[martback]

I have not been able to find any summaries of early Seiko analog quartz calibers so I did a compliation of available sources and added pictures of the watches in my collection. The bracketed figures is accuracy measured in seconds per month unless otherwise stated. I have also added additional caliber designations, such as "36SQC" and a few bits and pieces of additional information that I thought might be interesting.

The period chosen is from the introduction of the Seiko Quartz watches until the end of the "Golden Era" of Seiko Quartz development in the beginning of the 1980s. With a few exceptions, Seiko never again tried to achieve the accuracy of the quartz watches of the late 70s and the early 80s.

The information in the table is not always consistent in the different sources so I have chosen the most reasonable where possible and listed the differing information where it has no been possible to choose. The dates stated below is the initial year of production for a series and certain calibers within a series may have been introduced in later years.

Unfortunately, the formatting on this and other fourms does not allow for tables or great legibility but I will try to make an excel version at a later time when corrections and additional information is available. Any corrections, comments or additions are very welcome posted to this post or sent to me by email. I will try to update the table whenever additional information so merits.

/ martin



SEIKO ANALOG QUARTZ CALIBER TABLE 1964-1980

1964, Crystal Chronometer, JPY 129,000

1969, 35 Series, Suwa, 3500 (5) caliber, 8,192 Hz, Quartz Astron JPY 450,000, 100 watches produced

1970, 35SQW, Suwa, 16,384 Hz, 1800 watches produced

1970, 36 series, Daini, 3600, 3602 and 3605 36SQC (5) calibers, 1000 watches produced, First CMOS

1971, 38 series, Suwa, 3800 (15), 3802 (15), 3803 38QTW (15), 3820 (15), 3823 VFA 38SQW (5) JPY 150,000, 3862 (20), 3863 QR (20), 3870 (10), 3883 Superior (2, 1) and 3819 38DQC duotime (10)

1972, 03 SQ series, 0300 caliber, 90 watches produced

1972, 39 series, Daini, 3922 VFA LED battery indicator (5) JPY 98,000 and 3923 VFA (5) JPY 98,000

1974, 41 series, Suwa, 4100 41QD (15), 4110A (15), 4110B (15), 4130A (15, 20), 4120 (15) and 4122 (15)

1974, 08 series, 0822 (15), 0823 (15), 0841 (15), 0842 (15), 0843 (10), 0852 (10) and 0853 King Quartz (10)

1975, 43 series, 4300 (20), 4301 (20), 4302 (20), 4303 (20), 4312 (15), 4316 (15), 4325 (15), 4326 (15), 4335 (15), 4336 (15), 4366 (10)

1975, 09 series, 0903 QZ (15), 0920 QZ (15), 0922 (15) and 0923 (15)

1975, 48 series, Suwa, 4821 48KQ First with 5 year battery life (10), 4822 (10), 4823 48KQW (10), 4826 First Solar Cell (10), 4840 (15), 4842 (15), 4843 48GQW (5, A10, B15), 4803 (15) and 4883 Superior (1, A10, B15)

1977, 75 series, Suwa, 7546 75SQ Type II (15), 7518 visually impaired (15), 7545 (15), 7548 (15), 7549 (15), 7550 (15) and 7559 with light (15)

1977, 79 series, Suwa, 7902 (15), 7903 (20, 15) and 7918 (20)

1978, 23 series, Suwa, 2320 (15) and 2340 (15)

1978, 92 series, Daini, Twin Quartz, 9256 92GQW JHQ system (10py)

1978, 99 series, Suwa, Twin Quartz, 9923 99KQW (20py), 9940 (10py), 9942 (10py), 9943 99GQW (10py), 9980 (5py), 9983 Superior (5py), 9920 (20py) and 9921 (20py)

1978, 93 series, Suwa, 9320 Super thin (0,9 mm) (15)

1978, 59 series, Daini, 5931 Eagle pulse correction circuit (15)

1979, 97 series, Daini, Twin Quartz, 9721 (20py), 9722 97KQC JHQ system (20py), 9723 (20py) and 9726 (20py)

1979, 60 series, Suwa, 6020 (15) and 6030 (15)

1979, 26 series, Daini, 2620 (15), 2621 (15), 2622 (15), 2623 (15), 2625 150 m diver (15), 2626 (15), 2628 (15), 2632 (15), 2633 (15) and 2639 (15)

1980, 96 series, Suwa, Twin Quartz, 9641 (20py), 9642 (20py), 9661 (20py), 9681 JHQ system (5py) and 9182 (5py)

1980, 94 series, Daini, Twin Quartz, 9441 (20py), 9442 (20py), 9443 94KQW (20py), 9481 (5py), 9483 Superior (5py) and 9461 94GQ (10py)

1980, 72 series, Daini, 7223 with alarm (15)


Pictures:

1964 - Crystal Chronometer

1971 - 3863 QR

1972 - 3923 VFA with box

1974 - 0853 King Quartz

1975 - 0920 QZ

1977 - 7559 with light

1978 - 9256 Grand Quartz

1978 - Superior Twin Quartz Box

1978 - 9943 Grand Quartz

Sources:

Seiko Quartz Table
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/net/homepage/shucal03.html

Pieter Doensen, WATCH. History of the modern wrist watch.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~doensen/index.html

Seiko Battery list
http://www.makedostudio.com/watches/seiko-batteries.pdf

The Seiko Book (Goods Press Special, Tokuma Shoten 1999)

 

[Eeeb]

Thanks! Nice info compilation. I've never seen anything like it on the net... This should be useful when looking for HEQ Seikos.

