a beauty from the past

 A while ago I ummed and ahhhed about buying a particular watch, a 1965 (see PS) Seiko Sportsman, one of the first movements (or calibres) that Seiko made themselves (they were using Swiss movements for a while).

after a bit of thought I decided to buy it, but the seller had sold it some hours before. So I just went my own way.

Then they contacted me and said they buyer had returned it, so after a bit more thought (I'd already decided I wasn't really in need of another) I decided to buy it; and in so many ways I'm glad I did.

Its totally nothing like modern watches, in fact its simply beautiful for a humble price of €170.

not only it is it simple uncluttered and clear to read, but its actually amazingly thin

the body weighing under 26g ... yes, that's like half the weight of my SNK805 and thinner too (of course its NOT an automatic, so points to the SNK there for jamming in that additional mechanism.

Speaking of which...

And this seems to fit this data.

The dial size is almost exactly what modern watches are, which makes it easy to read, but the weight is simply wonderful, light on the wrist and very easy to wear.

My intention is to make this a "dress watch" for at its age its done the hard work of a functioning business watch for an executive, probably some daily wearing of some lesser paid office workers and finally left in a drawer.

So a time piece from a time before I existed (to be fair I doubt much of who is me existed in when I was one). I'm happy to be a custodian of it for a time.

PS: given the data from the back the year (only the last digit of it) is represented by one of the following serial numbers leading digits.

I'm just unsure which so given the movement, its either a '66 or a '65 as I understand things. However the top line code produces a weird result:

more as it comes to hand.

PPS

Ok, I got a reply from a Seiko enthusiast which suggests that 661990 is also written (perhaps later as their code evolved?) as 66-1990 as its movement (noted above) is a type 66 (apparently A or B are not distinguished. This clarifies that its a Feb 65 manufacture.

And it got a clean and lube recently too

works lovely now