Vintage Seikos were made in huge numbers, sold cheaply and worn hard, so a lot of them have been repaired with whatever parts were to hand. That's how most redials and frankens come about. A redial is a watch whose dial has been refinished or replaced with a reproduction. A franken is a watch built from parts that didn't leave the factory together, whether they came from other Seikos or from aftermarket suppliers. Neither is a scam on its own, and a well-built franken can be a great watch to wear. The trouble starts when one is described and priced as all original. These are the tells that let you place a listing correctly.
Start with the dial
Dials are the most commonly replaced part, so learn what the original looks like for the exact reference you're buying, down to the small print along the bottom edge. Reproduction dials often get one detail wrong, and collectors have catalogued the common ones.
- On the 6309 Turtle, fake dials often have a date window with no bevel around it, or a 6 o'clock marker that runs down into the small print. On an original, the marker sits clearly above the text.
- On the 7002, fakes turn up with the wrong dial code printed at the bottom, or with the right wording in a font that doesn't match.
- Lume ages. Factory 7002 lume tends to go gray and grainy, so bright green plots on a watch from the late 1980s or 1990s suggest new lume or a new dial.
- The dial wording should agree with the case back. Seiko changed from Water Proof to Water Resist markings on both dials and case backs around 1970, so a Resist dial on a Proof case back, or the other way round, needs an explanation.
A spotless dial in a scratched, worn case is a reason to look harder. Old Seiko dials pick up spots and lume rot, and a clean one on a tired watch has often been refinished.
Then the hands, bezel and crown
Hands and bezel inserts are cheap to buy and easy to swap, so they're the next thing to check. Original 6309 hands are flat polished steel with sharp edges, while aftermarket ones tend to look rounder and more three-dimensional. On a 6105-8110, the seconds hand ends in a red dot and a lume dot, and colors that look fresher than the rest of the dial point to a replacement. Check hand length and thickness against reference photos too, since a set from a different model can look right at a glance and still be wrong.
Bezel inserts are replaced so often that you should compare the insert's font, color and triangle against a known original before trusting it. Crowns are worth a look as well. An original 6105-8110 crown is marked LOCK with a rotating arrow, so a plain crown on one means a replacement.
Make the dates agree
A Seiko case back carries a serial number whose first digit is the last digit of the year and whose second character is the month, so a 6309 serial starting 76 was made in June of 1976 or 1986. Plus9Time points out why this matters. Many references had dial changes partway through production, so if you know a dial type appeared in 1976 and you find it in a case dated 1973, the dial has probably been replaced. The same check works with the factory symbols. The crest on the case back shows whether Suwa or Daini made the watch, and the same symbol normally appears on the dial, so a mismatch is worth asking about. Our guide to Seiko reference numbers walks through reading the case back.
Look inside
A watch can be right on the outside and mixed up inside. When Worn & Wound writer Mark McArthur-Christie sent his tired 17-jewel 6139 chronograph to a vintage Seiko specialist, the watchmaker found a train bridge from a 21-jewel 6139, missing screws, and pushers and crown with no seals or return springs. None of it showed from the outside.
So ask the seller for a clear photo of the movement. The caliber number should match the first part of the case back reference, and the movement should behave like that caliber. A 6309 doesn't hand-wind or hack, so a listing for a hacking 6309 is describing either a mistake or a different movement. The 6306, the hacking Japanese-market version of the Turtle, looks almost identical, so check which caliber the case back names. For chronograph-specific checks, see our guide to the 6139 and 6138.
Modded watches are their own thing
Some watches are popular modding bases, and that changes how you should read their listings. Fratello's writer reckoned that nearly every 7002 on eBay had been modded or fitted with aftermarket parts, and he went through three before he found a correct one. Treat any SKX007 listed with a custom dial, hands or bezel the same way. A modded Seiko can be a lovely watch, and plenty of people buy one on purpose. Just price it as a modded watch, and don't pay extra for originality it doesn't have.
Questions to ask the seller
- Can you send photos of the dial in angled light, the case back, and the movement?
- Do you know of any replaced parts, such as the dial, hands, bezel insert, crown or crystal?
- When was it last serviced, and did the watchmaker mention any non-original parts?
- Does it hand-wind or hack? Compare the answer with what the caliber should do.
Good sellers answer these plainly, and phrases like "aftermarket insert" or "likely redial" in a description are a good sign about the seller, even if they lower the price. A seller who only uses stock photos or won't show the case back is giving you less to go on, so move on to another listing.
Decide what you want before you buy
If you want a collectible, insist on originality and expect to search for a while. If you want a vintage diver to wear, a sound watch with a few correct replacement parts and a recent service can be the smarter buy. Either way, decide where the watch really sits before you pay. All original, correctly serviced, lightly modded or a parts-bin build are four different watches, even when they look the same in a thumbnail. For a model-by-model look at the divers, read buying a vintage Seiko diver.
