Following on from the previous tale of the 6139 as produced by Seiko in 1969, here’s a rare and interesting piece, or rather a brace of them. According to the Collectors Guide on The Spring Bar, one of the rarest variants in the –600x series is the early silver-dial version, which says “WATER 70m PROOF” on the dial. In fact, the guide reckons:
The silver dialed variation is by far the rarest dial and is even more seldomly seen with a “proof” variation. There are only a few instances of photographed silver “proof” dials.
Well, having already found one via another collector, I happened across this in an auction:
So it pays to know what you’re looking for, or at least what you’re looking at. As it happens, the watch arrived and not in great shape – the chronograph was bust, the bracelet was actually broken too, and not a great match for the watch either. The crystal was pretty scratched up too.
Still, here it is, on the right, next to the other one. The LH watch is in all-round better shape despite being from July 1969, and the RH one from October 69. Both suffered a bit from having darkened lume plots.
Most vintage enthusiasts would advise against doing anything irreversible to an old watch, but Seiko collectors seem to be more forgiving when doing something that will improve the watch – so I had both re-lumed as well as serviced.
(Oct 69 is on the left…)
Both of these are wearing Uncle Seiko bracelets and, again, you can spot the early nature by the PROOF dial, the chrono hand is a 2-part affair when compared to later 6139s, and the front of the case has a notch above the crown.
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I am looking for a Seiko 6139 grey Dial Proof
Can somebody help
[…] of a brown dial watch anywhere; it seems that this might have been a special order (like the rare Silver 70M PROOF 6139-6000s) in the same way that Luigi Chinetti used to order special models of Ferrari from old man […]
[…] (see earlier missives on the 6139-600x, here and here) […]
When did Seiko stop using the 2-part chrono hands on these? I have a 1973 Aussie Pogue that’s mostly original, but I’ve wondered about the hands…
These silver dials are great. Maybe some day!
2-part chrono hands appear to finish during the 6139-6001 run; ie they were standard on 6139A movements at first but were replaced with 1-part hands, probably on late 6139A movements as well as the incoming 6139B. I’ve never seen a 6139B with 2-part hand and though I’ve seen 6139As with 1-part hand, there’s always a possibility it was a service replacement. So the “When” for the transition would be 1970/71.
[…] of a brown dial watch anywhere; it seems that this might have been a special order (like the rare Silver 70M PROOF 6139-6000s) from the Hong Kong/Singaporean distributor Thong Sia, in the same way that Luigi Chinetti used to […]