![]() ![]() Start looking and you’ll see them all over the place. In other words: “This old thing? The watch I bought for cheap and wear all the time?”Īnd Seikos are, indeed, ubiquitous and often affordable. Please understand that using any links to products on this site may result in us making money.We Americans have a bad habit of saying, “only a Seiko.”Īs in, “Oh, this watch? It’s only a Seiko.” We’d love to hear your opinion in the comments section below. Other Watchy Bits include op-ed pieces and articles of general interest. Special thanks also go to Pere ( ) and Adam ( ) for their personal contributions and support.īrent Robillard is a writer, educator, craftsman, and watch enthusiast. The History of Seiko’s Iconic Diver’s Watch Collection. Seiko 62MAS – The First Professional Diver Watch By Seiko. The Birth Of The Seiko Professional Diver’s Watch. History and Information of Seiko Diver’s Watches. Over time, the accumulation created sufficient pressure to blow off the crystals. The gaskets in use allowed the gas to seep in and build up inside the watch. Aside from damage inherent to the construction work being performed, helium gas penetration, present in the diver’s breathing mix, proved mortel to the timepieces. According to the letter, the 300m divers being produced by the brand were not sufficient in this environment. Commercial divers, unlike their recreational counterparts, often operate in saturation-living in pressurized chambers for days and weeks without resurfacing. In an occurrence that is almost legendary now, Seiko received a letter back in 1968 from Hiromi Oshima, a commercial diver operating out of Kure City in Japan. However, while this will certainly play a role in the brand’s (and other’s) dive watch program, the Seiko focus continued to be two-pronged during the decade, with the development of its much-mythologized Professional Diver series on the one hand, and the furtherance of their 150m divers by way of several iconic designs. The 1970s were a tumultuous time for the watch industry as a result of another Seiko development, the quartz movement. It is now available in slightly more accessible formats, like the SBDX and SBDC series-also called the Baby Marine Master. ![]() Seiko 6159-7001 ( Source)Īs such, the watch is highly collectible today, and like the 62MAS, received its own limited edition re-issue in 2018, with the SLA021/23/25-lovingly dubbed the Marine Master. Production of this watch was limited to a single year between 1968-1969. The bezel was available both as a countdown and an elapsed time variant. The monobloc case remained and it featured a screwed-down crown. Based on the manually wound Grand Seiko calibre 6159A, the 36 000bph-movement meant increased accuracy for the Diver’s 300m. Shortly after the release of the 6215-010, Seiko introduced its first hi-beat movement (10 vibrations per second). The monobloc construction eliminated the need for a caseback and played a large role in the increased water resistance. But, of equal note, the new watch used a monobloc case and an upgraded 35-jewel, hackable movement with a fifteen-minute elapsed time bezel scale. Other than the doubling of its water resistance, the new watch would establish the emblematic placement of the crown in the 4 o’clock position. Seiko pushed its own envelope two years later with the release of their first 300m diver. While large for a watch of its era, the silhouette of the 62MAS would become the seminal shape for skin divers of its generation. The 6217 automatic movement used in the watch, vibrated at a frequency of 18 000bph. It also had a distinctly large, unprotected crown. It sported a bi-directional bezel for calculating dive times, drilled lugs, easily legible luminous hours markers, and similarly lumed hands. The original came in a 37mm tonneau-shaped case with squared off lugs and was water resistant to 150m. The 62MAS moniker is assumed to have originated from the first two digits of its reference number (6217-8000/1) and the term “autoMAtic Selfdater.” Nonetheless, it established, or reinforced, a number of the elements which would become touchstones of dive watch design. Seiko’s official name for the watch was the 62 Seikomatic Calendar (Diver’s Watch). ![]() Much of what came after has simply been variations on a theme. That’s how important the Diver’s 150M was to the development of dive watches. Ask an untutored layman to draw you a dive watch and he will probably reproduce-to alarming similarity-the 62MAS. ![]()
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