Vintage KS/GS - no chronographs/divers/alarms/etc.

Having some KS/GS, I realized they are all pretty similar in their looks and functions(I don't have Vanacs 😁... yet)

Comparing KS/GS to their contemporaries such as 6138/6139 and 4006.. isn't it weird that there are no KS/GS chronographs/alarms/divers?

Did people back then not care enough about it? Personally I would have wanted a GS with alarm and chronograph if I were living in the 60-70s 😁 More so now, but alas...

Even better if it's a diver... and before you call me mad, Omega does make a Seamaster Diver with a chronograph(though I am not sure if they only started doing so in the 90s). There are modern Grand Seiko divers too. And chronographs.

My personal theory is as follows:
Chronograps were only becoming a thing in 1969 with 6138, ditto for divers(300m in 1968). Bellmatic(1966) did exist too. So these were all relatively new things and quartz was just around the corner. I guess they wanted to play it safe, Vanac being the experiment or so, keeping it all to 45, 52, 56, 61. What I propose would have been a radical redesign.

Perhaps the Hi-Beat(btw there are Presages with 28k bph too and Lord Marvel, so not unique to KS/GS) and Chronometer certification(I don't see the merit, besides having the Chronometer text in the dial) was more popular back then. I would venture a watchmaker in the 60-70s could have adjusted a non-chronometer KS/GS to spec.

Weirdly enough 45GS doesn't even have Chronometers.. even though KS45 does.

Do you think they could have made a thin manual chronograph? 6139 is pretty thick and much bigger than 56KS(being auto as well). I wonder if the technology was there.

I don't have a 6138, so I can't comment on its size.

I think the only vintage manual Seiko chrono only counts seconds(saw it in the forum recently). Personally I would rather have 3 sub dials to count hours/mins/secs.

I wonder what's today's view on vintage KS/GS in Japan? I heard from few random japanese people working in offices that they like chronos(and specifically Omega Speedmaster). Maybe it was different in the past though.. no idea how the 70s were.

44GS was much cheaper than 62/57!?
62MAS is ridiculously cheap!?
45-7000 is much cheaper compared to 4520-8000, still true I guess.
But 5626-7000 costs almost as much as 4520-8000...

I will have to read this in detail. Thanks a lot.

Thinking about it.. it makes sense.. back then people would want automatic because it's the new thing, and it's convenient when quartz doesn't exist .. and not having electronics, make sense you want day+date.

If you only have a single watch and you need accuracy, 61GS makes sense to be so expensive.

I am still reading.. why does Lord Matic cost as much as KS45? No medallion, signed crown, etc. doesn't make much sense besides people wanted autos.

What type of KSs did you collect? And based on what?(cal, form,etc ?)

I am probably going to be selling a few KS in a few weeks. I will price them well, since they have dial imperfections. Otherwise I think they look really fine, sharp, no polishing, medalion, etc.

I will make lots of detailed photos when I get to thinning my collection. People should be able to verify the authenticity of the dials, I hate redials. 😀