Came back to Singapore for a business trip and took the opportunity to do a mini GTG coupled with a visit to a flea market held at China Square.This is my first time visitng this flea market held in China … Continue reading
I always had an interest in the Landmaster series of watches, having owned 1 Kinetic variant myself, as can be seen here and here. I have never written about my own Kinetic Landmaster, and do not plan to do so today. Rather … Continue reading
eBay had some fairly interesting Seiko watches on offer these days and I wanted to share it with the readers.
Seiko Credor Mechanical Chronograph Ref.GBBH999 6S74-0010 platinum 200 made only (eBay link)
First up is a very rarely seen movement, which is the gilt plated and hand wind only variant of the 6S chronograph movement that I wrote about here previously. I am aware of the existence of this rare movement but I have never seen a watch containing this movement for sale on watch forums nor eBay until now.
The significance of this movement is that it shared the same architecture as the 9S and 8L movement found in Grand Seikos and other high end Seikos. However, it is the only chronograph variant to date and this makes it the only manner anyone can obtain a “Grand Seiko” mechanical chronograph due to its pedigree. The 6S movement had also been discontinued recently with Seiko retaining the 8R chronograph (the 6S and 8R chronograph movements co-existed since 2008) movement to serve its needs, which unfortunately is inferior to the 6S which is evident in the pricing difference as well as the design of the movement. Strangely enough the 6S movement will live on as Junghans Calibre J890 and also as Tag Heuer’s Calibre 1887.
This watch on offer appears to be in platinum in a limited run of 200, first released way back in 1998. It is on offer at a price of USD13,000 which is not a small sum of money for a Seiko.
Quoting from the seller:
Seiko “Credor Chronograph” Platinum. Seiko, “Credor Chronograph”, Ref. 6S74-0010, No. 145/200, case No. 830030. Produced in a limited edition of 200 pieces circa 1998. Fine and rare, water-resistant, 60-hour autonomy and power reserve indication, platinum wristwatch with round button chronograph and a platinum Seiko buckle. Two body, solid, polished, bezel decorated with raised dots, curved lugs, protected crown, transparent case back, sapphire crystals. Guilloche silvered with applied faceted white gold indexes, subsidiary dials for the seconds, 30-minute and 12-hour registers, power reserve indication at 2, Blue steel baton hands. Cal. 6S74A, gilt, fausses cotes decoration, 35 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic blance, shock absorber, self-compensating flat balance spring. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 37.5 mm. Thickness 12.5 mm.
Gorgeous caseback view without any rotor to block the innards. Interestingly enough this variant comes with a 60hr power reserve versus the 48hr power reserve of the 6S found in the Flightmaster. As such, the difference between the 2 movements are not just skin deep but I believe that there are technical upgrades to this movement, eg the main spring barrel. Perhaps this 6S variant is also adjusted to a higher specification than the Flightmaster (+15s/-10s a day), which will bring it very close to the Grand Seiko level of accuracy?
I find it very appropriate that Seiko used a manual winding movement paired with this style of watch as it brings to mind the classic chronographs of old, with its clean baton markers, no date, fluted bezel and blued hands. This was before 1969, when the automatic chronograph was invented.
This watch comes with what appears to be full box and papers, including a gorgeous laminated wooden box case! Pity the modern low-end Credors do not come with such nice boxes. Well I guess, if it was already offered in platinum, Seiko might as well dress up the packaging to match the price.
A very pretty watch and it will be interesting to see if this gets sold given its sky high price. Most watch aficionados do not yet give enough credit to Credors, given that until today they are only available in Japan!
SEIKO BRIGHTZ 4S27-00C0 Day-Date 24HR White Titanium Dial Automatic 28J Vintage (eBay link)
Next up is a more attainable but still desirable 4S27 watch. This is possibly the second most complicated movement offered by Seiko ever (6 hands), with the 4S36/76 being the most complicated. You can read up more about these movements here. The 4S movements were also recently discontinued and was a bridge between Seiko’s past and its present, being a modern release of the legendary Seiko Cal 52.
This watch is interesting because it adopts the font from another very popular Brightz range pictured below.
4S27 – SAGN007
Retrograde day
This range of Brightz watch is infinitely more popular due to the use of its squarish case (panerai-ish) and enamel dial. Also the eBay Brightz had a complicated looking bezel with screws ala AP Royal Oak, with a weakly squared bezel.
It does not come with the original box nor papers, but the strap and clasp looks original. The watch also seems to be in decent shape and the movement looks clean.
Unlike the SAGN007, this Brightz came with a solid and highly polished caseback signed with a huge “B”, which I find pretty attractive as well.
This watch was re-listed after failing to get any buyers. The seller is asking for USD 1,500 which is a bit high for this range. I would expect a fairer price to be approximately USD 1,000 given that this model is not as popular as the other Brightz shown, which can probably fetch USD 1000-1500K in a good condition complete with box and papers.
Nevertheless, this is a rare model with an outstanding and discontinued movement. It will be interesting to see how much this piece eventually moves for.
Disclaimer: I am not the seller of above mentioned watches, nor do I stand to benefit from their sale in any way.
I was just browsing my usual stash of watch sites today and came across Fratello’s Watch Straps Reviews. Basically the guys over there “would like to introduce some of the lesser known craftsmen to the wider audience. People whose work … Continue reading
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