial part is black.
The metal hour markers have polished edges and a small lume-dot on the ends.
The outer chapter markings are printed in silver color.
Dial is marked in silver lettering with: Seiko Chronograph Automatic Japan 7016-5010T.
The small chrono register at the 6 o´clock position has two hands on top of each other (minute and hour). The register is marked on top with "30" and "60".
The chapter ring around the chrono register is silver colored, the little inner dial is light blue and has silver colored chapter markings.
Datewheel on my watch is in German/English. Saturday is blue colored, Sunday is red colored.
The minute- hour- and chronograph-hand are polished stainless steel. Hour- and minute-hand are half-filled with lume (still glowing a little bit).
Chronograph hand has an orange colored tip.
The 30-minute counter hand is white, the 12 hour counter hand is black.
[img]http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/8723/seiko14.jpg
CASE
Typical Seiko quality - made out of solid stainless steel in a nice square design.
The crown is safely covered by the case.
Case diameter: app. 37mm without pushers (looks, feels and wears bigger I think) and 41mm lug to lug.
Caseback is marked with: Seiko Water Resistant Stainless Steel 4Nxxxx 7016-5011 Japan A.
The case of this watch is an interesting design-concept. I would call it "sandwich-style". To get access to the movement - first thing to do: remove the bracelet. Then the two "buttons" between the lugs have to be pushed and the upper part of the case can be lift off. The movement is housed in the backpart of the case. To get the movement out: the crown with the winding stem has to be released and then the movement can be lift out.
[b]MOVEMENT[/b]
The 7016A movement is based on the Seiko calibre 7005A.
When Seiko released the 7016A in 1971 it was the world´s thinnest (6.4mm high) automatic movement. It kept that title until 1987, when the Swiss company Piguet released their caliber 1185 which was only 5.5mm high.
The 7016A has 17 jewels and 21,600bph (6 beats per seond).
The functions of the movement:
- automatic winding with sweep second
- chronograph with 12-hours recorder and 30 minutes recorder (both chronograph registers share the same subdial at 6)
- calendar (day and date)
- bi-lingual change-over system for day of week
- day and date with quickset (quickset of the day by pressing the crown, date correction by winding the crown)
- "Diashock" shock resistant device
[img]http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/8779/seiko12.jpg
This is how the chronograph function works:
Pressing the 1st (upper) button at 2 o´clock releases the chronograph function, pressing it again stops the chronograph function. Pressing it again starts it again. Pressing the 2nd button at 4 o´clock resets the chronograph seconds hand to zero.
Another option is the flyback function: pressing the 1st button starts the chronograph function - by pressing the 2nd button the chronograph function resets instantly and it starts again.
The movement can not be wound up by hand, so if you have not worn the watch for a while you have to shake it a bit before you wear it.
CRYSTAL
The crystal is plastic (acrylic?) with an outer and inner metalring. The shape of the crystal is a nice square shaped "TV-screen" design. Once the upper case part is released you can see that the crystal is sitting there and was hold in place by the upper casepart.
BRACELET
The watch got the original bracelet with folded stainless steel links. It is marked on the clasp with: Seiko, and on the inside with: All Stainless Steel Japan B. The endlinks are not marked.
Lug size: 19mm.
CLOSING OPINIONS
Compared to most of my other watches which are mostly "tool- or military-watches" this is the most "dressy" one.
I like this watch a lot and enjoy wearing it. It is a watch with a nice history for me and has a nice history in the Seiko timeline.
All in all a true Seiko classic
Thanks for reading. I hope you all enjoyed this review. If someone has any questions or corrections to my review, please let me know.
All the best.
sharpie
