Seiko 8V22 World Timer

(All images enlarge when clicked)

SOLD MARCH 2015
I had not heard of the 8V22 movement until browsing the web and seeing this watch for sale.
What attracted me was the dial, a very colourful design which makes the watch stand out in a crowd.
That, coupled with the gold-plated case and bracelet, certainly makes for an eye-catching time-piece.

The movement is quartz-controlled and whilst it does not have a day or date complication it does have multiple functions, all of which can be seen referenced around the outside perimeter of the external rotating (bi-directional) bezel.
Reading clockwise (pun intended!), they are TIME, ALARM ON, ALARM SET, 0 MATCH, DUAL TIME, WORLD TIME.
The bezel is rotated so that the function required is at the 12 o'clock position and then the functions are operated by using the buttons at the 2 o'clock, 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock positions.

The first three settings are pretty obvious and are used to set the local time, set the alarm on/off and the alarm time setting.
Incidentally, local time will be displayed when the bezel is positioned at either the TIME or ALARM ON functions.

The next, 0 MATCH, is used to align all three main hands (hour, minute, sweep-seconds) with the 12 o'clock position. In other words, it matches them all at zero.
The 24-hour hand, in the dial at 6 o'clock, can also be zeroed.

DUAL TIME allows the wearer to set the time for any location marked around the inside perimeter of the bezel and to then check that time (after returning the watch to it's normal TIME state) whenever required just by rotating the bezel again to DUAL TIME.
For example, if one was living in Canberra (same time-zone as Sydney) and was keeping a Skype appointment with someone overseas in let's say New York, then the DUAL TIME would be set for NY time and the wearer would simply rotate the bezel to DUAL TIME now and then to keep tabs on the time in that city.

WORLD TIME can be similarly used.
Once the time is set for the wearer's location then simply by rotating the bezel to the WORLD TIME function and pressing one of the buttons, the sweep second hand can be moved with each press to any of the locations shown. The hour and minute hands then move around the dial to show the current time in that location and the little 24-hour hand also moves around, indicating whether it is AM or PM.
Very simple, very neat and very cool!

As briefly mentioned above, the case and bracelet are gold-plated and the case-back, a screw-on item, is stainless steel.

This watch was made in October 1991, according to the serial number, so is now more than 22 years old.
It has stood up very well over that period, with negligible scratches to the bezel, none at all on the glass crystal and sports a pristine dial.

The areas showing the most wear are limited to the case-back and the "SEIKO" signature on the clasp, at the point at which the wearer's wrist would have been resting on tables, desks etc.

When all is said and done, a nice example of another "world time" Seiko to add to the others in my collection which have this function.

Seiko "World Time" - A 6117-6400 from 1970

(All images may be enlarged to full-size by clicking on them)

SOLD March 2015
This little gem is a very recent acquisition, coming my way via Ebay and at what I consider to be a very reasonable price. In fact, when I won the auction I must admit to being a bit concerned as to what I'd actually bought, considering that final low price.

But any worries were put to rest when the watch arrived and I was very happy to remove the case-back and find a pristine 6117 17-jewel movement tucked away inside a perfectly clean interior.

The watch is 100% original other than the crystal (acrylic) and left the factory in February of 1970 - being the 274th. on the production line.

The dial is almost unblemished, displaying just a couple of spots under magnification. When viewed by my naked eye they are almost invisible......but then my eyesight is pretty blurry unless I wear my glasses!

As the name implies, this is a timepiece which allows the wearer to see what time it is in various major cities across the globe.
This is done by rotating the "city ring" or time zone (the one with the light blue and black names on it) where you are located via the crown in its normal un-pulled position.

The idea is to then line up your city/time zone with the red hand (which moves once around the dial in 24 hours) and then the time at any other location  - including GMT - can be determined quite readily by reading off the time opposite that city or time-zone.

This is a different arrangement to that used on Seiko's later 6117-6409 "Navigator", where the 24-hour internal bezel is moved so that GMT (or the local time at any place on earth, so long as you know it to start with) can be monitored by aligning that time with the red hand.

So the "World Time" 6117 was more for the international traveller who jetted across several time-zones to various locations whereas its "Navigator" cousin was aimed at those who wanted time at two locations - theirs and somewhere else in a different zone.

In addition to the 4 hands (sweep second, minute, hour and 24-hour) the dial displays a date-only window at the traditional 3-position.

The case is crafted from stainless steel, with the crown slightly inset at the 4-position.
Case-back is also stainless steel, as is the attractive and very comfortable folded-link bracelet, which tapers from its connections with the case to a slightly narrower width at the clasp, which is signed.

In the few days that I've been wearing this watch I have found it to be very accurate, gaining less than 30 seconds over that period of time.
It runs beautifully, looks great and is a very nice example of another timepiece from Seiko's great 1970s range.

Seiko Navigator Timer 6117-6409

The next watch to join the ranks was this June 1972 Seiko Navigator Timer, with the 6117 movement, date-only display and a "GMT" indicator - that fourth (red) hand on the dial.
Of course, the indicator may be used to monitor the time anywhere - it doesn't have to be set to GMT.
This hand completes one rotation of the dial every 24 hours - all the hands align at 12 when that occurs - and the monitored location is set by rotating the crown which in turn moves the internal blue & red bezel around the dial. Align that location's time with the red pointer and SHA-ZAAAM! - you now have that spot monitored continuously.....or at least until you wish to change it.

I picked this watch up pretty cheaply - way less than three figures (in Aussie dollars) - so was really delighted with the purchase. It presents such a cool face, the metalwork is in great shape and I can keep tabs on the hometown time of a friend in the USA.

The internal bezel, with the red & blue segments (indicating 12 hours of daylight - red - and 12 hours of darkness - blue) had some issues, with two segments missing areas of colour, and the watch needed a new crystal plus a service. The watchmaker also found that the crown was non-Seiko and that there was a broken case-spring, so all of these items, with the exception of the paint, were attended to.

Since the photo was taken (before refurbishment) the Navigator has been fitted with a new stainless-steel bracelet and is being worn at least once a week, as I like it very much. It has "wrist presence" and draws comments from younger people more attuned to G-Shock Casios and black & white divers.

This watch screams "1970's" - it could come from no other time period.

UPDATE November 2011.

Here are two "after refurbishment" shots - one as it was received from the watchmaker (Peter Kuhn) and before I found a replacement Seiko bracelet and the other after the bracelet was sourced and fitted, which is the state of the watch today.