History of Seiko Seikomatic 6245

https://torontovintagewatches.com/blogs/news/the-seikomatic-and-its-derivatives

Nice!

I’m deciding between this and the 6245 with GS branding.

Internals essentially the same.

I wanted the 6245 but struggled to find a good one at a good price so have ended up with a 6246 instead.

And I love the dimensions, styling, etc. I was essentially ambivalent between the “chronometer” and the “GS” as they are in so many ways the same watch. I have the GS which is sort of good as I don’t think there’s any other way I would own a GS but it was the condition and the price that drove my search.

The 6245, which I would have preferred, seemed to command a premium over the 6246. The precise mechanics of the day and date change are a joy in a nearly 60 year old watch.

Two points to note are that it wears very slightly smaller than its dimensions due to the very discreet crown. And the crystal is plexiglass, which seems odd on such a high end watch.

Finally one seller in Japan sells these with both the original caseback and with a supplied exhibition caseback in case you want to switch to see the movement (and reduce the wear on the gold disc). If anyone knows where you can buy the exhibition caseback please let me know as I would quite like to see the movement in action (and preserve the original caseback)?

I wanted the 6245 but struggled to find a good one at a good price so have ended up with a 6246 instead.

And I love the dimensions, styling, etc. I was essentially ambivalent between the “chronometer” and the “GS” as they are in so many ways the same watch. I have the GS which is sort of good as I don’t think there’s any other way I would own a GS but it was the condition and the price that drove my search.

The 6245, which I would have preferred, seemed to command a premium over the 6246. The precise mechanics of the day and date change are a joy in a nearly 60 year old watch.

Two points to note are that it wears very slightly smaller than its dimensions due to the very discreet crown. And the crystal is plexiglass, which seems odd on such a high end watch.

Finally one seller in Japan sells these with both the original caseback and with a supplied exhibition caseback in case you want to switch to see the movement (and reduce the wear on the gold disc). If anyone knows where you can buy the exhibition caseback please let me know as I would quite like to see the movement in action (and preserve the original caseback)?

I own the day/date 6246 Seikomatic Chronometer. It's a fantastic watch in either configuration. It's small in size, but all the polished bits and facets along with the silver/champagne colored sunburst dial really give it a lot of pizazz in varying lighting conditions.

They're also even more rare than the 62GS since they were only made for about a year before the decision was made to rebrand them as Grand Seikos. It can be really hard to find one in good condition these days.

Thing is.. the 62GS from that period was also only produced a couple years I believe. Of course there are all the re-released modern editions.

And in terms of desirability I don’t see the seikomatic versions to be in much higher demand so much so that they command a premium. Not like the OG 44GS for sure.

They're in a spot right now where they're more rare than the 62GS, but they're still more of a bargain. The tumultuous history and obscurity of the Seikomatic brand has certainly played a role as well. Who can say how long that will last though. From what I understand, they've been steadily creeping upwards in price (as have vintage examples of the 62GS for that matter) for the past few years as collectors have caught on to the fact that they're essentially Grand Seikos in all but name.

The modern 62GS interpretations from Grand Seiko's Heritage Collection are really cool, but they're also bigger and thicker. I feel like some of the charm of that Tanaka case design is lost with the increase in size.

For sure. A main reason why I’ve not considered any automatic spring drive even tho SD is my grail.

Current makes, I only have eyes but no $ for the 9R31 manual SD

This is really new to me. Wow. Thanks for sharing about 6245/6246 history

True not much out there compared to 44/45