Seiko Divers - Past and Present

The prices of these and some other vintage Seiko divers haven't really moved much in recent years, but I don't think that will last, so I am basically just buying them when I can.

Dang, so that's where they are all disappearing to! 😉

If anyone following this thread has an extra 6105-8000/9 laying around that you want to unload, let me know.

I keep reading that the RESIST/RESIST is a rare variant, but of the three I have owned, two have been of that type. Is yours a -8000 or -8009?

Yes, they are great watches, and I also wear mine a lot.

Is yours a -8000 (JDM) or -8009? I have had RESIST/RESIST versions of both, ranging in time from March 1969 to January 1970, and yours is from June 1970. So it seems like they were made for well over a year. I'm just not sure they are so rare. RESIST/PROOF or PROOF/RESIST may both be less common because they were transitional. I recently sold a very nice RESIST/PROOF, and it didn't bring much of a premium.

TBH, I think this is a situation where some people try to make a big deal out of very little, by parsing details that don't matter very much.

I don't know which expert you're talking about, but I can also say that I have friends who know a lot about vintage Seiko and I have learned a little myself through personal research and experience. Respectfully, appealing to an anonymous authority isn't terribly helpful on the internet. I have read many posts on Seiko forums where apparently knowledgable people say that RESIST/RESIST versions are "rare," but so what. I really think that this is a leftover opinion from many years ago before people started paying closer attention. We are here to be rational and learn, not just repeat other people's opinions. We all should be using our own common sense to decide the meaning of "rare." Not arguing here, but let me just break it down a little to illustrate my way of thinking.

It is apparent that PROOF/PROOF versions were made in most of 1968, throughout 1969, and early 1970 (let's say 24 months, more or less), and RESIST/RESIST versions were made in substantial parts of 1969 and 1970 (let's say 15-18 months or so). The transitional versions were apparently made over much shorter periods of time, although they are tricky to authenticate, as described below. These are facts based on my own observations of 100s of watches that you can either believe or verify/contradict for yourself with first-hand research. It's complicated due to the different timelines in the transitions of the -8000 and -8009 versions (e.g. RESIST markings were probably seen earlier and more frequently in the -8009), and I don't believe good data exist on the relative production numbers of the various sub-references. So, while perhaps one can say that the time interval of PROOF/PROOF is slightly longer than that of RESIST/RESIST, in my subjective opinion, neither are what I would consider "rare" or "uncommon" in an absolute sense. Even in the realm of only vintage Seiko, I can easily list variants that were made for only 2-3 months, for example the dolphin-caseback 6217-7000 from late 1964 (although that doesn't make them particularly valuable). My personal anecdotal experience is totally consistent with this, I see tons of RESIST/RESIST examples for sale as I follow listings.

Legit mixed transitional 6105-8000/9 might actually be rare. However, a major problem with them is that while some are original, many of them have been put together after the fact. Unless you can check the date code on the back of the dial, it is impossible to authenticate them. My guess is that if we were actually able to compare the dial and case-back date codes on all the mixed examples we see, we would find that legit mixed examples are actually less common than we think, but that's obviously speculation.

I am a newer / novice collector, but I must say that this feels correct to me. I can see why someone may be really excited about a distinctly different or rare variant - an ultraman seconds hand or a double-signed Rolex, for example. But, the proof/resist variations in vintage seiko aren't super exciting to me. Perhaps such minutiae matter more to someone with a bigger collection where you want to own all the variations.

7002-7000 and 700a

2205 Ladies Diver. 1975. Very small maybe size of quarter. My daughter loves it. Part of Seiko Diver history.

This just arrived!

First impressions are that I need to develop more will power. I only started looking at these a month ago, and here I am blowing through my 2023 watch budget in January. Such is the power of Seiko, I suppose. 😁

My fiscal irresponsibility aside, I'm smitten! It certainly will not be my last vintage Seiko.