Horological Meandering

Grand Seiko fans - Quick and dirty shots of what I just picked up today...

 

There are a few vintage models on my "wish list" and today was the last day of "Antique Watch Fair" at one of the largest department stores in Tokyo.  During day time, while I was supposed to be in the office, I sneaked out and went there expecting less than little as it was an hour before closing of the last day.  My motto is "if it's meant to be, it is meant to be", so if I couldn't find anything, the time is not ripe.  But I FOUND ONE today!  I will need some time to prepare write up and clean it up and check whether it needs servicing and such, but I just want to share with you the quick and dirty shots of my latest pick-up.  I am almost weeping of joy

Here you go!

Yes, this is Grand Seiko from late 60s.  This is automatic (cal. 6186) and its manual version (4520) is the one which won the competition in Switzerland and after that the competition was no longer held...  Anyway, this VFA stands for "Very Fine Adjustted" and boasted +/-60sec per month (let me remind you that it was almost the same time as SEIKO introduced the first Quartz wrist watch).  SEIKO in fact GUARANTEED that level of accuracy for two years for each of VFA piece.  Very small quantity were produced.  The original manual version is even rarer as only 153 units, which all went through the competition, were produced.  That is the history I know for now.  Please google it if you are interested.

What was funny was the dealer was not showing this at all until I popped up.  He didn't have to sell there as he can sell it anytime (when this comes to the market, it is gone in 60 seconds - he was going to bring it back to his shop), but he thought I was so serious and showed it to me - the condition is excellent + with no damage on the dial or hands and the case is in excellent shape.  And with box of the same period.   There was no reason for me NOT to buy it there. 

I will probably check how it runs and maybe ask SEIKO to service it if necessary, and I may modify it to display back

I am soooo happy now.  This is one of the grail watches for me.  Of course, there are many more grail watches for me, though.  Next time, I will come to this fair on the first day and look for others.  There were still many, I mean many, SEIKO, LeCourtle, Rolex, Omega, Longine wonderful vintages WITH BOX AND PAPERS there.  I learned that the dealers tend to keep those rare pieces for this fair and THIS is the place to find the rare pieces.

Thanks for reading my self-satisfying rumble

Ken
This message has been edited by KIH on 2011-09-14 20:27:41