[Spencer PK]

Yeah, it's not a 6105-8000 Proof/Proof, but I'm still jacked! And yeah, it's my usual El Bayo gamble, but I've got a good feeling.


Under that disfigured crystal, it looks to be a stock 6139-6010, dated to June '69! It even has the original early style second hand as it should! The dial looks great, lume pips are nice and white. Case is dirty, but I'll bet you that it's not as rough in person. I've got a good original crystal here, as well as two running movements if that's an issue. I just need to figure out what kinds of bands these came with. But the greatest bit for me is that it has a Kanji day wheel! Yes!

 

[Spencer PK]

I had no idea that Seiko would have produced Chinese versus Kanji dials - this is the first I've heard of it. Looking at the day wheel on this watch, it's showing part of Sunday, which are the same in both languages according to that chart - I'm going to be darned excited to see what's in there once it arrives.

I wish that we had a "dibs" process so I wouldn't be bidding against fellow WIS, but I don't know how that would work.

As for the movement, I took it to mean that the watch was not running. This didn't worry me too much - I have multiple extra movements. the only thing that bothered me was the vagueness - I could open it up and find that everything is missing from the back of the movement, who knows. But even in that case, I have a 6010 movement at home, running. I could have everything swapped and going fairly quickly. I'd prefer to have the original movement up and running naturally, but we'll see.

 

[Spencer PK]

It looks GREAT with the stock bracelet.... damn - now the search begins... ???

 

[Spencer PK]

That is the Exact Bracelet, on a NIB 6139-6012 it has the six slots on each link. I have seen them around, I will keep an eye out.

please please do - I appreciate it.

 

[Spencer PK]

Very nice, should turn out to be a beauty. Kind of sad I sold my proof/proof 6139-6010 now


She will be missed...

LOVE that blue... I'll have to keep an eye out. I'm sad she's gone too - I would have made you an offer

 

[Spencer PK]

The lume is nice and bright on that watch, which is a very good sign. I own 50-60 6139s (gulp!), and have seen thousands of them. Water in the watch will give you movement corrosion, and that almost always goes hand-in-hand with lume deterioration. I have seen very, very few of these watches that had nice bright lume and dingy, corroded, rusty movements. Lume condition is one of the major factors I look at when buying one of these, not just because it affects the condition and look of the dial but because it is an excellent indicator of what you are going to find behind the caseback.

As a rule, "bright, clean lume = bright, clean movement".

I think you will take the caseback off of that one and find a beautiful, clean movement...with a few loose screws. I would say this is what causes 90% of the non-running movements I see in cosmetically clean watches. Usually, the loose screws are on the chrono bridge, but I have found a loose balance Dingling or two also. I am sure that one was worn for 2-3 years, a screw worked loose, the movement stopped, and the owner just did not bother to have it looked at.

Looks like it also has a daywheel problem (may be be stuck), but those are easily corrected without replacing the movement.

The watch below is one I got last year. It is a 6139-6010 Speed-Timer, and has a Kanji daywheel. Dates to November, 1969. Ironically enough, it also came from Watchco. ;D I think you will do fine with that one, and have it up and running in no time. Don't bother with an original bracelet...they are flimsy and kinda cheap feeling. This model is often found without it's original bracelet because they just do not hold up very well. I would slap that one on a mean black leather rally strap. ---A

I'm in awe of the sheer size of your collection! Wow! I currently only own five... but I've only been buying them for six or seven months )


Like you I've seen a huge and direct correlation between lume condition and movement condition. Don't know why that stuff is so prone to darkening in the presence of moisture etc but yeah. And also, like you, I've found numerous examples in just the few that I own with original watches with loose screws. The pride of my collection, a mint original gold-faced 6139-6005 (one-owner watch in the States, band broke, he threw it in a drawer until I bought it) was very lightly worn, but almost every surface screw on the back of the movement needed to be tightened.


when this one arrives I'll take lots of shots. Can't wait to get that back off.


I'm familiar with aligning the day wheel - it's sort of annoying that the design of that piece is such that the face can spin independently from the gear underneath. You'd have thought they would have locked them together with more than just friction.

 

[Spencer PK]

Hey, those pics bring up a question about day wheels - I have one that has that orange bar like yours is showing in your photos of the 7002 - what's up with that?

 

[Spencer PK]

thats the 'Sunday' date in Roman numerals (since there is no 0 it uses that orange block).
This one has English/Roman numerals.
III/TUE, VI/FRI...etc...

what was the market for each of the different day wheels? I know of Kanji, Chinese, English, Spanish, French and Roman. Was Roman/English limited to certain retail areas or countries?

 

[Spencer PK]

The Vatican?


Seriously though, I am not sure, I haven't seen many of them.
Its usually kanji/English and Spanish/English (the ones I have)

I have Eng/Spa, Eng/Ara, Eng/Rom and either a Kanji or Chinese one coming.


I've actually wanted to see a table of where these different day wheels were distributed to. The Eng/Roman ones I've seen on El Bayo auctions from the Far East.

 

[Spencer PK]

It arrived!


I missed the post yesterday, so I had to wait 12 hours to get it, but it's here!


Got it, and indeed it is nicer than the pictures showed. It doesn't look nearly as hacked up. It's totally original, and I'd swear it's never been apart. Original polish, original everything. Day wheel is Chinese, not Kanji. It's too bad the day wheel is misaligned, because otherwise I'd be reluctant to open it up.


Why?


Despite the auction stating it was DOA, it arrived running. Yup. My wife was looking at it while I was getting gas and since she didn't know it wasn't supposed to work, she went ahead and started the chrono function, and damned if it didn't start up. It's currently running though it's losing lots of time, and the day wheel needs to be aligned, so I'm going to open it up here in a bit.


Oh, it does have one other obvious problem - the subregister hand won't tick over, so the chrono hand stops at about five seconds to TDC.


My guess is that the original owner wore this until it had some problem or started losing time, or whatever, and then he chucked it into a drawer until my seller got hold of it. It did have a bracelet on it until recently - you can see where it was - but I'm not that freaked about it.


8)