Seikoholic - ramblings of an obsessed Seiko collector

Well this rabbit hole seems deep.

Recalling my first foray into watches I was excited about the unique shapes and styling from the Art Deco period; that solidly remains. I have however, as I have previously blogged, found myself obsessing over Seiko watches this past year. Perhaps similarly as I obsessed over Hamilton or Illinois deco wristwatches some years ago.

Just like when I started off on my deco obsession, I've been buying just about anything Seiko - divers, chronographs, casual, dress and things in between. Probably not the best approach to collecting as impulse can land some not so good results and I can see why the term Feiko is used a lot.


While, modern (and vintage) divers wristwatches seem to the sweet spot for me with Seiko, I seem to be inadvertently following a Fratello Magazine  story that was published a number of years ago on what was then (and is likely still) the top 10 Seiko watches to buy.

My last post on Seiko watches included pics of the 6138 "Panda" and 6105 "Willard" referred to by Fratello. Seems I have a few more that are on that list and perhaps over time I may acquire others.

1977 ref. 6309-7049
The 6309 above is one of a few now in my collection that Fratello talks about. I came across this beat up example in a lot with three other Seiko watches. It is nice size, the turtle shaped case is cool and the battered bezel shows that the watch likely accompanied someone on some epic ocean dives over its time. As a side note, the other three in the lot seem to also have been a good purchase and perhaps I can talk about them in a future blog post.  

1969 6106-8339
The 6106 "Rally" above, described as such because of the checkered bezel and blue checkered dial, appears on the to 10 and is actually one of two Rally's I've come across and acquired. This fills both an aesthetic and my interest in divers watches.

The Speedtimer chronograph below illustrates my very eclectic taste in Seiko at the moment.
 
1975 7015-8000 Seiko 5 Speedtimer

A couple of things about the Speedtimer above, it is has a single sweep second for timing without sub-dials found on other chronographs and the day wheel can be displayed in either English or Kanji (as shown). A day wheel with Kanji (the characters adopted in the Japanese writing system) is a first for me. I think this watch also exudes 70s retro with the green coloured dial.

I share finally with you my 6138 Yachtman aka UFO below. Surprised this didn't make Fratello's list, but then again there are so many other great iconic Seiko's not on his list. This model is large and certainly has quite the presence on the wrist. For you sailors, the sub-dial coloured markings and its rating for 229 feet, it's appropriately called the Yachtman.

1974 6138-0011 "Yachtman/UFO"

OK, maybe it is a bit extreme to refer to myself as a Seikoholic, but given the rabbit hole I seem to be down at the moment, I'm not sure how else to describe this collecting phase.