Seiko Vintage Analog Quartz Table
Posted by: Gary Fredricks (garfre)
Have you ever wondered whether Seiko produced a Silverwave with a twin quartz movement? The table below informs us that the answer is yes (caliber 9441). After becoming interested in Seiko vintage analog quartz watches produced in the 1970’s, I became frustrated with the lack of organized information (at least in the English language) available for these watches.
Martin’s (martback) table posted on a couple of watch fora last June was a huge step forward. The table below builds on his work. It begins in 1971 because the series 38 watches were the first available to the public in significant numbers (though very expensive). Using printed material (Seiko watch catalogs, technical manuals, brochures) and viewing watches on auction sites, I added several caliber series, model information, and calendar function information to Martin’s table. This table will be a work in progress as more information is obtained, and I hope this table will be useful for collectors of these watches.
May 15th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Just wanted to say thanks to Gary (and martback) for getting this info out there. I’m always referencing stuff like this as I continually learn more about Seiko so this will be a nice resource to have. Just looking at all the Calibers here, you can get a real appreciation for how many HEQ movements Seiko has produced over the years, especially considering that today, there are only a handful of true HEQ (high accuracy) movements in production from all manufacturers combined.
petew
May 15th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Pete, I want to thank you and Bryan for getting the table posted. I could not have done it myself! I realize that it is only a small minority of your readers that are interested in vintage quartz; hopefully they will find the information useful.
Regarding the table, I think the hierarchy models (Superior, Grand Quartz, King Quartz and Lord Quartz) are “nailed”. Also, probably Silverwave and Type II. Needed model additions will be primarily for Credor, Lassale and SQ logo watches as these are not in the Seiko watch catalogs; I had to find them on the auction sites.
Regards
Gary
May 15th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Excellent work Gary. What started with my first table as a small seed has now grown into a large tree with your efforts. I think in particular that the model information will be very helpful in future research and this is the only place I know where it has been compiled to any extent.
/ martin
May 16th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Thanks Martin. As I became engrossed in this project the past year, I spent far more on literature than on watches. Now I can get back to acquiring some watches. I don’t own any pocket watches but thought they were interesting as seen in the literature and auction sites; the 3870 and 7550 calibers apparently occur only in pocket watches.
Gary
May 27th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Patterns, patterns …..
In preparing the table I noted some patterns that may be of interest.
For the non-twin quartz “hierarchy” watches accuracy is always:
Lord Quartz 10 sec/month
King Quartz 10 sec/month
Grand Quartz 5 sec/month
Superior 1 or 2 sec/month
For twin quartz accuracy is always:
King Quartz 20 sec/year
Grand Quartz 10 sec/year
Superior 5 sec/year
For calendar function, if the caliber ends in 0 or 1 it is time only; 2 or 5 is date only; and 3 or 6 is day and date. Calibers ending in 8 or 9 are variable, 7 was not used and there was only one 4 (5854 — time only).
Gary
May 28th, 2009 at 4:50 am
Very astute observations Gary,
When I first saw “patterns” I was wondering if you were going to attempt all the different dial patterns available for various calibers! That would be a huge undertaking eh?
It is one of the things I really like about some of these old HEQ Seikos. As Molle has shown in some of the pictures he’s posted of his collections on various forums, these old Quartz Seikos were made with some really beautiful patterned dials.
petew
October 9th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I have a silver pocket watch number 5621 can anyone tell me anything about it
October 15th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
hi bondie,
can you send a picture of it? that’ll help us talk about it