Reply With QuoteAnyone here have one? Thoughts? Likes and dislikes. Pictures, please?
They seem to be difficult to find. Wasn't there a company that sold refurbished issued models?
Here's another article that I wrote a while back. I will try and add some pics in due course.
Regards
Foggy
British Military wristwatches supplied by the Seiko Corporation
The Seiko Corporation began supplying the British Forces with wristwatches in the mid 1980’s and they continue to do so today. To my knowledge there have been 3 issued Seiko chronographs, excluding the yellow dialled “Vulcan” chronograph, and 1 issued Pulsar G10 general service wristwatch. Each of the models will be discussed in further detail below …
The first generation RAF issued Seiko chronograph
The first RAF issued Seiko chronograph was procured between the dates of October 1984 and November 1990. During that timeframe, 11,307 pieces of this particular model were supplied by the Seiko Corporation to the British Armed Forces.
This watch, constructed in stainless steel, housed the highly regarded, fifteen jewelled, quartz powered 7A28 Seiko movement. This model has three pushers, The top right pusher starts and stops the chronograph functions of the watch. The top left pusher stops and starts the chronograph for recording split times. The bottom right pusher resets the chronograph counters to zero.
The dial registers record the following information
1) The register at 3 records intervals of one tenth of a second. Once the chronograph has been running for 10 minutes, this hand stops revolving although does record the final one tenth of a second position once the chronograph is halted.
2) The register at 9 is the 30 minute counter.
3) The register at 6 is continuous seconds – i.e. running all of the time regardless of the chronograph function being used or not.
The dial is illuminated by Promethium. The case measures 38mm across, excluding the crown, and has a lug width of 20mm. Fixed strap bars are fitted as standard. The glass is mineral with a Seiko reference of 300WF0GN00.
The NSN for the watch is 6645-99-7683056. An issue number and year completes the military markings on the caseback.
The second generation RAF issued Seiko chronograph
From January 1993, the “second generation” chronograph was supplied by Seiko. The dimensions of the watch were almost identical to the first generation watch, but internally the watch was very different.
The movement was now the 7T27, an unjewelled movement of lesser quality than the previous 7A28. The dial now had a date window showing the day of the month. This version has 2 pushers, the main difference being the lack of the one tenth second counter.
The dial registers record the following information
1) The register at 12 is the 30 minute counter.
2) The register at 6 is the continuous seconds.
3) The register at 9 indicates the current hour using the 24 hour clock. This is linked to the movement of the main hour hand of the watch, so cannot be independently set and used as a GMT hand.
The dial is again illuminated by Promethium. The case measures 38mm across, excluding the crown, and has a lug width of 20mm. Fixed strap bars are fitted as standard.
The NSN for the watch is 6645-99-8149181. An issue number and year completes the military markings on the caseback.
The second generation RAF issued Seiko chronograph – non luminous version
There is also a version of this watch with a non-luminous dial and hands. This version was for use by the Royal Navy, presumably within an environment where luminous material would interfere with sensitive military equipment. Apart from the lack of luminous material, the watch is identical to that described above, except…
The NSN for the watch is 6645-99-7208727. An issue number and year completes the military markings on the caseback. This particular model was supplied between 1993 and 1999.
The fabled yellow dial Vulcan bomber crew Seiko chronograph
A yellow dialled Seiko chronograph is said to have been supplied to Vulcan bomber crews from 1983. The movement is a 7A38, which is the same as the 7A28 but with the addition of a day date window. All examples that I have seen of this watch have been dated from October 1983. There are no military markings on the watch itself, but it does seem likely that this watch was specially put together for the MOD. Numbers are scarce indeed – one source suggests only 700 were produced – and one would assume that if this had been a commercially available model, then more would be seen.
The reasoning behind a yellow dial was that this was particularly visible in the dimly lit inside of a Vulcan bomber.
Whilst not military marked on the watch itself, I have been told (thanks, Eddie) that the watch was certainly packaged in a typically military style cardboard box, wrapped inside in wax paper, and with the inclusion of NSN’s on the outside of the box.
Other than the above, little more is known about the yellow dialled Vulcan issue chronograph. My particular example came with a batch of issued 7A28 chronographs, so I have no doubts that this is a genuine military piece. When they rarely come p for sale, prices are high – the last one that I saw, correctly described on Ebay, made in the region of £1000.
The Pulsar (a Seiko company) G10 General Service wristwatch
In 2001, the MOD invited for tenders to replace the CWC as the general service timepiece used by the MOD. Pulsar was successful in winning a contract and produced a quartz wristwatch with fixed bars, Luminova lit black dial with a date window at three. The movement was the one jewel Seiko 7N32C calibre. This watch was found to have quality control issues surrounding it – poor mineral crystals and crowns prone to falling off !! Its life was therefore fairly limited, with the CWC winning back favour. The Pulsars were used in the recent events in Iraq, but mainly due to a general lack of available issue watches within the MOD stores.
