Seiko Watch Serial Numbers Reference
- Obviously, it is absolutely crucial to know the calibre, dial number and model reference number when referring to your watch or when ordering spare parts. It is always a good idea to quote ALL numbers to your spare parts supplier: 'I need this part for Seiko caliber 6119 C (note C!) dial number 6119-6020S and case number 6119-6023.'
- SEIKO - Serial Number to Manufacture Date Decoder Simple and quick, this page allows you to determine the exact date of manufacture of a Seiko watch basing on the caliber and serial number printed on the bottom plate or in the edge. Probably this is the worst most detailed database of all Seiko production since 1950 over the web, including movement revisions (ex: 7S26B or C) and various extra.
This Seiko Divers Reference is here for archive purposes. I updated this document on and off based on the Seiko & Citizen Watch Forum discussions until about 2007, but since then the information here related to Seiko divers has not changed, so many of the facts and data presented may not be up to date and should not be considered definitive.
This Seiko Divers Reference is here for archive purposes. I updated this document on and off based on the Seiko & Citizen Watch Forum discussions until about 2007, but since then the information here related to Seiko divers has not changed, so many of the facts and data presented may not be up to date and should not be considered definitive. For current information about Seiko divers and access to an active Japanese watch collector's community, please visit the new. Thank you for visiting!
- Kevin Chan A Note About This Reference This Seiko Divers Reference covers the standard 150m & 200m automatic models that Seiko has been making since 1965. It also contains some information on the 'high-end' Professional Divers. The information here is compiled from postings of folks who share their knowledge and insights with each other every day on the. Basically, everything here is a product of the collective WISdom of Seikoholics. What I've done is simply to go through the archives and compile the relevant info in one place so those who are interested in the history and folklore of Seiko divers can use this as a reference. I hope folks will find this useful.
I've certainly learned a lot just by putting all the materials together. Please feel free to share and use the information here. By all means email me if you think anything needs to be changed. And keep in mind that this is a work in progress.
There may be dates that are incorrect or details that are inaccurate. So corrections, criticisms, suggestions, and feedback are always welcome and encouraged. Enjoy your Seikos and see you at the S&C Forum! - Kevin Chan About the Chronology For the production dates of the different diver models, I emailed and asked them to provide detailed info about each variation (the 62MAS, 6105s, 6309s, 6306, 7002 and the 7S26 series).
Seiko provided the 'approximate' dates of production for the difference movement calibers, but said they are unable to give info about individual models as they don't have detailed records. (Their email reply is for those who are curious.) Change Log. 5/5/03: Added more info to the 'Professional divers' section and started new section on 'Small/ladies & midsize divers.' . 6/21/03: Upgraded Gallery to v1.3.4.
7/10/03: Added additional info about 6105 & 6309 divers in movies, other recent diver-related postings (last posts under 'General History'), and more 6306 pics (by Johnny009 and Shawn). 7/31/03: Added 'Quartz Divers Gallery' to the Seiko Divers Gallery. 8/5/03: Updated Divers Reference, added 'Shawn's Diver Heaven' series. 2012-12-20: Moved Seiko Divers Reference to archives.makedostudio.com. Updated stylesheet to make fonts larger and text more legible.
Content remains the same as the original. Models:. 6217-8000.
6217-8001. also referred to as '62MAS' or by dial number - 6217-8000T. Details: The 6217 is Seiko's 1st diver. It's often referred to as '62MAS' (the 62 stands for the 62 series caliber movement used in the diver). It's rated to 150m.
(For a good intro to the history of Seiko's development of the professional divers, see Ryan's post from the Seiko & Citizen Forum.) The cal. 6217A automatic movement is 17J and runs at 18,000 bph. It has a date-only display and was used also in the World Time models. 6217A is a cousin of the 35J 6218A movement, which has an added day wheel and was used in the Seikomatic and Weekdater models of the late 60's. Pics:. Shawn's Diver Heaven:. More info:.
Details: Seiko made 2 series of 6105 divers: 6105-8000 and 6015-8009 are earlier models, while the 6105-8110 and 6105-8119 come later. All models are rated to 150m. 6105 movement comes in 2 variations - 6105A and 6105B. They are both 17J and run at 21,600 bph. They have a quickset date-only calendar mechanism.
