Dads old Seikos

[AshUK]

I know there's a few who appreicate the oldies, so finally some time came free to put some pics up of what my dad recently passed along to me..

Backstory - i always remember these as a kid being hidden in his bedside drawer - I remember the gold 6139 being on an expandable gold bracelet, and wondering why it never worked. Guess this was my way into watches. I don't recall him ever wearing them, but I did manage to grab the 7005 some years ago, and got it serviced for what I think was a birthday or something. In any event, it had a bit of TLC, and he took to wearing it for 'special occasions'.

Fast forward to a trip back home to the UK from the US in May this year, and conversation struck up about his 2 watches. Next thing you know, he'd snuck up the stairs, and appeared back, like a ninja, with these 2 beauties in his hand. Not bad for an 87 year old!
The 7005 was ticking along, but the 6139 was about as active as me the morning after a night on the ale. The stories came out, and he talked about how he can remember buying them while he was at sea, from somewhere in the Middle East, in 1972 or 73. They were a staple of his seagoing career, and they travelled with him for many years, until they gave up the ghost, at which point they got resigned to a drawer.
The next thing you know, he passed them onto me, and said 'not sure if you'll find any use for them'.... Of course I was over the moon, and they came with me back to the Pacific NorthWest, where I had a look for a decent watchmaker who could service them.

Anyway, without further ado, here they are. The 6139 had a very scratched mineral crystal, so that was replaced like for like. It was on an on explandable gold bracelet (not original), so that was replaced with a rally strap to tone it down. The case was scratched up also, so it was given a very light finishing, but I wanted to keep it that way with a bit of character. The 7005 was already in pretty good shape, however now the crystal has been cleaned up, the dial shows a tiny bit of staining, but other than that, all is good.

Great little watches and obviously very sentimental to me. I normally don't go for gold watches, but this has changed my mind. Just to finish, last week was my folks 50th anniversary. Mum had never been to the US, and Dad is not in the best health for flying, so they booked themselves a trip on the QM2 to New York, and last week I met them in the big apple, where i wore the 6139, which tickled him.

Oh, and if anyone finds one of the old gold bracelets kicking around - let me know!
Cheers
Ash

[threescoops]

Lovely tale - it's often not the economics but the memories that drive getting pieces like this out of a drawer (in my case it was a box in a shed!) and back onto a wrist. Wear them in good health, they're both lovely. I'm sure the 6139 looks a little better off the expanding bracelet!

[JasonM]

Great story and great watches Ash, they look superb. Sadly, period gold plated Seiko bracelets are susceptible to wear and won’t do that watch justice, good luck on the hunt though.

[unclealec]

That gold 6139 is a bonny thing!

[estoban7]

Great story OP and a fantastic pair is Seikos. I think the 6139 looks perfect on that rally strap.

[bigbaddes]

yup, not usually a vintage nut but the 6139 is proper nice!
give it another 20 or 30 years and you might want to re-lume the 05 but a bit of wabi is no bad thing in the interim.

[Griswold]

Cracking story Ash, love the 6139's.