In my continuing watch something-or-other, I fished this lovely item out of Ebay with the proceeds from my WatchReport posting last month:
Vintage Seiko, 5606-7000, ‘LordMatic’. Automatic, center seconds, day/date, quickset, hacking, 23 jewels, 21600vph. (Low to medium beat). This one has a gold-plate case, which is why I got it for $51; the steel-cased watches are more popular.
I can’t tell if it’s a front-loading movement or not, the caseback is Kanji:
Update 8/18/08: A Japanese-speaking relative was kind enough to translate for me:
I think this watch was given to someone who worked for Japan National Railroad.
The top part is “Commemoration of Meritorious Service Award”
The bottom is “President of Japan National Railroad”
There’s a lot to like about this watch. I really like the aesthetics of the face, with gold baton markers on a subtle sunburst-patterned silver dial. The hands are aged just a tiny bit, and only one tiny dial spot below the date. The crystal is a replacement, which is good for me.
The looks are a lot like classic Grand Seiko, but for a teeny tiny fraction of the price. I’m going to look into the case, and see if its possible to remove the gold plate; not sure what the base metal below is. Electoplating is possible, but I don’t have access to do so.
As with most 5606 movements, the issue is that the quickset day/date pieces have failed, despite claims to the contrary in the auction listing. Sigh. That exceeds my skills, so I’ll have to send it off to Randall Benson or similar. Rats!
Update 7/24/08: The seller has quite kindly offered to fix the quickset, so I will mail it back to him and revert to anticipation.
Update 9/08: Returned fixed! Many thanks to Jose for being a man of his word.
The movement is otherwise quite remarkable, well finished and very well designed:
It wears beautifully, amazingly thin and elegant. The silver dial glows in the light, and the dauphine hands are very easy to read.
More information:
The Ebay auction where I got this one
In-depth on the 5606 movement, by Randall Benson
More on the cases and movement, Reto Castellazzi
Seiko abbreviations, this is where I deciphered ‘SGP stainless’
Seiko production date calculator - mine is 1968 or later, since serial missing!
(The pictures are from the auction listing and Randall Benson’s page.)