agaki
Can't Tell Time
Posts: 4
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Post by agaki on Jul 5, 2020 2:02:37 GMT -8
Hey folks, just wondering if any of you fine people have any info on the differences between King Seiko 45-7000 and 45-7001! Most people I've messaged on the web have thrown out various theories eg. later production / import vs export model but no definitive answers so far. As far as I can tell there's no physical difference? Please help satiate my curiosity into this extremely small thing haha
Appreciate any insights!
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ouroboros
Timekeeper
One more watch. I think....
Posts: 969
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Post by ouroboros on Jul 5, 2020 3:38:28 GMT -8
It's the market release designation, JDM vs International. The only noticeable difference will be the day wheel, JDM has Kanji.
Further clarification
The coding used across the old Seiko models had the last 4 digits as the casing reference. 7000 and 7001 will be the case number for the above.
As a rule of thumb, the last digit in the case number will indicate the target market. xxx0 will be JDM, xxx1 will be international and xxx9 will be North America.
There is xxx7 which I believe is Asia.
JDM movements on the JDM watches used to have red lettering, but not always.
On the outside, some JDMs had Speed-Timer printed on the dial.
However, Seiko being Seiko, there might be some deviation and some other region codes.
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Post by nordlys on Jul 5, 2020 4:36:33 GMT -8
It's the market release designation, JDM vs International. The only noticeable difference will be the day wheel, JDM has Kanji.
Further clarification
The coding used across the old Seiko models had the last 4 digits as the casing reference. 7000 and 7001 will be the case number for the above.
As a rule of thumb, the last digit in the case number will indicate the target market. xxx0 will be JDM, xxx1 will be international and xxx9 will be North America.
There is xxx7 which I believe is Asia.
JDM movements on the JDM watches used to have red lettering, but not always.
On the outside, some JDMs had Speed-Timer printed on the dial.
However, Seiko being Seiko, there might be some deviation and some other region codes.
Hmm, what is your source for this info? I was under the impression that the difference was in the caseback water resistance wording. The 45-7000s were the earlier references (from 1969 to early 1971) and had "Waterproof" printed on the Caseback. Apparently Seiko got in trouble with regulatory bodies over that wording (saying "proof" without a meter rating), because a lot of customers were taking their "waterproof" dress watches into saunas and suffering water ingress. Since most of these watches were really 30-ish meter water resistant, Seiko had to change the wording. Sometime in early 1971 they changed the text to "Water Resistant" and that was when the numbering changed to 7001, and remained that way until the end of the KS 45s run in early 1974. Although I have seen a few 7001s from early to mid-71 with "waterproof" still on the caseback, so perhaps there was a transition period where they were changing the wording. |
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Post by huangcjz on Jul 10, 2020 7:27:15 GMT -8
It's the market release designation, JDM vs International. The only noticeable difference will be the day wheel, JDM has Kanji. Further clarification The coding used across the old Seiko models had the last 4 digits as the casing reference. 7000 and 7001 will be the case number for the above. As a rule of thumb, the last digit in the case number will indicate the target market. xxx0 will be JDM, xxx1 will be international and xxx9 will be North America. There is xxx7 which I believe is Asia. JDM movements on the JDM watches used to have red lettering, but not always. On the outside, some JDMs had Speed-Timer printed on the dial. However, Seiko being Seiko, there might be some deviation and some other region codes. That is the case for some models, but not for this model - all King Seiko/KS-branded models were Japanese Domestic Market watches - there weren’t any international ones. In this case, as in some others, the increment from 0 to 1 in the case number indicates a newer case revision. The -7000, on the right, has a thinner case-back, whereas the -7001, on the left, has a thicker case-back, presumably to improve the water resistance of the watch. The mid-case is also changed - the -7001 has a thinner case side profile, with a deeper round portion leading to the case-back instead, in order to make the watch's mid-case side profile look thinner - most obvious relative to the crown:  The crowns are also different, with the -7001, again on the left, having a narrower outer ridge/ring, than the -7000 on the right:  Hmm, what is your source for this info? I was under the impression that the difference was in the caseback water resistance wording. The 45-7000s were the earlier references (from 1969 to early 1971) and had "Waterproof" printed on the Caseback. Apparently Seiko got in trouble with regulatory bodies over that wording (saying "proof" without a meter rating), because a lot of customers were taking their "waterproof" dress watches into saunas and suffering water ingress. Since most of these watches were really 30-ish meter water resistant, Seiko had to change the wording. Sometime in early 1971 they changed the text to "Water Resistant" and that was when the numbering changed to 7001, and remained that way until the end of the KS 45s run in early 1974. Although I have seen a few 7001s from early to mid-71 with "waterproof" still on the caseback, so perhaps there was a transition period where they were changing the wording. As you say, there are -7001s marked "WATER PROOF", so that is not the cause of the difference. |
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Post by nordlys on Jul 10, 2020 9:43:22 GMT -8
That is the case for some models, but not for this model. In this case, as in some others, the increment from 0 to 1 in the case number indicates a newer case revision. The -7000, on the right, has a thinner case-back, whereas the -7001, on the left, has a thicker case-back, presumably to improve the water resistance of the watch. The mid-case is also changed - the -7001 has a thinner case side profile, with a deeper round portion leading to the case-back instead, in order to make the watch's mid-case side profile look thinner - most obvious relative to the crown: The crowns are also different, with the -7001, again on the left, having a narrower outer ridge/ring, than the -7000 on the right: As you say, there are -7001s marked "WATER PROOF", so that is not the cause of the difference.Interesting! Thanks for the info! The one in my profile pic is a -7001, but I also have a -7000 that I'm keeping as a "parts graveyard" (movement is in great shape but case is beat to crap). I'll compare the two this weekend to see if I can spot the differences. |
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agaki
Can't Tell Time
Posts: 4
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Post by agaki on Jul 11, 2020 23:34:18 GMT -8
Awesome info huangcjz great to know!
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