Welcome to part 2 of the Seiko Presage comparison

INTRODUCTION

This post has some minor technical information about the Presage movements. If you are looking for jewel counts and when the plastic date wheel finger was replaced with metal, this is the wrong article. You will have to search elsewhere on an even more nerdy Seiko repair site.

As you read along, it won't take too keen of an eye to see that the accuracy is not claiming to be Grand Seiko quality. Before writing off these watches though, ask any owner here how precisely his watch is keeping time. Seiko is notably conservative in their specifications.

Next, you can compare prices with the Swiss brands. I went through 48 different Presage models, including ladies with diamond-chip markers, and prices ranged from a low of $400 to a high of $1980. That's for production models in stock (not limited editions), from an authorized dealer, today, including 1-year Seiko warranty. VALUE and BEAUTY are the key words to use with Presage.

The 4R movements are derived from the 6R15 (below) which itself was based on Seiko's famous dive watch movement, the 7S26. The newer models have hand-winding to start the watch  (earlier 7S26 had to be "shaken" to start), hacking seconds, and SPRON mainsprings for longer running. 

I think this is the full list of movements as of January 2018

• 4R35 date window
• 4R36 day/date windows
• 4R38 no date
• 4R39 date, GMT
• 4R57 date hand, power reserve
• 6R15 date window
• 6R27 date hand, power reserve
• 8R48 column wheel chrono with date window

You can see the movement family begin with 4, 6 and 8. Generally speaking, the higher numbers indicate the movement has better materials, finishing and adjustment.

These images were extracted from segments of the Seiko owner's manuals and placed in a common format for your convenience in comparing the options.

Autonomy 42 hours

Accuracy  +25 / -15 seconds/day

Given the serial number of this watch, you might think it's a very early specimen. Actually this is my white dial limited Chronograph (with a photoshopped serial number

I hope this quick overview has been interesting. Thanks for reading along thus far ...

NEW CONTENT

I have decided to add some material to help those who are new to watches understand the complexity of even a "simple" movement such as the 6R15. Here are some Seiko assembly images (minus the instructions, oiling locations and technical stuff like that, to prevent you from wanting to service your own movement):

THIS IS THE DIAL SIDE, WITH DIAL REMOVED SO YOU CAN SEE THE DAY/DATE DETAILS. HANDS WOULD ATTACH TO THE CANNON PINION & HOUR WHEEL

HERE IS THE MOVEMENT SIDE, BEGINNING WITH THE AUTOMATIC WINDING MECHANISM (OSCILLATING WEIGHT)

HERE ARE THE MAIN WHEELS AND BRIDGES

HERE IS THE MAIN PLATE AND THE WINDING / SETTING MECHANISM (aka KEYLESS WORKS)

Thanks for coming to the end.

Cazalea