From, it seems that are 6105 movements that hack and there are some that do not. In a S&C Forum post, ' says, 'The first series 6105 does not hack. The dial is signed 'waterproof'.
The type that hacks will have 'water resistant' on the dial.' But Mike/'mmounce' says, 'I have 3 that all hack. One of them is an early model with water 'proof' instead of 'resist' on the dial and caseback and it hacks also.' So it's unclear which specific models of the 6105 divers hack and which do not, though both exist.
The 6105-8000 and 6105-8009 models use the cal. 6105A movement and have symmetrical cushion cases. The 6105-8110 and 6105-8119 models come later and use the cal.
6105B movement and have larger asymmetical cushion cases. The 6105 divers use the mechanism (and not a screw-down crown).
Here's a detailed description of the different models by ': The 8000 and 8009 are the same watch. Seiko just assigns a 0 or a 9 as the last digit depending upon the country that the watch was exported to. I'm not sure where the 0's vs.
The 9's were destined for though. So anyway, the same goes for the 8110 and 8119. The 800X series preceded the 811X series. There are differences between the 8000(9) and the 8110(9). First of all there's the bezel. It's bi-directional without clicks on the 800X series.
The 811X's are unidirectional with clicks. Correction: The 811X should be 'bi-directional with clicks.' According to, 'The smaller cased 8000,8009 do not have a click ball,just friction o-ring for tension.The large case 8110,8119 have the click ball.' The 811X's are also much larger at around 45mm vs 41mm. Some like the slightly asymetrical case design of the 811X's while others like the more conservative 800X's.
Neither of the two watches can be manually wound, but some (maybe all) of the 811X's actually hack. One really nice feature that you get with the 800X's is a signed crown. A real rarity with Seiko both vintage or contemporary. Ever since Seiko started putting out its line of hardcore diver's watches, folks have been using them for all sorts of extreme situations. Here's an about what he and his 6105 went through: My trusty 1966 6105 Diver has withstood one Alaskan plane crash (small plane) after being left in the woods 'lost' for 6 months after it broke from my wrist and flew out on crash impact until we could come back and salvage the aircraft in the spring. (Lived in Alaska 24 years) Another was our helicopter went down in the North Atlantic in the late 70's during a storm and a trip to the offshore oil platforms, we were in a raft for 7 hours in heavy seas and freezing spray.
A refinery explosion in France in the 80's when several people close by were killed and my Seiko once again became airborne and was found several hundred feet away. I just had in restored by Eric in Seattle of EMW and it's looks like a new watch. Any way I guess that's tough. The 6105s and the 6309s that follow them were.
According to a S&C Forum contributor, the 6105 divers were issued to one of the. In the 1979 Francis Ford Coppola film 'Apocalypse Now,' Captain Willard (played by Martin Sheen) was an Airborne Army Ranger who wore a diver. There's a closeup video capture shot of the watch (pic by ). The 6105 supposedly also appeared in the 'The Deep.' According to 'The character 'Romer Treece' wore 2 Seikos actually, one was a VERY old 60's 150m dive model (non-locking crown) and the other was certainly the 6105-8XXX (of Apocalypse Now fame) in a brief underwater shot.' Pics:.
Shawn's Diver Heaven:. More info:. Models:. 6306-7000. 6306-7001 Details: The cousin of the 6309, the 6306 is a 150m diver that looks and feels identical to the cushion-cased 6309, but was marketed only in Japan and uses the cal. 6306 movement.
6306 movement has 21J and runs at 21,600 bph. It hacks and has a quickset day/date calendar mechanism with a Japanese/English day wheel. The 6306 divers are much rarer to find than the 6309s because their production years were relatively short and they were Japan-only models that use a 21J hackable movement (compared to the 17J non-hacking movements in the 6309s). Like the 6309, the 6306 diver has a bi-directional non-locking bezel.
Seiko 5 Serial Number
According to, the designer of many of Seiko's diver watches, the 6306 diver was put into production slightly before its brother the 6309. The 6306 diver differs from the 6309 in that the cal. 6306 movement has 21J (as supposed to its base caliber 6309's 17J) and it has a Japanese/English day wheel.