 

[M4tt]

This should be useful when looking for HEQ Seikos.

:-d


I agree, that is a fantastic resource well done and thanks very much!

 

[Fatpants]

Great stuff, thanks;-)

 

[petew]

Many many thanks Martback. I know I will be referring to this table often.

Great work and that Superior Twin Quartz box was super cool!

 

[Bruce Reding]

That is a fantastic post. Thanks so much! (Great collection, too! :-!)

Jim and I have to get on the stick some time soon and start putting new threads in the "Meritorious Threads" or "References" stickies. This is definitely one of them.

 

[garfre]

Wonderful post Martin. If possible I would like assistance on determining the initial production date for some of the other "early" Seiko quartz caliber series -- especially 58, 71, 78 and 82. TZ has a Seiko caliber table, however it does not include quartz. Perhaps the first reference (Seiko Quartz Table) cited for your post would provide the info but I can't figure out how to translate it (the first column is apparently the year from 1969 into the 1990's). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Gary

 

[martback]

Hi Gary,

in the Japanese table, the first column is the year of intriduction and the second is the caliber number. The table is not complete but is usually has the first caliber of a series. As you can see, none of the caliber series that you have is listed in the table, nor do they appear in any of my Seiko books. I found a few examples of the 58 series on the web and that looks like a mid 70s caliber. I will search a bit more during the weekend and see what I can find.

/ martin

 

[garfre]

Thanks Martin. I've seen a couple of cal 5856 KQ on the auction sites. Also cal 8223 and 8229 that look more 1970's than 1980's. I have a "type II" with the symbol on the dial for quartz 7123-8100 with an S/N beginning with 8. It looks 1978 rather than 1988. Any help is appreciated. I've just started buying the vintage Seiko quartz a couple of months ago and have become very interested in them (have 11 so far). Gary

 

[martback]

Update - Type IIs like the 71 and the 75 series are usually late 70s (77-79). gmtplusnine did a good post on these; http://www.gmtplusnine.com/2008/06/07/seiko-type-ii-quartz-a-piece-of-history/. I found a 78 series on this page http://www.mr-coo.com/battery/seiko/seiko.html which also looks like late 70s (79-80). This site is in general a good source of info for 70s and 80s quartz watches with lots of pictures. Finally, the 82s, which I think are often SilverWaves, I would put at 1980-81. As long as you get the starting point more or less correct, there should not be any major problem in dating from the serial number as none of these watches would have been produced for 10 years.

/ martin

 

[Eeeb]

Great site! Thanks...

 

[Bruce Reding]

Most excellent adder, Martin. Thanks! :-!

 

[garfre]

Thanks Martin. Would you also place the 58 series in the late seventies? I see a 5856 KQ on your Mr. Coo site but did not note a date.

 

[martback]

The assymetric caseback and the separate battery lid dates the 58 series a bit earlier than the others. The one at Mr Coo has a serial from 1978 but I would put the start a few years earlier, probably 75-77.

/ martin

 

[Torrid]

"Light for indicating time in the dark"

Brilliant name!

 

[mihaixp]

Thank you very much for this post.

 

[junlon]

Sources:

Seiko Quartz Table
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/net/homepage/shucal03.html

I could not read anything from this link. All I got are a bunch of stuff like "N�H�[�c�A�X�g����" from this website. What did I do wrong?

 

[Eeeb]

I guess what you did wrong is not being able to read unicode characters... I think the site is in the Japanese character set which is not commonly supported by browsers.

 

[junlon]

I guess what you did wrong is not being able to read unicode characters... I think the site is in the Japanese character set which is not commonly supported by browsers.

You are right. I have to set "Character Encoding" to "Auto Detect" for "Japanese" to read this web.
"Auto Detect" for "Unicode" does not work.

 

[Stoystown]

Hi,

Thanks for the information on the thread SEIKO ANALOG QUARTZ CALIBER TABLE 1964-1980. I was looking for my Analog quartz caliber being used in another watch that is in my Jean Lassale "L" ultra thin and found it in a Credor (Seiko) thru your post of the URL to the Japanese web site. The caliber number in the Jean Lassale is 2F70A-5649. The caliber number in the Credor is 2F70A-5480.
Can you tell me the meaning of the second number after the dash in the caliber, or the date it was introduced by Seiko?
I am also trying to understand the meanings of the small logos found on Seiko sub brands. I noticed in a photo on the Japanese web site the Daini Double Triangle/Lighting Bolt logo on the Credor after the caliber information. This logo also appears after the caliber attribution on the back of my Jean Lassale "L". Does the logo on the Credor have significance as to the manufacture of the Credor by Daini? I am trying to find information on how my Jean Lassale "L" watch came into being.

Any information as to the 2F70A quartz movement or of the meaning of the use of the Daini logo on these two watches will be appreciated. Or, do you know of an association between Seiko and Jean Lassale "L", beyond the use of Seiko's ultra thin analog quartz movement, (such as a manufacturing, and/or licensing agreement for my Jean Lassale "L" watch) before Seiko bought them in 1980?

Regards,

Stoystown