Seiko: Chronograph

We surveyed Seiko for more than half a century of mechanical chronographs in this comprehensive historical feature of WatchTime files. Scroll down to learn about the Japanese brand's contribution to the chronograph world.

CALIBER 5719: Japan's first wrist timer
When Seiko began designing Japan's first watch chronograph, its goal was to produce a watch with as many status symbols as the timing device. Shibu visit Seikosha, the Seiko factory in the spike to visit the city, developed a watch Knock off omega, it is timely launch of the 1964 Summer Olympics. It is driven by 12 pieces, manual winding movement 5719. The highlights of this 6.1mm thick movement include a single button that triggers the chronograph function, the horizontal coupling and a cylindrical wheel to control the start, stop and zero functions. The speed of the balance is 5.5 Hz, or 39,600 volts. When the timing mechanism is open, the movement runs for 38 hours. The shell is made of steel, having a diameter of 38.2 mm and a thickness of 11.2 mm.

Seiko 5719 Chronograph
Seiko 5719 caliber
The watch does not pass the time counter, so the Seiko is equipped with a rotating bezel, calibrated in increments of 1 minute. To measure an interval greater than 1 minute, the user starts the timer and then rotates the bezel until the tip of the big triangle is facing the tip of the minute hand. After stopping the timer at the end of the interval, he uses the rotating bezel to read the elapsed time, using the regular dial to read the number of seconds spent. The problem with the first chronograph series is that the bezel has a tendency to break. Seiko corrects this by replacing the fragile bezel with a rugged steel plate.

Seiko brings another version of the movement, 6.4 mm thick movement 5718, in a limited edition steel table, today is extremely rare, collectors are highly envious. What looks like a 12 o'clock date window is actually a golf stroke or a dot counter that operates through two buttons on the left side of the case. Another special function is the 6 o'clock position of a sub-dial, both as a minute counter and running seconds to show. There is a timer scale along the periphery of the dial.

Seiko 5718 Chronograph
Caliber 5718 chronograph has a separate dial, indicating the minutes and running seconds. It also has a point counter at 12 o'clock.
The following are the same as the "

CALIBRE 6139: The first automatic timer on the market
As we all know, Swiss companies in the 20th century, 60 years keen to develop self-winding timer, but no one knows their Japanese competitors know these efforts. Seiko began in 1967 to develop self-winding movement 6139 and 6138, although many watch Knock off cartier industry will focus on the quartz technology. The company took only two years to develop a 6139 movement. It is very small, has a diameter of 27.4 mm and a height of 6.5 mm. Its main engine is a spherical, center-mounted rotor, with the Seiko's innovative magic lever (still used today), click the winding system, you can use the rotor's kinetic energy, regardless of the way the rotor rotates. After the complete winding, the timer opens, the watch will run for 36 hours.

In order to improve the rate performance, the caliber of the developer gives a balanced frequency of 3Hz (21,600vph) instead of the then standard 2.5Hz (18,000vph). Other technical specifications include a cylindrical wheel to control the timer function, a counter, 30 minutes in the "6", vertical coupling. This last feature was quite innovative when it was first here in China earlier than its first in the Swiss watch. In addition to the date display, Seiko also has a bilingual (Japanese and English) indicator for the model with the date of the week.

Seiko 6139 five-speed timer
Seiko 6139 automatic chronograph movement
The new movement is located in a watch Replica tag heuer for sale called 5 speed meter, appeared in the middle of May 1969 in the store. As a result, Seiko won the first automatic chronograph to the market. (Two rivals, Zenith and other Swiss company consortia - Breitling, TAG Heuer, Hamilton - Brun and Dubois - De Prague) will be an automatic chronograph to the market. ) Movement 6138, the thickness of 7.9 mm, debuted in 1970. Unlike Caliber 6139, it has a running second hand and a counter for 12 hours. Seiko will also Caliber 6138 into the so-called "Ngau Tau" mode, similar to the Omega's manual wind Ngau Tau, putter at the top of the box, not the side.