The NSN for the watch is 6645-99-6052627. An issue number and year completes the military markings on the snap-on caseback.
(Thanks to Ned & Ale for the research on NSN numbers, which I have gratefully included in the above work.)[/b]
Anyone here have one? Thoughts? Likes and dislikes. Pictures, please?
They seem to be difficult to find. Wasn't there a company that sold refurbished issued models?
Hello
Yes I have one (a 1995 issue with date) and it is a beauty. When it arrived it did have some minor problems which Foggy very kindly helped me sort out. It also had a badly scratched crystal but my local city centre quick watch fixing kiosk was able to replace that for 10 pounds. So now it is fully working and looks as good as new.Originally Posted by mindbender
Mine came in handy today for measuring the period of time before a bench power supply went wrong - Not exactly what they were made for ! But useful anyway.
Anchor used to have them but haven't for a while. They appear on ebay from time to time but the prices tend to be silly. Here in the UK Clock Shop Online have them from time to time though.
Regards
Ian
I am looking forward to the pics.
Gray
Here is my RAF Seiko. It was Foggy's posts elsewhere that got me interested in these. It is a relatively small and light watch for those of us who wear divers etc a lot,. but all the more comfortable for it. Put it on in the morning and forget about it.
The lume on this 1984 one is nearly gone but it remains one of the most legible of watches in daylight.
A classic utilitarian dial design.
Good idea to reproduce these articles Foggy.
Si
Hello Foggy,
I just had a look at the history of the Vulcan and it seems the last Vulcan squadron was disbanded in March 1984. I wonder if there was a "cock-up in the catering" with the MoD ordering 700 watches to issue to navigators on an aircraft which was out of service 6 months later :roll:
Jim
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I wonder if there is any possibility of a few hundred yellow dial chronographs sitting in an RAF store somewhere, they keep them up there beside the gaskets :wink:
Jim
Get yer balaclavas out lads, I feel a mission coming on :wink:
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After I was grounded during my last few months in the Air Force, if you don't remember my eyesight degraded rapidly at one point. I was put in charge of the weapons maintence shop, great bunch of guys. The base I was stationed at was a WW2 supply base. Hugh warehouses all over the place with raillines going right inside as well as truck docks outside. Anyway we needed a vacuum cleaner for the shop so I asked the First Shirt to acquire one for us. He tells me to come with him and we drive through this maze of warehouses with a box of keys on the seat between us. Pulling up to this warehouse he rummages in his box and pulls out a set of keys and he unlocks the warehouse. Upon entering I feel like the end of the first Indy movie where they hide the Ark but instead of boxs it is rows of Kirby vacuum cleaners standing as if on inspection. The shirt says to me Sir pick as many as you want. It was insane ther had to be a thousand of them in there and they were all clean and the place was neat as could be. On the drive back I asked if he knew what was in all of the warehouses and he told me I didn't want to know. I would love to have found out who maintained the place
Link (now fixed) to a couple of pics - I'll add more later.
http://uk.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ian ... tary+Seiko
Regards
Foggy
sorry, the link does not work. "The File You Are Looking For Is Inaccessible."
Best regards,
Crusader
Cheers,
Martin ("Crusader")
Great article on the Seikos Foggy and a useful picture on the link too.
I've seen it said several times that the Pulsar has been withdrawn as an issue watch. Do you know anything about this?
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Hi Eddie
I'll put some better pictures in the album soon.
Re the Pulsar - My understanding was that the contract for the Pulsar G10's was cancelled due to the problems with them. However, I'm sure that some remain in service, although the CWC is back in favour I believe.
I recently bought another Pulsar at a boot sale, and it had the 2 usual problems - ie broken crystal and stem pulled right out. I also turned down an unmarked Pulsar diver from the same source. I later found out that the military do use these divers in training - bugger ! :shock:
It would be good if James K were able to pop in here to add some "from the field" information. Do you hear from him at all these days, Eddie ?
Cheers
Foggy
It must be over a year since I heard from James K Foggy. He phone me up one day and said he would be coming back for a watch but I never heard a thing.
Does he still post on MWR or has he gone walkabout?
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Me too, Eddie. I don't think he posts much on MWR either. I think I've spotted a couple maybe in the last year. His input would be invaluable.It must be over a year since I heard from James K
Cheers
Foggy
He contributed to MWR a couple of weeks ago or so.
Best regards,
Crusader
Cheers,
Martin ("Crusader")
I think James left his nephew 'Ben' to continue posting, but Ben got a bad reception on MWR and also left. If we can get a contact to Ben I think we will be able to get a message to James.
Terry
That's too bad. Theirs were very valuable contributions to that forum. I feel sorry for them.
Best regards,
Crusader
Cheers,
Martin ("Crusader")
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