The Seikomatic, Business and Presmatic Ranges (ca 1961-1971)

These informations were gathered through my own experience, from watches I actually had in hands. They reflect what I observed and are not the absolute truth. Page updated August 22nd, 2023 : end of production modified (1971 instead of 1970, source : Seiko 1971 JDM catalogue).

Text & Pictures : D. Broglin – Watch & Vintage

The Seikomatic range has been introduced at the beginning of the 60’s. It was the upper range of the production of automatic watches by Seiko at that time. As their name means it, all Seikomatic were fitted with automatic movements. They all had at least a stainless steel or gold plated case (so no chromed case). A 18k gold case was available on most models until 1964 (Slimdate, Weekdater). These watches are really rare. The range was also available for women, it was called Seikomatic Lady.

The early years

The first models were time-only watches, based on the Seikosha 603 calibre and date only watches (Seikomatic Self Dater and Slimdate), based on the Seikosha 394, 395 and 840. The famous “Weekdater”, with day and date display was introduced in 1963 with the Seikosha 400 calibre. These first couple of years, the name Seikomatic was treated like a brand. The Seiko logo wasn’t present on the dials (see pictures below).

Evolutions, variations

The range has been then (ca 1965) splitted in sub ranges : Seikomatic (62xx movements), Seikomatic-R (83xx movements), Seikomatic-P (51xx movements) and the name Weekdater disappeared.

From 1964 on, the reference at the back follows the generic Seiko rule : Calibre ID – Case ID (ex : 8305-8000). The same calibre/case combination can have different dials (slightly different writings for ex), different hour markers, different hands and different inner and outer bezels (regular, fluted). Before (and at the beginning of) 1964, the reference on the caseback refers to the case and follows this scheme : JXXXXX (for example J14001).

The final years

In 1967, the Seikomatic name is abandoned and replaced by Business for the 6206 movement (the cases remained the same, with the same references) and Business-A for the 8305/8306 movement. In 1968, the Seikomatic-P becomes the Presmatic (calibres 5106 and 5146) and is sold at least until 1970. P and Presmatic refers to the date quickset which is triggered by pressing the crown, which had a star shape. The Presmatic range remains quite rare.

Some examples

From 1961 to 1971, Seiko produced a limited number of Seikomatic, Business and Presmatic models, much less than Sportsmatic models for example. We can sum up the production like this :

Seikomatic “time-only”, Seikosha 603 and Seiko 6201 calibres

Seikomatic Self Dater & Slimdate, cal. 394, 395 & 8305, 1963-64

Seikomatic Weekdater, cal Seikosha 400, Seiko 6206, 6208, 6216 and 6218 from 1963 to 1965

Seikomatic, cal 6206, 6218, 6245 & 6246, 1965 & 1966

Seikomatic-R, cal. 8305, 8306, 8325, 8346 from 1965 to 1968

Seikomatic-P, cal 5106

Seiko Business & Business-A, cal 6206 & 8346 (1967-1968)

Seiko Presmatic & Presmatic Hi-Beat (1968-1971)

List of all models

Special models, successors

There were some rare models, including the sought after Seikomatic Silverwave, with a water resitant case, a screwed down crown and an inner rotating bezel. The 6245 and 6246 Seikomatic had the “chronometer” qualification, I think it was the first Seiko to have it. These two calibres were used in the first automatic Grand Seiko (62GS).

Seiko also developed a Seikomatic Lady range.

In 1968, the Seiko Lord Matic (LM) range replaces the Seikomatic/Business range, with the freshly developed 56xx movement, which will equip all mid and high range Seikos (Lord Matic, King Seiko, Grand Seiko). The Seikomatic-P/Presmatic will be replaced by the Seiko LM Special 5206/5216 range.

Seikomatic for sale