When do I start going downhill?

Won't be long

Introduction

Rather frustratingly we seem to be keeping up with the Beethoven symphonies analogy. Last week was very clearly an odd numbered one - almost as good a week as one could hope for, so let’s assume it represented symphony number 7 (and if you fancy a listen, it’s hard to beat Claudio Abbado’s 1999 recording with the Berlin Philharmonic). This week? Well, if my quick run through the auctions last night before I went to bed was anything to go buy, we might be in for a number 2.

Let’s find out!

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Ethan Hunt

Grand Seiko 5722-9990

Nothing exceptional with this one, but I’m anticipating a bit of a slow week so thought I’d drop it in. Just a good honest 57GS with everything checking out as it should (dial, movement serial, movement variant, caseback serial, caseback model reference and crown all align).

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Grand Seiko 4522-7010 (36000 on dial)

Another one that I wouldn’t usually highlight, but since there are examples of both dial variants of the 452x-7010 up for grabs this week, I thought it would be interesting to include them.

The thing that distinguishes the variants from one another is that this watch - which debuted in the number 2 catalogue of 1970 - has “36000” (referencing the 36000bph 4522 movement of course) printed on the dial between the Hi-beat text and the Daini logo.

If you are after one of these, I’m not really suggesting you should pick this one up - the crystal (part number 300V05GN) is very scratched up, and there is some dial degradation at the periphery. Also, there is the small matter of the movement not working, so consider this an educational note only for those who haven’t read all the catalogue articles!

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Grand Seiko 4520-8000 CG

Vintage Grand Seikos with papers are always highly sought after, but they have to be the right papers of course!

Here the case serial number is 930460, whilst the certificate is for a watch with case serial 040874. What’s really odd though is that the retailer guarantee for the watch is correct - it shows the same serial number as on the back of the watch.

It’s always interesting to see dated retailer receipts or guarantees, because it gives us insight into the time that elapsed between a watch being manufactured (in this instance, March 1969), and it being sold. The guarantee states a sale date of 22nd November in Showa year 45, which is 1970, so fully 20 months went by after its manufacture before this watch was sold.

How it ended up with the wrong GS Certificate is a mystery - particularly odd given the owner(s) managed to keep the original shop papers with the watch for all this time.

I’m leaving this in the good guys section despite the wrong certificate because I feel the shop guarantee in some way actually more than compensates for that.

The watch itself is certainly better than average, but that case has clearly had a lot of tender loving wipes over the years.

If you are thinking of chasing this one for the extras, do note that in the description the seller seems to be stating that it takes 30 minutes to wind the watch. Rather hard to believe this, but as with pretty much anything you get from Yahoo, work on the assumption that you will need to have the watch fully serviced.

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Grand Seiko 6156-8001

The overexposed dial might be hiding something - there are a few minor spots visible even at this exposure - but in a quiet week and with a lovely sharp case, this just sneaks into the recommended section.

I still don’t know the difference between an -8000 and -8001 for this reference, but the -8000’s can be found with in cases marked both Waterproof and Water Resistant-G, whilst the -8001’s only turn up with the latter.

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Grand Seiko 4520-7010

Earlier on we saw an example of the 4522-7010 with the additional line of 36000 text on the dial, and here’s a 4520-7010 without it.

As with the earlier watch, I’m not really recommending anyone should purchase this particular example (for the obvious dial flaws), but rather just including it from an educational/interest perspective.

Without the existence of a photo of a 4522-7010 in the May 1971 issue of Seiko Sales, we’d probably be wondering whether or not this watch was even legitimate.

With regards to what we see turning up these days, the non-36000 dialed watches outnumber those with 36000 on the dial by something of the order of 8:1.

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It’s not a vintage Grand Seiko, but I like it

Seiko 0614-5000

Last week saw the sale of a non-running example of this reference for a remarkable 223,000 Yen.

Here’s that watch -

Physically, if not electronically, that watch was clearly in extremely good condition, but 223,000 Yen for a non-running example of the world’s first 6-digit LCD watch was a very strong result.

