Vintage Digital / LCD - Seiko World Times - Collectors & Owners thread

5020 Views 34 Replies 8 Participants Last post by dapellegrini, 6 mo ago

dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · Sep 2, 2021 (Edited)

As I am finishing up (for now) my research on the mechanical World Time watches from Seiko - I am finding myself more and more interested in what came next - in this case specifically the Digital / LCD World Times that Seiko produced from 1977 through some point in the 1990's (to be determined).

I am starting at absolute zero here - I knew nothing about these watches a few days ago, so there is a very high likelihood that my current assumptions are not correct. I am hoping some other owners / enthusiasts can help me get this all straight! Thankfully there are a lot of catalog scans of this watch - helping me get started.

I believe there were essentially 4 watches here - going something like this:

M158-500X - The original PAN AM, Lemon colored LCD
- 1977 - 1979
- One dial version has city names abbreviated
- Another dial version spells out the city names
A358-500X
- 1980 - 1982 ?
- The follow-up to the gen 1, gets an Alarm function
- Looks like we get a new LCD panel
A239-50XX
- Dec 1979 - 1982 ?
- This is a completely different watch
- Sold along side the A358
- Had two layer LCD - so you could set the time zone using a world map screen
A7X8-50XX
- 1984 - 1990 ?
- This is the 3rd gen of the original watch
- Gets full city names on the dial/bezel
- I have seen A708 and A718 versions - not sure the difference?
- Is this the last LCD world time from Seiko?

Please help me get this correct!

Here's the start of a Google Doc:

docs.google.com

Seiko World Time - Vintage Digital Watches

2nd GENERATION - DIGITAL / QUARTZ LCD Vintage SEIKO WORLD TIME WATCHES 1977-1988 M158-500X 1977 - 1979 A358-50XX 1979 - 198_ A239-50XX 1979 - 198_ A708-5000 1984 - 1988 AUTHOR Dan Pellegrini [email protected] DATES Created: September 1, 2021 Last Revised: September ...

docs.google.com

docs.google.com

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dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #2 · Sep 2, 2021

4

Here are the M158's:

And the follow-up A358's:

And the completely different A239's:

And perhaps the final edition A7X8's:

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dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 3, 2021

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dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 29, 2021

I've now acquired my first in this series... August 1978 m158-5009 "Pan-Am" "Lemon". Love it.

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balance

· #5 · Sep 30, 2021

Very, very nice!

dapellegrini said:
I've now acquired my first in this series... August 1978 m158-5009 "Pan-Am" "Lemon". Love it.

dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 17, 2022

Here's my latest acquisition (the A718 at right):

And....

(drum-roll) ....

I've (finally) put up a first revision/post on the M158-500X:

seikoworldtime.com

The Seiko World Time M158-500X - PAN AM

All about the 1st series of digital LCD world time watch from SEIKO, produced in 1977

seikoworldtime.com

I've also put up the ad/catalog scans that I could find:

seikoworldtime.com

Old Ad Scans: Seiko World Time M158-500X

A small collection of ad and catalog scans of the SEIKO World Time M158-500X

seikoworldtime.com

If you spot anything that isn't correct, typos etc - please let me know.

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dirkpitt73

· #7 · Jan 18, 2022

Thanks for putting this together. I've always been interested in these! Oh, and too bad Sanger Harris was out of business by 2009. I wonder how they would have responded to the "reprogramming" offer?

Sent from my SM-N986U1 using Tapatalk

dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 19, 2022

I have an A239-502A in the mail... that's the one with the full map display dual LCD. I will post a photo of that when it arrives - after some small clean-up and attempts at repair.

As for reprogramming, you really just have to figure the leap year offset, if I recall I set the year to 1981 (in 2021) and everything is happy. It would be fun to bring it back to the jeweler for the reaction. Like so many things, their guarantees are only as good as their businesses... which usually means not great.

on the PAN AM - I am surprised (shocked even) at how many copies were made - with various brand names - many meant to look like the PAN AM with the dial frame of cities and time zones, but then no world time complication on the actual watch! I am working on an index of these watches at the moment. They seem to offer solid evidence that the PAN AM was a very popular watch that was easy to sell and something people wanted to be seen wearing (even if not real).

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dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jan 19, 2022

Here's a write-up on the copies of the PAN AM that you can find out there right now with very little effort. If you know of any others please send me links and or photos!

seikoworldtime.com

Counterfeits and Copies of The Seiko M158 PAN AM

As the saying goes, imitation is the highest form of flattery. And the SEIKO M158 had quite a few admirers.

seikoworldtime.com

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scubarob99

· #10 · Jan 19, 2022

Great writeup. The Pan Am is my favorite LCD.

Rob

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

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dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jan 20, 2022

4

My A239 arrived a little more quickly than I was expecting. It is going to need a real good cleaning at some point - but is in great shape.

I'm the second owner:

I am surprised how much smaller the A239 and the A718 are next to the PAN AM.

And on the wrist

I'm still in the market for the black dial frame version of this watch, ideally marked WORLD TIME ALARM, instead of just WORLD TIME.

