I was given my grandfather's old seiko watch today. I'm trying to figure out when it was made. It's a simple seiko 5, nothing fancy. He passed away 20 years ago, and yet all it took was a little shake from me for it to start ticking again. How old do you think it is? Looks early 90s to me.
The first two digits of the six-digit number on the back are the key. The first digit "0", represents the year of manufacture. You have to know the decade. From looking at a few others on the web, my guess is 1990, but it could be 1980. The second digit, "3" is the month of manufacture. Yes, they use "0" for October, "N" for November and "D" for December. Your watch was likely made in March 1990. The other four digits are just serial numbers. Hope this helps, gatorcpa
Actually, according to the website Vitezi posted, it can only be 1990. The cal. 7009 movement was produced between 1988 and 1999. Not 1980 and not 2000. gatorcpa
Hmm the 2 sources I checked both said this. "Start of manufacture for movement 7009 is 1977 End of manufacture for movement 7009 is 1995 The watch was made in March 1980,1990" http://www.watchsleuth.com/seikodatefinder/?mvmt=7009&case=876a&serial=035588 Yields 90 only. I could go either way on this one.
I noticed that certain sites date it as either 1980 or 1990. In another forum, somebody stated that the date window has a metallic background in pre-1990 watches. I'm not sure how accurate that is.
Great looking watch though. Got some nice straps for it and your in business. FYI should be an English Spanish datewheel. Best way to set these is pull the crown out one position and set the day and date to the day before the set the watch forward until you hit the correct time. Best way to figure out which 12 hour period you are in. Also it may be best not to set the day/ date when the hour hand is between 10 and 2 on the watch. It's a Seiko so it should be ok but I wouldn't do it.