I feel a bit like I'm mad, but I don't have any regrets, none - Honestly, whenever I see an oddity, something aged and unique, I lose control, buyer's remorse kicks in, but this time, I'm excited



Paid $1000+ for this watch, has the unique serial of 000001 - It's a used and enjoyed watch by the looks of it, but obviously very well preserved - I do wonder if the papers are the original papers, but honestly, doesn't matter, it's a 50 year old watch in good condition anyway

I do hope that 50 years from now, you'll see my grandchildren on Antiques Roadshow selling this thing for an unbelievable amount

Now I need to sell my daily driver beloved Stowa Pilot to offset the blow

Before Omega's, I was originally keen on collecting King Seiko's, my brother joked that I should buy one since my initials are K.S. too - I bought 3, didn't like the automatic ones much, but my handwind is a forever keeper - this one I'll preserve as a collection and investment piece

Your thoughts, was this a good buy? (I was looking for a buckle when I saw this, quite the coincidence, the buckles itself are worth close to $100, the watch in this condition is $400+ easy, so in a way, worst case scenario, I paid a $500+ premium for this unique package deal this is, I tell to myself)

 

At the risk of falling for a joke, I'll point out that the second character is "D", for December. Still, it's quite an unusual serial number, and that's great if that gets you excited. We all appreciate different things.

 

Hands are wrong




https://www.fratellowatches.com/tbt-king-seiko-45-7001/#gref

 

Thanks for pointing it out, and honestly I don't know how I missed it, the excitement is blinding, very good eye there

Hands and dial are original, 45-7010 and 4522-7010's (Grand Seiko counterpart) have plastic minute hands, and an oval case

 

With this discovery, I wonder if I should keep it or return it

Anyone who knows Japanese that can check whether the papers are from the original sale?

 

Whoever filled out the warranty papers made the same mistake.

 

I don't know what 15 and 17 could stand for - or the 46 2 7 in the papers - there is no original date that I can see, so maybe the papers from an aftersale, I can't tell since I don't know Japanese

But the 140-1000 could be for 140.000 yen, which I vaguely remember to be their MSRP - a NOS 5626-7040 sold for $1400 - which was disappointing since that was the MSRP too, that's where I remember the value from, but I'm probably mistaken

I'll probably take the 0D0001 as it was not meant to be and try to back off, I'd still buy it if I realised the 0D0001 - but I'd probably pay $300 less

 

After reading the Japanese, I found out that the warranty card is the store's own warranty card.
It's not a Seiko warranty card.

I will transcribe what I can read in Japanese.

保証書
品名 キングセイコー
品質 15型 17石
個番号 S.S.45-70101
機械番号 000001
品？番号 140-1000
お買上日 昭和 46年 2月 7日
お買上げの時計は充分検査してありますが、もし6ヶ月以内に
自然故障を生じたときはお手数ながら本証をご提示下さい。
株式会社 安心堂

 

Thank you ❤️

Edit: It seems to be from 1971 tho, so still, it's something

 

What's funny is that, I usually sell stuff that enrages me, and when I buy stuff, I wonder why the original owner sold it, and it's usually stuff like this, for example I have a near-NOS C-Case Constellation that the owner probably sold after one of the lumes were slightly smeared during a recent service, the small damage was probably devastating for the original owner, but as a second hand buyer, it seems like a catch

With this watch, I'd like to think the owner at one point realised that was a D too, and here we are, the watch unused afterwards and on the market now

 

It's a nice set - I'd keep it.

 

I couldn't read the kanji before 140-1000.
If I can find a more legible image, I'll transcribe it again.
140-1000 is probably not the price.

You can find the month of manufacture from the serial number 0D0001
In this era of Seiko serial numbers, the first digit is the last digit of the year of production.
The second number or letter indicates the month of manufacture.
Judging by the date of purchase on the warranty card, this watch was probably made in December of 1970.

 

It's quite a dilemma, I suffer greatly, I make these kind of purchases with 20% feeling, 80% investment-like, 000001 was an easy decision, 0D0001 is a slightly overpriced might-as-well - I mean, you still never see a collection like this, it's the first time I'm seeing one, no watch I bought came with papers, box, buckle, tag etc. - still, the 80% investment side says just buy another C-Case Omega, it's definitely a better investment

There's also the heartbreak and mis-representation, it breaks your emotional connection, TL;DR: I suffer greatly Buyer's remorse is online

 

I know what you mean - but sometimes the only thing you can do is laugh....a while ago I bought a '70 Heuer Monaco 1133b with a calibre 12 inside as I thought this was the 'Steve McQueen' Monaco....all the info I read indicated the watches used for Le Mans were running the Cal 12....then I read on Tag Heuer's Instagram that the one sold recently in New York is running the calibre 11....i think my reaction rhymed with clucking bell....you know - but - I still love the watch and as I say all you can do is laugh...

 

Thank you, made me sincerely feel better - indeed one should try to look at it from a positive angle

 

Please post a close-up pic of the dial codes at 6 (Japan 45-7020T).

Is this a linen dial, or just vertically brushed?

 

This is a different model, OP has a 45-7010

 

The original is Linen, I think this is Linen too, I didn't suspect anything wrong with the watch to be honest, other than the dial being "too" pristine



I decided to try and return it, but if it fails, as Snooz suggested, I'll try to look at things positively and just put this away in a cold storage somewhere and forget about it for some years

 

Hold up.

By the looks of it, you may have the first King Seiko 45-7010, unpolished, with an original dial.

Why are you returning this? Because it was manufactured in December? You're not going to be able to find one with a zero in the second position, closest would be a capital O for October.


( From KingSeiko.info )

The date on the form is in Japanese imperial format. I'm not an expert on this, but it looks like it's dated
Shōwa 昭和 46 年 2 月 7 日 = 1971 February 7th.

See https://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/dates.html

 

What happens when you run the serial through a decoder?