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SeikoPsycho2

· #12 · Jan 21, 2022 (Edited)

2

Here is the info you requested on the other forum. I'm uploading the image here because it's a little less time consuming.
1980 Quartz Casing Guide

Handwriting Font Paper Paper product Document

Handwriting Font Book Material property Rectangle

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dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jan 21, 2022

SeikoPsycho2 said:
Here is the info you requested on the other forum. I'm uploading the image here because it's a little less time consuming.
1980 Quartz Casing Guide

View attachment 488754

View attachment 488755

Wow - Thank you! I will spend some time this weekend deciphering codes to figure out which color lcd's went in which cases.

If its not to much hassle can you post up the same info on the A358-500X (should be same years), and if its in there the M158-500X?

scubarob99

· #14 · Jan 21, 2022

Always thought lemon went into the gold and gray went into silver. While true for calibers like A158 or A159, clearly doesn't work with a number of Seikos, lemonface and Pan Am for starters

Rob

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jan 21, 2022

2

@SeikoPsycho2 - Thank you for these.

There are two curious omissions, the A239-502A (very common) and the A239-5020 (less common)... I have found watches from 1979 for both of these, 1980 for the 502A, but not yet the 5020 in a 1980 case (so far):

A239-502A from 1980

Wood Button Water Dead bolt Asphalt

A239-5020 from 1979

Watch Analog watch Watch accessory Clock Gadget

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SeikoPsycho2

· #16 · Jan 22, 2022

Generally, from my observations, the casing guides sometimes run a year or so behind the model year. I also have some other Quartz casing guides. I'll see if the other models you're interested in are listed.

SeikoPsycho2

· #17 · Jan 22, 2022

Here is the info on the 358-500X

Font Material property Handwriting Paper Number

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dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #18 · Jan 23, 2022

This is very helpful. Here is what I have so far:

(SS=Stainless Steel, SGP=Gold Plated)

M158-5009:
- Correct SS Bracelet Z-129
- Correct SGP Bracelet Z-129

A358-5000:
- Correct SS Bracelet Z-309 - Black and White Dial Frames
- Correct SGP Bracelet Z-309 - Black Dial Frame

A358-5009:

Correct SS Bracelet B-487 - White Dial Frame (apparently no Black Frame on this model!)
Correct SGP Bracelet B-487 - Black Dial Frame

A239-5000:

Correct SS Bracelet Z-330 - Black Dial Frame, Correct Map LCD: Black
Correct SGP Bracelet Z-330 - Brown Dial Frame, Correct Map LCD: Red

A239-5009:

Correct SS Bracelet Z-330 - Black Dial Frame, Correct Map LCD: Black
Correct SGP Bracelet Z-330 - Brown Dial Frame, Correct Map LCD: Red

A239-5010:

Correct SS Bracelet Z-330 - Blue Dial Frame
Correct Map LCD: Green

Here is what I am still missing:

- M158-5000 (maybe in the 1979 or 1978 guide?)
- The A239-502A and A239-5020 (maybe in the 1981 guide?)
- The A708 and A718 (perhaps in the 1984 or 1985 guide?)

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dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #19 · Jan 28, 2022

And the missing ones I have not yet seen casing guides for, but based on image data collected to date:

M158-5000

Correct SS Bracelet XAS020
No SGP version

A239-502A

Correct SS Bracelet GA950 - Blue Dial Frame, Correct Map LCD: Black
No SGP version

A239-5020

Correct SS Bracelet GA950 or XGA950L - Black Dial Frame, Correct Map LCD: Black
Correct SGP Bracelet GA04A - Brown Dial Frame, Correct Map LCD: Red

A708-5000

Correct SS Bracelet YA24A - Black Dial Frame
Correct SGP Bracelet YA23A(-E) - Gilt Dial Frame

A718-5010
- No clue (yet)

A718-5030

Correct SS Bracelet G1106 - Black Dial Frame
Correct SGP Bracelet G1106 - Gilt Dial Frame

And for posterity sake, here are the replacement batteries:

M158 - SR1130W or 389
A239 - SR927W or 395
A358 - SR1120W or 391
A708 - CR2016
A718 - CR2016

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dapellegrini

Discussion Starter · #20 · Jan 28, 2022

2

Several updates:

The digital collection now counts 4:

I have another 8 (ya, eight more) in the mail - TBD which will be for parts vs working examples... More on that soon.

I've also updated the website to support the Digital series properly. And a few new articles:

seikoworldtime.com

Authenticating The Seiko World Time M158-500X

Tips on confirming the originality of your Seiko World Time M158-5000 and M158-5009

seikoworldtime.com

seikoworldtime.com

Old Ad Scans: Seiko World Time A239-50XX

A small collection of ad and catalog scans of the SEIKO World Time A239-50XX

seikoworldtime.com

seikoworldtime.com

Counterfeits and Copies of The Seiko A239

As the saying goes, imitation is the highest form of flattery. And the SEIKO A239 had quite a few admirers.

seikoworldtime.com

After some more wrist time with the A239, that will likely be the next bit of content. There is a lot to unpack with the A239 - at least five model numbers, and lots of small tweaks.

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