Seiko Divers - Past and Present

Oh ya

Wear mine often.

SEIKO 6309-7290/729A/729B
aka: Slim turtle

The 6309 divers come in two case variations: an earlier “cushion-cased” variant produced from 1976 to 1988 and a later “slimed-down case” variant produced from 1982 to 1988. As you can see production of the first generation continued after the second generation was introduced, and overlapped the second generation models, though in reduced number.

The second generation of 6309’s abandoned the cushion style case in favor of a revised round “slimed-down” case-style, which continues to be used almost unchanged by Seiko’s basic line of divers to this day. Other than the case, there are not many differences between the two generations of 6309’s. Besides the case, the only other differences worth noting were in the style of the dial. According to the Seiko Diver’s reference, the slimed down models were as follows:

- 6309-7290: first model to use slimmed-down cases, black-bezel version
- 6309-7290 with "17 JEWELS" written above 6:00 on the dial: Japan-made version, with black bezel
- 6309-729A: identical to 6309-7290 except with blue and red “Pepsi” bezel
- 6309-729A with "17 JEWELS" on dial: Japan-made version, with blue and red “Pepsi” bezel
- 6309-729B?: very rare orange dialed model.

SEIKO 6309-729A F1 aka: Slim turtle (below)

Coupled with the short production run, and for some reason the go to watch by ppl who do seiko MODs it is very difficult to find a SLIM TURTLE with the correct (legit) dial .. always look at the
TINY SUWA LOGO .. if the logo is not in proportion to the text written with it ... no matter how good it looks it is suspect and YES fake dials have been aged in an effort to pass FAKE dials as legit

A mixture of old and new plus some non divers .

FYI ................. SEIKO 6309 slim turtle .... Hong Kong dial ..... and its details ...
always pay attention to the proportion of the SUWA LOGO with the text it is printed alongside

1983 SEIKO 7548-7000 JDM

SEIKO 7002

The watch that replaced 6309, produced between 1988-1996. Once serviced, 7002s can achieve high amplitudes close to zero beat error and very small deviation. In the last year of production it transitioned from 150m ISO with a bidirectional 60 bezel to a 200m ISO version and unidirectional 120 click bezel.

Supposedly case back code marked A1 belong to first generation, and the ones marked A0 belong to second generation. First generation 7002s were only offered with black, straight vented SEIKO GL-831 JAPAN rubber straps.

From what I have read about this watch and its movement and being a proud owner of one myself, I can understand why Spencer Klein [watchmaker specializing in Seiko] always has a kind word for this watch.

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