A promotional pic of the 6306 diver from an early Seiko catalog is. Also see description of the 6309 below. Pics:. Shawn's Diver Heaven:. More info:. Models: Models with big cushion cases:. 6309-7040 (all have big cushion cases and black bezels, though some have seen 6309-704X divers with ).
6309-7049 Models with slimmed-down case:. 6309-7290 (start of the use of slimmed-down cases, black-bezel version). 6309-7290 with '17 JEWELS' on dial (Japan-made version, with black bezel). 6309-729A (identical to 6309-7290 except with blue and red bezel). 6309-729A with '17 JEWELS' on dial (Japan-made version, with blue and red bezel). 6309-729B? (very rare model, with slimmed-down case and orange dial) Details: The 6309 divers replaced the 6105 as the standard models of 150m divers.
The 6309s were marketed outside of Japan while a version using the 6306 movement was sold only in Japan (but for a relatively short 5 years). 6309 movement is of the 6105. It has 17J and runs at 21,600 bph.
It's non-hacking and has a quickset day/date calendar mechanism. Like the 6105, there are 2 series of. The earlier versions - 6309-7040 and 6309-7049 - are housed in big cushion cases and have round markers. The later versions - 6309-7290 and 6309-729A/729B - have slimmed-down cases and rectangular markers (which make them very similar to the current SKX007/173 models). While the earlier 6105 divers used the 'turn and lock' crowns, the 6309 crowns are all screw-down. The 6309 divers seem to all have bi-directional non-locking bezels. Some people have asked how the 6309-7049 and 6309-7040 differ.
The consensus among S&C Forum collectors is that there's no difference between the 6309-7040 and 6309-7049 models. John Davis/ei8hthoms explained that the last digit of the case number indicates a used for marketing (9 means N. America and 0 means elsewhere). Tokunaga, the designer of many of Seiko's diver watches, has provided some valuable historical info about the 6309/6306 divers. The 6309 and its brother the 6306 were both put into production in 1976 - the cal.
6309 movement was designed first (and serves as the base caliber for the 63 series of movements), but the 6306 diver was put into production 'slightly first,' before the 6309. He also included a scan of the as well as promotional pics of the and watches from early Seiko catalogs. For a comparison of the details of the 6309-7040 and 6309-729A with lots of pics, check out. There are many anecdotes of folks who have put their 6309s to the torture test. Writes: I've come out of lurking mode to present my version of an extreme torture test on the 6309-7049 150mm diver.
Models:. 7002-7000. 7002-7001. 7002-7009. 7002-700A (blue and red bezel). 7002-700J (Japan-only version, with '17 Jewels' on dial, blue and red bezel).
7002-7020 (200m model with a steel Tag-like bezel design similar to the current SKX171 model). 7002-7039 (200m model, in black as well as blue-and-red bezels) Details: The cal.
7002 movement has 17J and runs at 21,600 bph. It's non-hacking and has a quickset date-only calendar mechanism. By the late 1980s, Seiko has changed the case design of the divers from the earlier large cushion shape to a slimmed-down case like we see today in the SKX007/173s. When the 7002 divers replaced the 6309s, they inherited the small case design from the 6309-7290. The 7002s all have rectangular markers.
There are several different variations of the 7002 divers:. The 7002-7000 and 7002-7009 seem to be identical, with the difference being only the marketing regional code at the end of the case number (0 and 9). These 2 are both 150m divers. Their inscription says 'WATER 150m RESIST' on the dial. The 7002-7001 is almost identical to the 2 above but the dial has the line '17 Jewels' added underneath 'WATER 150m RESIST.'
. The 7002-700A is a 150m diver with a blue-and-red bezel. The 7002-700J, according to Shawn Taylor/shawn, is another variant - 'Japan only market version with '17 jewels' on dial, but with red/blue bezel.' . The 7002-7039 seems to be the first 'low-end' diver model that got its water resistance rating promoted to 200m. While the 150m 7002 divers have bi-directional bezels with 60 clicks (the traditional design), the new 200m 7002-7039 has a uni-directional locking bezel with 120 clicks.
The dial says 'DIVER'S 200m.' The new features introduced in this diver (200m water resistance, uni-directional bezel with 120 clicks as well as the dial inscription) will carry on in the 7S26 models that succeed the 7002. Pics:. Shawn's Diver Heaven:. More info:.
