My first steps in the vintage Seiko universe...

omegastar · Jan 9, 2021

Yesterday I was offered this diver Seiko in a deal and I bought it without really knowing anything about it. I bought it for 170€.
Well, first, I quite like it and I find it interesting. I suddenly discover a whole new unexplored universe.
I made my homework and here are my findings (correct me if I am wrong).
It is a 3rd generation Seiko diver 6309-7040, made in Japan in 1978.
All original, except for the later service hands. The crown screws, but only half a turn.
I phoned a friend who might have spare tritium hands and a crown...
I welcome all comments from the experts and others, happy new year.

Here are the pictures :

omegaswisst · Jan 9, 2021

Welcome to the world of vintage Seiko.

Looking at your watch I noted the following:

1. Bezel insert looks to be correct but the lume pip at 12 appears to have been replaced.

2. The crown should be a large spline crown on these earlier models. The crown on your watch appears to be a later replacement.

3. The crown should screw down with around three turns. The problem with your watch may not be the threads in the crown but more likely on the crown tube. The crown tube can be drilled out and a new one inserted.

4. The hour and minute hands look to be correct. The hour hand seems to have the correct slant in towards the lume. The seconds hand however looks to be from a 7548 Seiko diver. You could try shining a light on them and see if they glow a similar colour to line plots on dial.
Correct seconds hand shown below:

5. The dial looks to be correct with some fading to the 'water' and 'resist' writing which should normally be a dark red colour. Bevel around date window present. The hour lume plots have taken on a creamy colour which is common in the earlier versions.

6. Case looks to be in good condition. It has the wider cut out around the crown found in the earlier models. It's hard to tell but the upper surface of lugs seems to still have some of the circular brushed finish.

omegastar · Jan 9, 2021

Thank you for your assessment !

omegastar · Jan 9, 2021

omegaswisst
Welcome to the world of vintage Seiko.

Looking at your watch I noted the following:

1. Bezel insert looks to be correct but the lume pip at 12 appears to have been replaced.

2. The crown should be a large spline crown on these earlier models. The crown on your watch appears to be a later replacement.

3. The crown should screw down with around three turns. The problem with your watch may not be the threads in the crown but more likely on the crown tube. The crown tube can be drilled out and a new one inserted.

4. The hour and minute hands look to be correct. The hour hand seems to have the correct slant in towards the lume. The seconds hand however looks to be from a 7548 Seiko diver. You could try shining a light on them and see if they glow a similar colour to line plots on dial.
Correct seconds hand shown below:

5. The dial looks to be correct with some fading to the 'water' and 'resist' writing which should normally be a dark red colour. Bevel around date window present. The hour lume plots have taken on a creamy colour which is common in the earlier versions.

6. Case looks to be in good condition. It has the wider cut out around the crown found in the earlier models. It's hard to tell but the upper surface of lugs seems to still have some of the circular brushed finish.

The hands, including the second hand glow like tritium quite like the dial. But the lume on the hands does not have the same grainy texture nor the same colour. As the second hand is not correct I assumed the minute and hour hands were changed to since they look homogeneous.
So I could leave them there as original ?

vibe · Jan 9, 2021

I thought that the crown tube on these could not be repaired.

Walrus · Jan 9, 2021

omegaswisst
Welcome to the world of vintage Seiko.

Looking at your watch I noted the following:

1. Bezel insert looks to be correct but the lume pip at 12 appears to have been replaced.

2. The crown should be a large spline crown on these earlier models. The crown on your watch appears to be a later replacement.

3. The crown should screw down with around three turns. The problem with your watch may not be the threads in the crown but more likely on the crown tube. The crown tube can be drilled out and a new one inserted.

4. The hour and minute hands look to be correct. The hour hand seems to have the correct slant in towards the lume. The seconds hand however looks to be from a 7548 Seiko diver. You could try shining a light on them and see if they glow a similar colour to line plots on dial.
Correct seconds hand shown below:

5. The dial looks to be correct with some fading to the 'water' and 'resist' writing which should normally be a dark red colour. Bevel around date window present. The hour lume plots have taken on a creamy colour which is common in the earlier versions.

6. Case looks to be in good condition. It has the wider cut out around the crown found in the earlier models. It's hard to tell but the upper surface of lugs seems to still have some of the circular brushed finish.

