I'm going to count to three.

One. Two. Three. There, I did it for you.

Introduction

So hopefully this is the last newsletter to be published from ‘overseas’ and on a Saturday morning. I have had crazy (but very enjoyable) travel commitments over the last few weeks, but hopefully once I’m back home on Monday things will settle down for a month or so!

Some really good pieces to highlight this week, including what looks to be an extraordinarily good example of the early dialed 6145-8000 that was listed at a frankly ridiculous BiN price whilst I was writing the newsletter. I really should have just hit the button on that one as soon as I saw it, but that would be greedy!

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Adam Clay

Grand Seiko 6146-8010 “Arabesque”

With their hardened stainless steel case and faceted sapphire crystals, the Arabesques - so called due to the florid graphic printed on the dial under the applied GS logo -were seemingly the precursors to the 6156- “Specials” that followed just one year later.

Available with two different crystals, the vertically faceted one as seen here is a lot more common than its pyramid faceted brother, but still highly sought after by collectors nonetheless.

This isn’t the best example you could hope to come across - the case looks to have “had some attention”, and if you examine the photos closely, you will note that the dial has quite a bit of light spotting.

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Grand Seiko 4520-8000

I’m not entirely convinced that the box accompanying this watch would have been the one it was originally sold with. My preference is always to find 61GS and 45GS references in the boxes with the additional “Hi-Beat 36000” text on the inside of the lid, but given this watch was manufactured in 1971, it is quite possible that by the time it hit retail, those “36000” boxes would have been phased out, with the 36000bph references being sold in what we see here.

But that’s a relatively minor point, because the watch itself looks to be in superb condition.

Patination on cap gold cases is of course a purely subjective matter - you either love them like this, or you prefer your watch to be as shiny as the day it was originally sold. Personally I’m in the former camp, but it would be a relatively simple job to remove that patination should you so wish.

Cap gold cases can’t quite reach the levels of sharpness of the stainless steel ones, but the it is clear from the photos that the definition of this one is right up there with the very best you could hope to find. The dial looks to be immaculate, and the buckle is certainly of the correct design for a 45GS dating from 1971.

Highly recommended.

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Grand Seiko 5722-9000

It’s pretty rare to see one of the sold 18K cased 57GS turn on on an open auction - these are more commonly found sat with dealers or pawn shops, typically priced in the 1-2M Yen range.

Given the state of the dial on this one, it’s perhaps not surprising though to see that it is being offered on an open auction on Yahoo Japan.

It should be noted that there are actually three different dials that can be found on the 18K 57GS’s. Putting aside the later “non-Chronometer” dialed watches, those with the earlier “Chronometer” dials can be found with two different dial codes. Since the dial here is so damaged, I’ll use screenshots from other listings for the reference.

Here’s the same dial as found on the watch on Yahoo -

And here is the other version -

One might initially think that the dial with the 5722-9990T AD code would be incorrect for the 5722-9000, and instead has perhaps originated on a Cap Gold cased watch, but I don’t believe that this is the case - not least because the Cap Gold 5722-9010’s seemingly only started production in August 1966, and none of them have “Chronometer” dials. Here’s what the dial on a cap gold 57GS looks like -

There is one other dial type for the 18K cased 57GS, but it has never been seen in a watch. Indeed, to the best of my knowledge, there are only two known examples of the dial - one is on display at Wako, and the second is owned by yours truly -

One final thing that the eagle-eyed might have spotted that is seemingly odd about this watch is the movement. Despite being produced in September 1964, the movement is the final 5722B variant, that we don’t see in the steel cased watches until mid-1965. Over the years I have seen a handful of examples of 5722-9000’s with caseback serial numbers indicating production in September 1964 that have 5722B movements. The majority of the watches have the - logically more contemporaneous - 430 movement in them.

