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| (L-R) Zenith A384, Monaco 1133G, Seiko 6139-6010, Autavia1163MH |
I'm soooo thrilled to have found this little Seiko to 'complete' my collection!
As you may know, my humble little vintage watch collection is centred around the first automatic chronograph movements that came out in 1969, my birth year.
It's widely regarded that the three companies (Heuer, Zenith and Seiko) all managed to announce, and release these watches for general retail, sometime in 1969, with sometime being the operative word.
As documented by various internet resources, including this Hodinkee article by Blake Buettner, Jeff Stein's excellent 'Project 99' article, and this much less quoted but equally informative article The Great Race of '69 by Gisbert Brunner, it seems that:
- Zenith was the first to announce their El Primero 3019 movement in Jan 1969, but these went on sale to the public many months later in Oct 1969.
- The Heuer consortium was next, introducing their Cal.11 movement in March 1969, with public sales beginning around August 1969.
- In the meantime (pun intended), on the other side of the world, Seiko had apparently announced their 6139 movement in May 1969, with actual production samples quickly available for sale almost immediately after, in June 1969! Indeed, there are several JDM (Japan Domestic Market) 6139 samples amongst Seiko collectors with serial numbers dating to March 1969, and even (at least) two samples from Feb 1969 (see here and here)!!!
I'm not about to get into a discussion of which of these companies should hold the title of being truly THE FIRST to have an automatic chronograph movement...
Firstly (pun intended), there are many ways to interpret 'FIRST' - first to have a successful prototype? First to announce to the world? First to enter mass production? First to have a customer walk into a store, purchase, and slap it on his/ her wrist?
Secondly, these discussions can become terribly disagreeable and unfriendly - see here for an example - started off fine, but quickly degenerated into many pages of heated argument and ugliness.
And lastly, it's entirely pointless, cos the advent of these first automatic chronograph movements was quickly overshadowed by a more significant horological event that happened in 1969 (no, not the moon landing with the Omega 321 Speedmaster!) - the ominous arrival of the first commercial quartz watch, the Seiko (again!) Astron.....within a decade, these pesky quartz watches would have contributed to the decline and near-demise of the entire Swiss mechanical watch industry....
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| Heuer 1163MH Autavia with Cal.11, circa 1970 |
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| Heuer 1133G Monaco with Cal.11, circa 1970 |
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| Zenith El Primero A384 with 3019 movement, circa 1970/71 |
So anyways, having already owned two Heuers with the Cal.11 movement - a timelessly handsome pre-Viceroy Autavia 1163MH and a very McQueen-cool Monaco 1133G; and a Zenith El Primero A384 with the 3019 movement (with it's very distinctive angular tonneau case and 'ladder' bracelet), I've been looking hard for a Seiko with the 6139 movement.
Seikos are indeed plentiful on the used market (yes, even the 6139) - go onto Ebay and you'll easily find a gazillion 6139s at any one time - problem is, a lot of these are 'put-together' or parts watches.
Also, I didn't want just any old Seiko 6139 - preferably I wanted an early JDM specimen with 'Seiko 5 Speed-timer' markings on the dial, Proof dial, Proof caseback, notch case (the Seiko folks will know what I'm talking about), and a 21J 6139A movement (instead of the later 17J 6139B).
So, after casting my search-net worldwide for many monthly without fruit, last week I stumbled upon one on my home turf, Singapore!
It looked almost correct - Seiko 5 Speed-timer 'Proof' dial, 'Proof' caseback with serial number 01xxxx dating to Jan 1970, 21J 6139A movement, recessed dimpled crown, and it even had the period correct bracelet (the flimsiest bracelet design EVER, in my opinion).
The only thing 'wrong' with it is that the running chrono hand seems to be of the later type rather than the earlier 2-piece type! =(
I'm especially pleased to see this model appearing in the last page of a 1969 Seiko watch catalog (courtesy of Isthmus, global moderator of the excellent Seiko and Citizen Watch Forum)!!
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| Seiko 5 Speed-timer 21J 6139-6010 Sports Water 70m Proof |
So when I viewed the actual watch on offer, it was prettier than in the pictures, and in pretty good condition (save for the bracelet, which is on it's last legs), but the seller did not know the service history, nor whether it was even running accurately at all - he sold new Seikos and Casio G-Shocks - what did he care about a 40+ year old vintage watch?
But for a price that couldn't even buy a quarter of a vintage Gay Freres bracelet, I just couldn't pass this up!
And what a punt it turned out to be - the watch runs smoothly and flawlessly, the kanji day-wheel, and even the bracelet, has it's own retro charm, and it didn't even need winding! The 6139 movement has no hand-winding capability - I suspect this was Seiko's clever way of forcing you to wear their 6139s on a daily basis in order to keep them running!
So here you have it...I proudly present you, quite possibly the first online photos of these classic 40+ year old icons with the world's first three automatic chronograph movements (Heuer Cal.11, Zenith El Primero 3019, and Seiko 6139A), together in a group shot.....enjoy!!
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