Impressive. Very good eye there. I didn’t realize what a minefield vintage seikos were till I went about trying to buy a couple. Modding seikos is nothing new of course but I’m finding some of these modders use their skill to rebuild or fake the vintage stuff. Some sellers are very open about it fortunately but I am finding that is not always the case

Dan S · Jan 9, 2021

Well, you got it at a very good price, so another option would be just to enjoy it as is. Keep in mind that the 6309 could be a gateway drug into vintage Seiko.

omegastar · Jan 9, 2021

Dan S
Well, you got it at a very good price, so another option would be just to enjoy it as is. Keep in mind that the 6309 could be a gateway drug into vintage Seiko.

That’s why I said : « I suddenly discover a whole new unexplored universe. »

Dan S · Jan 9, 2021

Russ1965 · Jan 9, 2021

Beware...................the vintage world of Seiko is a rabbit hole that I ventured into several years ago.

AND have never looked back !!!

Here's just a few examples of what my collection consists of............

omegastar · Jan 9, 2021

Dan S

waow awsome !

pongster · Jan 9, 2021

My vintage turtles say hi and welcome.

bradurani · Jan 9, 2021

Not bad! You got lucky that the dial is real. Most first time buyers who aren't careful end up with aftermarket dials. That looks like the original GL831 strap, which is rare. I would take that off and treat it with silicone lube to preserve it, and wear the watch on an Uncle Seiko reproduction: https://www.uncleseiko.com/collections/6309-diver-1/products/gl831-rubber-diver-20-22mm Vintage silicone has been known to fail, and you don't want that!
Welcome to the vintage Seiko club. My adventure started with this one, and now I have 20+

omegaswisst · Jan 9, 2021

vibe
I thought that the crown tube on these could not be repaired.

You can now purchase replacement crown tubes. Great way to save the case. I recently had one done and it turned out fine.

Here's a link to how it can be done.

https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/6309-crown-tube-repair.4602561/

Some inventive people have also worked out a way to replace the lume pip on the bezel with a pretty good results.

https://www.thewatchsite.com/threads/bezel-insert-pip-lens-replacement.258378/

Russ1965 · Jan 9, 2021

P pongster
My vintage turtles say hi and welcome.

Helloooo Mr. P.

Nice to see you here too.

Russ.

timjohn · Jan 9, 2021

The vintage Seiko world has all the best attributes of watch collecting: it's fun, there is huge depth in the number of watches and styles, it's full of really enthusiastic people, and most of the time if you make a mistake you're a couple of hundred bucks out rather than a couple of thousand. It's addictive.

Dan S · Jan 9, 2021

timjohn
and most of the time if you make a mistake you're a couple of hundred bucks out rather than a couple of thousand.

Except for that 6159. 😁

Professor · Jan 9, 2021

Could they have gone to a different thread pattern on the crown and tube in later models?
I've found when working on older Enfield rifles that the original threads were Enfield pattern and while screws with a metric thread or a standard thread seeming Identical to the eye will start easily enough they will not turn even a full turn before locking up.

If that is the case and the threads of the tube are not already damaged just finding the correct crown may be all that is necessary.
It would be very difficult to wear out or bugger the threads of the tube when finger pressure alone is all that is needed to turn it down.
It requires the torque of using a screw driver or wrench to really mess up threading unless the metal is pot metal soft.
Of course cross threading can change all that.

timjohn · Jan 9, 2021

Dan S
Except for that 6159. 😁

You're right, but I did get it relatively cheap from a guy when I was visiting Manila a couple of years ago -- facilitated by @erpin9 -- and the vulcan was buried unnoticed in an auction lot in Australia. You're never going to get a bargain on a Rolex, but there are still undiscovered Seiko gems out there

omegaswisst · Jan 10, 2021

Professor
Could they have gone to a different thread pattern on the crown and tube in later models?
I've found when working on older Enfield rifles that the original threads were Enfield pattern and while screws with a metric thread or a standard thread seeming Identical to the eye will start easily enough they will not turn even a full turn before locking up.

If that is the case and the threads of the tube are not already damaged just finding the correct crown may be all that is necessary.
It would be very difficult to wear out or bugger the threads of the tube when finger pressure alone is all that is needed to turn it down.
It requires the torque of using a screw driver or wrench to really mess up threading unless the metal is pot metal soft.
Of course cross threading can change all that.

You bring up a good point.

The crown looks like it comes from a later 6309 diver but should still work on the earlier model case as the thread on the crown tube and the crown is the same accross the 6309-704x diver range.

The thread on the crown tube seems to strip before the thread in the crown so your comment about the metal been softer sounds valid.

My first steps in the vintage Seiko universe...

omegastar

omegaswisst

omegastar

omegastar

vibe

Walrus

Dan S

omegastar

Dan S

Russ1965

omegastar

pongster

bradurani

omegaswisst

Russ1965

timjohn

Dan S

Professor

timjohn

omegaswisst

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