This King Seiko has a hi beat, 28,800 bph automatic movement that competed internally with Grand Seiko models.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
From the serial number on the case back we can accurately date this watch to being made in July 1972.
CONDITION
The story behind King Seiko, and their Grand Seiko cousins, is an interesting one. Seiko had two main factories producing watches, and to encourage internal competition to make better products each factory bought out their own top end brand. The factory in Suwa started producing Grand Seiko watches in 1960, and the Daini factory launch the King Seiko a year later. History tells us that the Suwa factory ‘won’, as Seiko launched Grand Seiko watches again in the 1990’s for their ultimate quality watch line. But in the 1967 Neuchatal Chronometry competition the King Seiko watches from the Diani factory came 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th. The best placed Grand Seiko was 12th. In 1968 this competition was then cancelled by the Swiss Council of State, possibly because the Swiss had been embarrassed by the Japanese the previous year.
This particular watch, with the unusual silver / light blue dial, has a movement that beats eight times a second, and giving this watch a very smooth seconds hand. The solid link bracelet is a world apart in quality from the normal folded link Seiko bracelets, and is a good size (Often these are resized and the links lost). The elliptical stainless steel case has light scratches and scuffs, as it has not been polished, but no dents. The dial, original and not refinished, is very clean and each applied marker still has its plot of lume in place. The beveled glass is not scratched, and we believe it is sapphire crystal (if you place a single bead of water in the centre of the crystal it doesn’t spread.) The two piece case is held together with sprung clips between the lugs, but we are not 100% sure how these are released so can not provide a movement photo. The day wheel is in English and Kanji, the most popular combination.
This watch will be supplied with our Certificate of Authenticity.
Please see the HD video for more detail.
SIZE
Width with crown 41.6 mm
Width without crown 40.7 mm
Between lugs 18 mm
Lug to lug length 34.4 mm
Case Thickness 9.1 mm
Bracelet maximum length 188 mm
All sizes are approximate.
Included with this watch is a 3 month guarantee and free delivery to UK addresses. If you live outside the UK we can still deliver to most countries. Please see our Worldwide Shipping information, or Contact Us.