The bidding was pretty much along the lines of what one might expect at first, and had stalled at 82,000 Yen on July 19th.

With just a couple of hours left to the close of the auction, there was still no further action.

Then, shortly after 7pm, this was listed -

Within minutes, interest on the dead example exploded, with no fewer than seven different bidders battling it out until the close.

The reason is of course obvious. All of a sudden, that super condition, but dead, 0614 was a very, very attractive watch to chase, because it would be a relatively simple job to swap out the running module from this new listing (in a beaten up case and on the wrong bracelet) into the clean example, which comes on the correct bracelet.

Running 0614 modules are very rare. How rare?

In the last decade, there have been sales of just 4 working examples of the titanium cased 0614-5000, and just a dozen or so of the more common steel cased 0614-5010.

The very best of luck to whoever it was that held out to win last week’s auction for the non-runner - I rather suspect you are going to have one heck of a battle on your hands for this one!

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Seiko 3820-3000 VFA pocket watch

Oh boy.

This watch will probably come as a surprise to all but those who have studied the Seiko Special Luxury Catalogues in detail, and specifically, the 1973 Seiko Special Luxury Catalogue.

I’ve never actually got around to sharing a full scan of the contents of the catalogue myself, because Anthony over at Plus9Time has already done a great job of it. Click the link, download the catalogue and turn the pages and you will eventually be presented with these three watches -

Did you have any idea at all that Seiko produced three hand engraved solid 18K gold cased quartz VFA’s?

The three different engraving designs are based on three traditional Japanese flowers - the peony, plum, and the watch featured here, chrysanthemum.

So rare are these watches, that I have only ever seen one example of the chrysanthemum variant, and one of the plum, come up for sale previously. Both sold on Yahoo in 2014 - almost a decade ago - the chrysanthemum for 280,000 Yen, and the plum for 236,000 Yen.

To say that I have a strong urge to add this to my collection would be the understatement of the year so far, but I’ve decided to hold out for one that has its original box, cord, and cover. The one that sold in 2014 had these items, which you can see pictured with the watch here -

I might be in for a very long wait, but if you’re not quite so fussy, quite honestly the price of just 490,000 Yen is surely a steal for one of these (just the gold value alone is probably worth in excess of $3,000). Just look at the caseback -

Listed on Mercari, your proxy service of choice should be able to place an order for the watch on your behalf.

Ugh. Still. So. Tempted…

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Gabriel

Grand Seiko “6146-8050”

If this bizarre Frankenstein looks familiar, it’s because it featured in a newsletter a couple of week’s ago. That time around the auction was cancelled after bidding had knocked on the door of 100,000 Yen. Let’s see what happens this time around, but steer clear of course!

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Grand Seiko 43999 SD dial

Our junk peddler is back peddling more junk this week.

(If you’re interested in a legit 43999 with SD dial, there actually is one listed this week, but I didn’t include it in the recommended section because of the wrong crown and the relatively poor quality of the dial. If you’re not after something pristine and 100% correct, you could do a lot worse.)

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Grand Seiko 4522-7000

So this one has either gone really black, or the dial has been redone. If it has been redone, then the print of the major dial text is very good indeed - hard to be 100% sure at this low resolution - but the killer is the lack of a dial code (maybe, just maybe, there is the faintest evidence there, but I might just be imagining things) -

Not recommended.

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Redone coloured dial summary

I close with the usual 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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Post credits scene

Remember that full set example of the first Grand Seiko that I discussed last week?

It originally closed for around 1.4M Yen a couple of weeks ago, and then oddly the auction got canceled by the seller (I know who the top bidder was) and it was relisted.

Take a look at what it closed for this time around. And this time the auction wasn’t cancelled by the seller. And it was the same bidder had bid 1.4M the week previously.

It should be appearing with a dealer in the next couple of weeks - keep an eye out for it. Without a doubt the most ridiculous bargain I’ve ever seen on Yahoo Japan. Hearty congratulations to the winner!

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