For RR: SEIKO 6217-8001 62mas Restoration, Vietnam War, original owner

Restoring a one-owner-from-new 62mas. Original owner bought it while serving in the Vietnam War, at a base in Guam.
It suffered a pretty serious water leak, and then was left in a sock drawer or similar for decades. Recently found by his son and sent here.
Beautiful original green Daini lume, great markers and hands, and a rusty movement.
PSA: This video contains sub-optimal levels of editing, namely, none. No script, no planning, no real editing, nothing. Same for the sound - I forgot my microphone so if you can hear anything count that as a win. Even if that "anything" is tuneless humming. I did pump up the volume though. YMMV if you choose to blow part of your life on this. No Refunds. Enjoy!
www.kleinvintagewatch.com
/ kleinvintagewatch
instagram.com/

[@ryanramsey7171]

Thank You so so much Spencer! I will cherish this watch for a long time.

[@SpencerKleinVintageWatch]

thank you very much!

[@robalexander7348]

A very nice Seiko restaration, the owner sure will treasure his Dads Vietnam service watch 👍 Au

[@ianhand5006]

Great work on an exquisite watch!

[@SpencerKleinVintageWatch]

Thank you kindly!

[@Vlerkies]

I always find these restoration videos so therapeutic for some reason, very cool to watch, and a very cool watch as well!

[@Supercruze]

Beautiful work Spencer. You are correct about the keyless on these 6217s. Clutch gear, date corrector, and minute wheel teeth get eaten on these. Really cool watch though.

[@jeff1176]

For a movement this rusty, the dial is quite amazing. I was right, this one is gonna be an extremely nice piece.

[@gyrfalcon7332]

A real privilege to see an original. And the inside of it no less!! 👏🏼

[@SpencerKleinVintageWatch]

It's the kind of reference material that I'd want, thanks.

[@jamesejudy3]

So gorgeous! They don't make them like this anymore 😔

[@brucebarlow6604]

Wonderful work and amazing that the dial survived that water damage

[@ryanwalters6356]

Wow! This came out wonderfully! Great job, Spencer!

[@SpencerKleinVintageWatch]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@thewristwatchexperience8153]

Great vid.

[@JB-qw2jk]

What an awesome piece 👍

[@jeff1176]

This one is gonna be good

[@MrCROBosanceros]

37:49, I did some research into early skin diver watches of the 1950s and 1960s. I found out that back in 1960s this H-shaped case design was very popular and almost every watch brand was making a watch that looks similar to Seiko's "62MAS". Here are a few of those watches I easily found on the internet in a short time, 1964 Gents Accurist 600, Sears Tradition, Vantage Skin Diver (Hamilton's sub-label), Technos Sky Diver, Silvana, Arda 200 Meter, Smiths Astral Diver, Lanco Barracuda 1960s skin Diver, Wittnauer and Elgin, Avalon Skin Diver, Helbros Skin Diver, Jaquet-Droz, Hosam Super Squale Supermatic 200, and many many others. Some of them look very similar to Seiko, some of them are not as beautiful as Seiko, some of them look better or more interesting than Seiko and some of them look more like real tool watches than Seiko but they all have similar case designs. The most surprising thing I found out was that Citizen Jet Parawater from 1962 was the first Japanese diver, prior to the much more well-known Seiko "MAS". Citizen was a beautiful watch and to me looks better than Seiko. Citizen looks like a real tool watch and Seiko is more like every day sport watch. Original diver watches from that period and modern reissues of those watches are my favourite and most beautiful watches. I own a Seiko SPB053 (also known as SBDC053) a modern interpretation of Seiko "62MAS" with a blue dial. For me, one of the most beautiful diver watches ever made. I love Seiko and if I had an opportunity I would definitely buy one of those Limited Edition "62MAS" recreation watches. When it comes to early diver watches of the 1950s and 1960s, nobody could hold a candle to Rolex and Tudor! Absolutely nobody and especially Seiko couldn't. Beautiful and useless Seiko!

[@jamessmith6402]

Amazing video 👍 thanks Spencer

[@SpencerKleinVintageWatch]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

Nice!

[@MrLanoregreb]

My dream watch, more than the 6105. Just impossible to find here in Québec.

[@SpencerKleinVintageWatch]

Yahoo.jp - fromjapan.com - Buyee.jp

[@neelsengupta662]

Beautiful job, Spencer! So, what happened with the crystal? Did Mr Ramsey keep it or swap it for a new one?

[@ryanramsey7171]

I kept it!

[@neelsengupta662]

@@ryanramsey7171 Great decision, Ryan, I love keeping watches as original as possible. Plus it is such a significant watch to you personally!

[@ryanwalters6356]

The crazing on the cystal doesn't weaken its integrity at all? And this crystal crazing is desirable on vintage Rolex models in the same way that a tropical dial is desirable? As in, the crazing actually increases the price?

[@SpencerKleinVintageWatch]

I don't think it's compromised but I'm no expert on how acrylics age. Yes, very desirable for vintage Rolex because, in part, it shows the crystal is genuine. Yeah it kind of goes hand-in-hand with tropical dials I think.

[@cavaliericorey]

Beautiful watch and really enjoy the reference but didn't they have a reputation for taking on water and that's why they switched to the cushion style case?

[@SpencerKleinVintageWatch]

It was the non-screwdown crown that did them and the 6105s in.

[@saltysealion]

Oh smoking