Seiko "Railroad" 7N49

 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
This is a very fine example of a Seiko "Railroad" watch with the 7N49 quartz-controlled movement. Full model number is 7N49-9A00 and it was manufactured in August of 1991.
It measures 40mm diameter across the case (including the crown) and 40mm between lug-pin centres.
The watch comes complete with its original stainless-steel bracelet.

CONDITION
The stainless-steel case is in very good condition, with only very minor light scratches from normal usage, these marks being virtually invisible to the naked eye.
The stainless-steel case back is in similar condition, as is the original stainless-steel bracelet.
The dial is in excellent condition, showing no sign of spotting or discolouration, the white face being unblemished and with the characters clear and bright.
All hour characters are printed on the dial and are backed by luminescent "dots".
The "Seiko" wording is a raised sign in silver.

The hands are in perfect condition, with the hour and minute hands finished in silver with luminescent material down the centre. The sweep second hand is a thin, straight, item finished in red. At the '3' position is a combined day/date display window framed in silver.The crystal is unblemished - there is not a mark on it.

OPERATION
All of the functions operate perfectly and the watch keeps accurate time consistently.
Day and date operate perfectly.

Bond......James Bond. Seiko's G-757

SOLD March 2015.

This watch is a bit special because the display, and the "movement" (the G-757), is colloquially referred to as the "James Bond Octopussy" watch and although it was encased in several different styles they all featured the same functions.....albeit without the special capabilities of the watch used in the movie!

Prior to purchasing this watch I had but two digital items in my collection: one is  the Seiko shown here and the other is a very recent purchase, an inexpensive Casio A178W which has a large numeric display, dual-time and alarm.
I bought the latter because my son is travelling overseas for the next couple of years and, wanting to be able to check the local time at his locations, I wanted something that had a dual-time capability that I could wear frequently. Rather than use either my Seiko Navigator or World Timer items I opted to buy the Casio for the enormous amount of AUS$44!
I don't normally wear digital watches because I have trouble seeing the small LCD figures, but the Casio sports 9mm-high characters.

However - back to the Seiko.
When I saw this G-757 I was attracted by the rarity of the design in such great condition and, as a bonus, the fact that it came in its original box (plus tag) and was complete with all links in its (original) bracelet.

The condition of the nearly 30-year old "Octopussy" is quite remarkable - the dial is pristine, with all LCD segments intact and operating perfectly, including the graphic  analogue display in the top-left quadrant; the light works perfectly; all the buttons operate smoothly and without any undue pressure required; the alarm chime is loud and clear; the glass crystal is scratch-free and the stainless-steel case, back and bracelet are undamaged.

Because of its scarcity and condition the watch was not inexpensive but then if it had been in any state less than as described I would not have been attracted to it.
I look upon it as another worthy example from the Seiko company.

Orange is for Safety!

(All photos enlarge when clicked)

SOLD February 2016.
For some reason, when I saw these two Seiko quartz watches for sale - and it was several month's apart that they were acquired - I was taken by them.
I think it was a combination of the striking dial colour coupled with a rather attractive (to my eyes) design of the entire watch, including the bracelet.

The first one - on the left in this opening photograph (taken against a background consisting of a high-visibility orange woollen pullover) - is a model 7546-603H, from (I think), 1988 - March, to be precise.
The outer bezel, which has 12 flat faces around its perimeter, can be rotated so as to give some idea of elapsed time, I presume. Yet there is no stop-watch or countdown facility as part of the design, so I am at a loss to understand why the rotating bezel.

The dial has large, bright luminescent markings for the hours, thin luminescent hour and minute hands and a black sweep second hand.

At the 3 o'clock position is a day and date window and at the 4 o'clock position sits the screw-in crown. Once released from the thread the first click allows the setting of day/date - turning it in one direction changes the day and in the other direction the date changes. The day readout is available in English and French.


The second watch is a 6923-600A, from November 1983, and it is also a bit unusual in its design.

Where the first one has a rotating bezel, this one has a fixed bezel but around its perimeter are a series of "windows" through which one or another set of numbers can be seen.
Above the crown you will see a small black button, which can be moved to sit either immediately above the crown or slid upwards to a second position.
When in the first position, the windows provide a quasi-24 hour time, with 24, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22 being seen around the perimeter.
In the second position - with the black button slid up to the 2 o'clock location - the windows provide a 60 minute or 60 second count, with 60, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 appearing in the cut-outs.

This watch also has luminescent markers at the hour points around the dial, luminescent hour and minute hands (wider than the first watch therefore easier to read at a glance) and a black sweep second hand.

At the 3 o'clock position is the day/date window and the crown is also at this traditional spot.