Whether or not these were originally created with early examples of the 5722B movement, or had their movements “upgraded” at a service at some point, is anyone’s guess. Suffice to say, there are sufficient examples out there to perhaps suggest it is “OK” to have this later configuration. Just as an aside though, I have seen a movement number just 40 away from this one in a 5722-9990 dating from June 1966…

Given how early this watch is (just the 26th to come off the production line), I must admit I’m quite tempted to pick it up to finally provide a suitable home for my 43999 dial, and perhaps even put a 430 movement in it…

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The first Grand Seiko with raised logo dial

This is an absolutely gorgeous example of the first Grand Seiko, with certainly one of the nicest dials to turn up on Yahoo in quite some time.

The dial has no visible staining at all, and has (to my mind) just the right amount of random small spotting. Dating from late 1961, the weight of the print is a little heavier than one would find on the earliest carved and print logo dials, but certainly about as good as you could hope to find from this period.

The case is not up to the standard of the dial - the lugs are pretty well defined, but I’m not sure what’s going on with the case back that looks as if someone has used for a game of mini-darts at some point. Most odd.

Note that because this dates from November 1961, we find the early lion medallion on the caseback, which is correct.

Prices of good quality first Grand Seikos from dealers in Japan continue to increase on what seems like an almost monthly basis, with prices starting with a “6” pretty much the norm these days, so I fully anticipate a lot of interest in this one (despite the incorrect crown!).

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Grand Seiko 4522-7000

Given the partial remains of the caseback protection sticker on the caseback medallion of this watch, one has to wonder how much wear it has had in the last 55 years on that aftermarket bracelet.

The case condition is certainly commensurate with that of the caseback, with the original sharply defined caselines and facets - particularly on the all important lugs.

The seller is decent enough to highlight a small chip on the crystal, seemingly accompanied by a nick on the bezel that probably resulted from the same impact -

But those are very minor issues considering the wonderful overall state of the watch (the dial is immaculate).

A very tempting proposition indeed!

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Grand Seiko 6156-8010

Given the earlier appearance of an “Arabesque”, it is only fitting to also this week include an example of the watch that replace it in the catalogue, the similarly hardened stainless steel cased and faceted crystaled 6156-8010 “Special”.

Whilst clearly the case and crystal on this watch could benefit from a relaxing bath in an ultrasonic cleaner, the watch looks to be in generally very good condition. The only question mark really is concerning that mark on the upper right lug.

It’s very hard to tell from the photos, but that really does look as if a part of the case has been scraped away and has then oxidized - I don’t ever recall seeing something like this on an HSS case before. Or could it just be some dirt on the case?

Given the seller has seemingly deliberately called it out by providing a (relatively) close-up photo, I rather doubt it’s the latter.

Will it be enough to put off a lot of potential buyers? Time will tell.

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The first Grand Seiko with raised logo dial

This is the same watch that was featured in last week’s newsletter, so I will refer you there for the write-up.

Last week the auction closed for 217,000 Yen, which clearly the seller wasn’t happy with, since it has been relisted. But as I said last week - “This seller really is doing himself no favours by only providing four images in his listing”.

Present you wares on Yahoo well, and you will be rewarded.

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Bonus “currently has no bids” listing

Grand Seiko 6145-8000 early dial

This one just went up whilst I was writing the newsletter at a BiN price of a frankly ridiculous 132,000 Yen.

The seller states that the case has been ultrasonically cleaned, but makes no mention of having carried out any polishing, and looking at those lugs, I can’t help but wonder whether this one has managed to live through its 56 year existence without anyone ever attempting to refinish it?

I’m going to start a stopwatch on hitting “send’ on the newsletter, and see how long this one stays up for!

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Derek Danforth

Grand/King Seiko 45

So near, yet so far.

For a while there I was wondering whether this would be the first week to not have a single dodgy listing, and then this piece of junk turns up!

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Redone coloured dial summary

I close with the usual copy/pasted reminder to steer clear of any vintage Grand Seikos with coloured dials similar to the above. This is not a comprehensive photo - there are many references that get this “treatment”, so be careful out there.

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