A watch that re-writes the history of the 6215-7000?
Aug 6, 2020 21:19:53 GMT -8
HiBeat, tritto, and 8 more like this
Post by gerald on Aug 6, 2020 21:19:53 GMT -8
Earlier this year I acquired one of my grails - a 6215-7000.
Here's a photo of the watch -
Given a 6215 is being sold at Bonham's online Seiko auction that starts next week, I thought I'd do some quick research on 6215's that have sold in the past. Of the more than 50 examples that I was able to track the sales of, I have caseback serial numbers for just over half of them. In every single instance, the caseback serial number indicates production between March and July 1967.
The watch that I purchased caught my eye due to the caseback serial number, which indicates production dating from December 1966.
It was only after purchasing it that I noticed a couple more odd things about the watch.
The first was that the lume wasn't the regular colour that we find on 6215's - it's much greener. More like that found on the 62MAS. It's clear from the condition of this watch that it has seen some "action" - and hence, if it has been used as it was built for, it wouldn't be totally unremarkable to discover that at some point in its life it had been re-lumed. So I didn't really think much of it.
And then, some time later, I compared the watch to that of a good collector friend, and I noticed something else. The minutes chapter ring is silver, not gold.
None of the other 50+ watches that I've tracked the sales of have a silver chapter ring.
Given the upcoming auction, I thought it was timely to post a new photo of the watch on my Instagram feed. Nobody commented on the chapter ring, so I thought I'd have some fun, and posted it again, asking people if they could spot what was odd about the watch.
It's oh so easy to look at a watch we are familiar with and not actually "see" it. I guess it's the difference between hearing and listening. But when you say to people "spot what's odd", they of course pay a little more attention, and it wasn't long before someone remarked on the colour of the print on the chapter ring.
And then, someone spotted something else. Something that I hadn't even noticed, even though I've owned the watch for 6 months now, and spent quite a bit of time admiring it and photographing it in great detail.
When you see it, you realise just how blind we can be at times.
So here we have a 6215-7000 that dates from three months prior to the next (to the best of my knowledge) earliest known example.
It has a silver chapter ring.
The lume is a different colour (probably won't ever be able to find out whether or not it is original, but I'm not really too fussed about that), and more like that used in the 62MAS.
And no "m" after 300. Just as there is no "m" after 150 on the 62MAS dial.
Hopefully more on the 6215 history will be revealed in Ryugo-san's upcoming book on Seiko dive watches, where also I hope he corrects the "official" history coming from Seiko that it was the 62MAS was used on all the Antarctic expeditions from 1966 through to 1969, because I'm pretty certain that isn't the full story, since this article published in November 1968 states very clearly that for JARE-9, the 6215 was issued.
/edit (apologies for anyone catching these multiple edits) The watches were sent on the JARE-9 summer expedition, that left Tokyo on November 25th 1967, and returned on April 12th 1968.
Kind regards,
Gerald.
Here's a photo of the watch -
Given a 6215 is being sold at Bonham's online Seiko auction that starts next week, I thought I'd do some quick research on 6215's that have sold in the past. Of the more than 50 examples that I was able to track the sales of, I have caseback serial numbers for just over half of them. In every single instance, the caseback serial number indicates production between March and July 1967.
The watch that I purchased caught my eye due to the caseback serial number, which indicates production dating from December 1966.
It was only after purchasing it that I noticed a couple more odd things about the watch.
The first was that the lume wasn't the regular colour that we find on 6215's - it's much greener. More like that found on the 62MAS. It's clear from the condition of this watch that it has seen some "action" - and hence, if it has been used as it was built for, it wouldn't be totally unremarkable to discover that at some point in its life it had been re-lumed. So I didn't really think much of it.
And then, some time later, I compared the watch to that of a good collector friend, and I noticed something else. The minutes chapter ring is silver, not gold.
None of the other 50+ watches that I've tracked the sales of have a silver chapter ring.
Given the upcoming auction, I thought it was timely to post a new photo of the watch on my Instagram feed. Nobody commented on the chapter ring, so I thought I'd have some fun, and posted it again, asking people if they could spot what was odd about the watch.
It's oh so easy to look at a watch we are familiar with and not actually "see" it. I guess it's the difference between hearing and listening. But when you say to people "spot what's odd", they of course pay a little more attention, and it wasn't long before someone remarked on the colour of the print on the chapter ring.
And then, someone spotted something else. Something that I hadn't even noticed, even though I've owned the watch for 6 months now, and spent quite a bit of time admiring it and photographing it in great detail.
When you see it, you realise just how blind we can be at times.
So here we have a 6215-7000 that dates from three months prior to the next (to the best of my knowledge) earliest known example.
It has a silver chapter ring.
The lume is a different colour (probably won't ever be able to find out whether or not it is original, but I'm not really too fussed about that), and more like that used in the 62MAS.
And no "m" after 300. Just as there is no "m" after 150 on the 62MAS dial.
Hopefully more on the 6215 history will be revealed in Ryugo-san's upcoming book on Seiko dive watches, where also I hope he corrects the "official" history coming from Seiko that it was the 62MAS was used on all the Antarctic expeditions from 1966 through to 1969, because I'm pretty certain that isn't the full story, since this article published in November 1968 states very clearly that for JARE-9, the 6215 was issued.
/edit (apologies for anyone catching these multiple edits) The watches were sent on the JARE-9 summer expedition, that left Tokyo on November 25th 1967, and returned on April 12th 1968.
Kind regards,
Gerald.