If you are observant you will have noticed that this watch has some damage done to the bezel at the 12 o'clock position.
That is a result of a motorbike accident I had in April 2010 - not long after I bought the watch, in fact - and it suffered some asphalt-rash in the incident. So whilst it will never be a sellable item, I don't really mind because I now wear it as an everyday, ready-for-anything timepiece.

So there you have it - a couple of watches for everyday use which keep accurate time, are water-resistant, can take a few knocks yet are quite colourful and a bit out of the ordinary.

Railways, railroads and Seiko.

(Click on any image for a much larger view)

There was a time when timekeeping for the operation of railways/railroads was ultra-critical - literally a matter of life or death at worst. In "dark areas" (no signals) trains operated on warrants which gave them permission to be in a location at a certain time - or within a window of time.
Therefore it was essential that the timepieces used on railways/railroads be accurate and easily read.

Enter the railroad timepiece, be it clock or watch.
In many cases they displayed a 24-hour scale in addition to the conventional 12-hour face and some variations had a 12-hour scale but with an addition of a 60-minute scale.
Their dials were very distinctive, with large, clear numbers and indices, usually black and red on a white face.

Nowadays the timepieces used are electronic and highly accurate but watchmakers have continued to produce examples of the type with the traditional face, albeit controlled by the magic of a quartz crystal and powered by battery.

I bought a nice example of a Seiko model - the 7N43-9A00 from August 1991 - which features the traditional  face, with black hour numerals, a sub-scale of 24 hours in red, period-style minute and hour hands and a red sweep second hand.
Something that the old-timers didn't have were readouts for day and date, which this modern version includes.

Size is a mere 36mm across the case (not including crown) and a dial diameter of 30mm.
The watch comes on its original Seiko stainless-steel bracelet.

The Citizen "Altichron"

(Click on any image for a much larger view)

In the 1980's, Citizen released a trio of very special watches, all designed for the rugged, adventurous outdoorsy type of male who was really into diving into the depths of the Marianas Trench, climbing Mount Everest or leaping out of high-flying aircraft and hoping that your parachute opened.

This group of watches was termed the "Promaster" series and each had something special about it.

The Aqualand differed from traditional diving watches in that, as well as providing elapsed time info, it also had a depth sensor.

The Aqualand came on a rubber strap.

The Aerochron also sported elapsed-time capability but it came with a sensor that gave altitude readout. Good for knowing the minimum height at which to pull the ripcoard.

This model was fitted with a stainless-steel bracelet.

The Altichron - the Promaster model which I obtained - is similar to the Aerochron in that it also gives a barometric readout and elevation data (in metres, as compared to the altitude readout in feet of its sibling).

The Altichron was sold with a leather strap, almost the watch equivalent of a holster.

This is not a small watch.

It is 48mm across the widest point - from the extremity of the sensor on the left to the curve of the case on the right - and is 41mm from top to bottom of the case, yet the actual clear dial diameter is only 29mm.

The overall thickness of the watch itself is 11mm and then it is backed by 2mm of the leather strap.

The Althichron is a reasonably heavy piece of kit, too. Not uncomfortably so, but it's no lightweight titanium item, either.

 

The face is very easy to read.

Where the 11, 12 and 1 numerals would be located is a window in which the day/date and barometric information is displayed in digital format (LCD).

Large, easy-to-read numerals are provided at the remainder of the hour locations.

There is a sweep second hand with arrow-head pointer which, like the hour and minute hands, is "lumed" and, in daylight, easily seen against the black face of the dial.

An adjustable compass bezel surrounds the dial externally and is clickable into 5-degree positions.

There is a conventional crown located at the 4 o'clock position with which the time is adjsted.

All other functions are handled by the three pushers at the 2, 8 and 10 o'clock positions.

The barometric sensor sits within the housing which protrudes from the left of the watch.

The case-back is a flat plate, held in place by four screws.

The leather watch strap is a work of art in itself and is made in three pieces - the buckle section, the tongue section  and a separate piece on which the watch sits. All three sections are laminated, the front and rear sandwiching a fibre material.

I bought this watch for its rarity and the technology that it features.

I've never worn it (too cumbersome to be worn to work and I don't climb mountains) but I have used it......to check rising/falling barometer. I have also determined the altitude of my home. It works perfectly in that respect and also keeps excellent time.

When the battery dies I'll undo the back and see what is inside but until then the Altichron sits on a shelf and occasionally tells me what the weather is going to be like.

UPDATE April 2011
This watch has been sold to a chap in the USA who bought one new in 1991 when he was serving in the first Gulf War. That watch was stolen in 1992 in Turkey and he had been on the lookout for another ever since, to no avail. I was glad to help him find a replacement.
A happy ending to the story. :)