Seiko 6309-602A wrong calibre?

[ghce]

Just got one of these, imagine my surprise on opening it and finding an FE5612 movement inside, hmmm a Franken you are thinking, well maybe but this watch is far from new in well worn but good condition, I am guessing that some enterprising watch maker substituted this rather than repair the original movement or maybe another reason ? is it possible that Seiko themselves did? never heard of that before but this watch has never been to India lol and every thing else is correct and the movement looks like it was designed to fit or is it just that this particular FE movement is just identical to the original, who knows I am perplexed and wondering if I should proceed to service it, the FE calibre to my mind is every bit as good if not better than the original in my mind.

 

Graeme

 

[aac58]

No, Seiko did not do it 

[ghce]

Yeah my thinking too, being a bit of a perverse person I will probably go ahead and restore it with the FE movement, just because you can, still a nice looking piece.

At the end of the day collectors like me will be appalled but your average watch wearer wouldn't know or care.

I am a bit of a purist however and this would be the first watch that I have let slip thru out of the hundreds that I have restored as faithfully as I can.

My main reason is that in my mind Seiko litters the planet with soso watch movements ie non manual wind non hacking  auto modern movements that anything that has these features is a step up, 7S26 springs to mind as a completely forgettable Seiko movement that has been over used in some " Desirable " watches such as Divers and the like.

Don't get me wrong I just bought a brand new Seiko Padi GMT dive watch a few days ago and have a few in the collection but well Seiko gets praise out of step with its offerings at times.

Edited May 26, 2022 by ghce

[mikepilk]

It's a "Mumbai special" Frankenwatch. With Seiko movements being so cheap, you wonder why they bother. 

There's nothing wrong with the 6309 - you can get reasonable performance from them, and parts are cheap.

[anilv]

I received one of these frankens and I think it predates the ebay/franken thing. On the watch I came across the case, dial and strap looked good and it was only whenI opened it up I saw the FE movement. The reason I say it predates the Mumbai specials is the dial feet was quite professionally done to the extent I figured the whole dial was fake. And the quality of the dial, well not exactly up to the standard of Patek, but it was much better that anything from the sub-continent.

I got the watch in a job lot of Seikos and this was the only oddball.  Will post some pics up here later.

Anilv