[Identify] Picked up a vintage Seiko 5 dirt cheap, how old is it?
Picked this up for next to nothing, and can't find any specific information about the model, but I'm far from an expert. Any help would be massively appreciated!
Posted Aug 1, 2016, 1:50 PM UTC
210
Possibly a redial from India, agree the case is probably indicative of the 70s or 80s.
I agree. Sorry OP, but it's a feiko, or at least a re-dial. The "Japan Made" gives it away. The movement is probably an Indian made Allwyn. I got burned the same way on my first watch purchase. As long as it keeps decent time, wear it!
From my very untrained eye, the movement looks right? I just took the back off to take a look.
http://imgur.com/12tjuF0
Good to know, it cost next to nothing so it's no harm.
Do you have any knowledge you can expand on these Indian redial projects? I've seen LOADS of them all over the bay
In collectors circles we call them Mumbai specials. After collecting for a while you will learn that there a some places you are better off not buying from. Places like India, some South American countries, and some Asian countries. In a lot of these places you get conditions like high humidity, lots of rain/moisture, and combine those with a culture that generally doesn't see things like copyrights, patents, and immaterial theft the same way as the west. You will have a watch that gets some water in and the dial gets ruined, some of these sellers see no problem painting a new one or even changing the movment to something else. That isn't a big problem until they go and sell it. Then you have hundreds of sellers making these watches, usually Seiko, Citizen, Titoni, Ricoh, etc., with non original dials or movments and people buying them because they look neat. That's all ok until it dies in three weeks or stops keeping time.
Then you have the outright fakes. A few countries in Asia and South America are known for their "rebranding" efforts. They might take a run of the mill chrono movement and paint a fake Brietling dial, and then inscribe the movement, then the case. Then an unsuspecting buyer pays big bucks for a totally fake watch. They will also make up fake associations that you will see a lot with Cuervo Y Sobrinos, a watchmaker based in Havana, Cuba. They went out of business and some company resurrected their name a few years ago making big buck watches. Well someone got the bright idea to start printing the Cuervo logo on vintage watches to make people pay more for a mundane vintage piece.
In short, you will learn where to avoid buying from after some time in the hobby. If you have any further questions let me know.
I love the phrase they've been coined. Thank you for the detailed response. I sincerely appreciate it as someone whose trying to learn more and more about the community. I've always worn watches but just got more into specs / reputable / non reputable places to "score" different pieces.
I definetly bought an Indian Redial on eBay for $10 not too long ago. It seemed way too good to be true- which it was. It's an Oris watch, original case, original movement. However -super funky dial that I'm assuming is fake. Also the crown was replaced as it slips and doesnt screw down all the way ha ha.. So winding it requires a leather-man.
Seller I contacted is shipping me another one (or so he has said) .. So time will tell. I just needed something to throw around so if it works out- perfect ha.
Yeah they're not bad as something to get started in for people new to mechanicals. There are plenty of nice original Seikos from the US however that can be had pretty cheap. I've got four vintage autos including a BellMatic and they're just great watches.