Seiko Vintage Big Crown 62MAS

[Mir36]

It’s 1965 and just a year after the Tokyo Olympics were held, signaling Japan’s re-emergence from decades of post-war rebuilding. 12 years after Blancpain released the Fifty Fathoms and 11 years since Rolex released the Submariner, Seiko enters the fray with its first dive watch, the ‘62MAS.’



The ‘62MAS’, which was big for its time at 37mm, gets its nickname from the first two digits of its 6217 reference number and MAS from "autoMAtic Selfdater," an automatic movement with date.


And yes, there are big crown and small crown variations.




There’s a lot of fascinating resources on the web, but I would really recommend you visit Ikigai https://www.ikigai-watches.com/collecto ... 62mas/5020


To make a long story short. I descended into Seiko madness over the last week and eventually focused my insanity on the 62MAS, looking into Seiko’s own homage, the SLA017 and to the plethora 62MAS inspired Seiko prospex models which are all over 41mm.

I really wanted to get my hands on something closer to the original 37mm size and searched through the usual modding sites, Yobokies, namokimods, DLW to name a few, as well as the homage makers Steeldive, San Martin, Heimdallr amongst many, which are 41mm and have ceramic inserts.


Eventually I landed on the FiftyFour homage after reading a post in HF . The FiftyFour was 37mm and from the specs close enough for 1/20th of the modern Seiko SLA017 homage.


I wanted one NOW! But it’s Golden Week holiday in China, and I really had to scratch this itch. I had mentioned in an earlier post that Singapore has a vibrant local Seiko modding community. I went through some online listings and found this.



That’s right. A 37mm FiftyFour homage with Seiko 62MAS dial. Purchased it an hour ago. On my wrist now The seller is tight-lipped about where he got the dial. I’d love to know if anyone knows.



I’m resisting the urge to vintagize this baby to something closer to this.

But I think I’ll keep it box fresh for now.


PreV tax



All photos courtesy of the web, except of course my poor photos.

Thanks for looking

[Emilio]

Nice piece!


I've seen rep dials on AliExpress. 50€

[Mir36]

Hi Emilio,
I’ve seen a lot of the modern Prospex variations on Ali, but none with these correct 4 lines, until today

SEIKO
AUTOMATIC
WATER 250 PROOF
DIASHOCK 17 JEWELS


There’s another 37mm homage maker btw that looks promising, Seestern https://wrwatches.com/products/seestern-62mas

[Emilio]

Good to know!

[Thrasher]

I went down the same road with the Seiko 6105 Captain Willard, I felt like the original was to expensive considering the condition, I tried modding a couple Homages with Replica dials but the date window would never align with a modern movement, I tried salvaging a couple different Seiko movements...It really was at least 6 to 8 months worth of struggle... Finally after getting nowhere with unsatisfactory results I stumbled on a Brand new SLA033 at auction of a Jeweler that was going out of business.. Really Happy I am.

[Mir36]

Very nice Thrasher! I’ve also watched a lot of Utube reviews of the Steeldive homage to the 1970 6105 ‘Captain Willard.’ At $115 it’s an absolute steal for modding. But nothing beats a gen at a bargain.

[Thrasher]

Very nice Thrasher! I’ve also watched a lot of Utube reviews of the Steeldive homage to the 1970 6105 ‘Captain Willard.’ At $115 it’s an absolute steal for modding. But nothing beats a gen at a bargain.

Yours turned out excellent Congratulations!
Have you tested it for waterproof?
That was one thing that I couldn't accomplish and it really was the final nail in the coffin of the project.

[hako]

What a great catch!