Models: Seiko is marketing so many styles of the 7S26 divers that it's hard to keep track of all the variations. But the basic 200m diver that replaced the 7002s maintain a similar look and feel to classic divers in the 6105-6306-6309-7002 lineage. Designed for saturation diving, the Professional Divers are the big kahunas of Seiko diving watches. There are many experts and gurus on the forum that are knowledgeable about them - and of course we have the illustrious Mr. Ikuo Tokunaga, the chief designer of the Professional Divers, and his trusty son Tachy to answer questions about the divers. Listed below are a few that you'd come across, but there are surely other rare ones that take more research to uncover. For definitive info on the Professional Divers, there's no better resource than.
Seiko Watch Serial Number History
Models: Historical models:. 6159 600M Automatic Professional Diver (6159-022, with cal. 6159 movement, first produced in 1975). 6215 300M Automatic Professional Diver (with cal.
6215 movement, first produced in 1967). 6159 300M Automatic Professional Diver (6159-7001, with cal.
6159 movement, first produced in 1968). 300M Quartz Professional Diver (with cal. 7549 movement, first produced in 1978). 200M Quartz Professional Diver (with cal. 7C43 movement, first produced in 1986) Current or re-issued models:.
600M Historical Re-issue Professional Diver (with cal. 8L35 movement). Pics:. More info:. This section is still in construction - more to come as the Divers Reference is updated. Models:. 2205 diver with black dial - small/ladies-size (33mm), 2205-0640, 2205-0649, 2205-0760, 2205-0769, 2205-4090.
2205 diver with orange dial - small/ladies-size (33mm), 2205-0530. 4205 diver with black dial - small/ladies-size (33mm), 4205-0140, 4205-014B?. 4205 diver with orange dial - small/ladies-size (33mm), 4205-0144. 4205 divers with black dial - mid-size (37mm), 4205-0152, 4205-0156. SKX001 200m diver - mid-size (37mm), 7S26-0010. SKX005 200m diver - mid-size (37mm), 7S26-0010 Details: The 2205 divers were made in the early to late 1970's, though the exact production dates are unclear (the 2205 movement was produced as early as ). 2205 divers have the word 'PROFESSIONAL' on the dial.
Their hands are similar to the ones on the 6105 divers, except smaller. The divers come in small/ladies size (about 33mm) and are probably the earliest counterparts of the 150M full-size divers (like the 6105 and 6309). Variations include black dial and orange dials (orange dials are rare), and also black bezel as well as blue-and-red bezels. The 2205 is a high-beat movement that has 17J and runs at 28,800 bph. It is hand-windable but does not hack. The movement has a quickset date-only mechanism.
The 4205 divers came after the 2205's. They can be found in small/ladies size (about 33mm) as well as mid-size (37mm). Variations include black dial and orange dials (the orange dials are very rare). The bezel is bidirectional, with one-minute clicks. The divers are rated to 150M and has a slightly domed crystal. The 4205 movement runs at 21,600 bph and is hand-windable, but does not hack. It has a quickset date-only mechanism.
According a poster on the S&C Forum, claims the production dates of the movement were from 1982 to 1987 (though these may not be exact). The SKX001 and SKX005 were mid-size divers probably made in the late 90's but now discontinued. They have Tag-style steel bezels like the current SKX171 design and are rated to 200m like other 7S26 divers. There's not much info on these otherwise. There are pics of these divers in the gallery.
Pics:. More info: Info on 2205 divers:.
Info on 4205 divers:. Info on other divers:. Thanks to all the folks whose informative posts on the Seiko & Citizen Forum I quoted from and referred to above!
A thank you also to the following S&C Forum members who contributed valuable info to the Divers Reference:. Yap Kok Hung - for info about the SKX403. Mike/'mmounce' - for info about 6105 divers. Les Zetlein ('LesZ') - for detailed reviews of the SKX171. Shawn Tayler ('shawn'), relentless seikoholic historian - for lots of valuable info about all different models & the stupendous 'Divers Heaven' series.
Will V. for details on the Martin Sheen-Apocalypse Now-6105 connection. Johnny009 - for awesome digital pics of the wonderful vintage Seiko divers. Thank you all for making this Seiko Divers Reference a great collective effort!