Seiko Champion 850 Alpinist 1964

In the late 50’s, Seiko introduced its first sports watch : the Alpinist. While most of the swiss manufacturers already had a sports/outdoors range (Omega Seamaster, Longines Conquest, etc.), Seiko was quite late in this segment when it launchend the Laurel Alpinist. This Laurel is very scarce today, and I think, not very well known. […]

Seiko Lord Marvel 36000 5740-8000 1967-1977

In 1967, Seiko introduced its first 36,000 bph movement, the 5740C. It was the second in the world to reach that beat, after a calibre made by Girard-Perregaux. To house that new movement, Seiko used the Lord Marvel range, which had been launched a couple of years before and modernised its design. The Lord Marvel […]

King Seiko 44-2000 1963-1964

In 1963, Seiko introduced the 2nd generation of King Seiko, based on the Daini 44 movement. Only a couple of models were available, the 44-2000 (gold plated) / 44-9990 (stainless steel) and the 4402-8000 (with the date). In this article, we will focus on the gold plated 1964 King Seiko 44-2000, reference KSK 010. Presentation […]

Seiko KS 5625-7000 1968-1971

In the late 60’s, Seiko introduced its first automatic King range, based on the 56xx 28,800 bph movement. In 1969, in the JDM catalog n°1 from Seiko only 3 cases were available, the 7000, 7010 and 8000, with the movements 5621 (time only), 5625 (date only) or 5626 (day & date). In this article, we […]

Seiko 2140-3000 “Fashion watch” 1969-1971

In 1969, Seiko introduced a quite exotic range of mechanical watches : the “Fashion watch” series. Based on the hand wound 2140 movement, they displayed only two hands on a mixed minimalist-excentric dial, cased in big palladium plated cases. This range was only marketed in Japan and had probably only little success, considering the rarity […]

Seiko KS 5626-7040 Chronometer 1970-1971

In the late 60’s, early 70’s, some King Seiko had the “Chronometer Officially Certified” or “Superior Chronometer Officially Certified” mention on their dials. The 5625, 5626, 5245 and 5246 movements were concerned. After a quite short period, the swiss watchmaking industry took measures to prevent non-swiss movements to be “Chronometer” certified, only the COSC could […]

Seiko 5 Sportsmatic Deluxe 7619-7010 1965-1966

The Sportsmatic range has been introduced by Seiko in the early 60’s. It was the lower automatic range from the japanese manufacturer at that time.In 1963, Seiko introduced the Seiko 5 Sportsmatic range, an affordable yet qualitative automatic watch, with day and date display. The Deluxe version was an enhanced version of this model, with […]

Seiko Seikomatic Weekdater 6206-8990 1964

The Seikomatic range has been introduced by Seiko in the early 60’s. It was the highest automatic range from the japanese manufacturer at that time.In 1963, the first day & date Seikomatic Weekdater appeared based on the freshly developed Seikosha 400 33 jewels calibre. That was by the way, the first day & date Seiko.One […]

Enicar Sherpa Rotor-matic 1958

The Enicar Sherpa range was introduced in the mid fifties as a sports / waterproof watch. At that time, practicing outdoor activities began to become popular, following a trend lead by renown explorers and adventurers like Edmund Hillary, Maurice Herzog, Walter Bonatti, Thor Heyerdahl, Richard Byrd, etc. and one had to be able to know […]