Pogue’s lesser-loved cousins–part II

Continuing the theme of Seiko 6139’s extended family and its various oddities. Some are just plain weird – see the “Helmet” – while others just sneak under the radar as they’re a bit plain or otherwise unremarkable. Take this one, a December 1972 6139-7002, picked up in a junk lot at an auction. By the time I’d disposed of some of the other toot that came along with it, the watch only cost me about £50 but then it did need servicing, at 4x that amount…

This is the only 6139 variant to have a 0-100 scale decimal bezel under the glass and despite the STL Stelux bracelet (which I always like; they’re solid and comfortable in just about the perfect combination), I never quite warmed to it – the case shape was a bit dull (even if some signs of horizontal brushing probably shows that it hadn’t ever been polished). Even though the dial and hands were in great condition (if a little faded), it never really jumped out at me. So off to eBay it went, and just about washed its face – selling a watch that’s cost you hundreds of pounds to service is not so easy.

Fast forward another few years, and I couldn’t help myself but buy another – even if the dial and hands were nicer than the first one…just about visible under the somewhat beaten up-crystal:

Note that the subdial hand is a brighter yellow than the chrono hand; that might just be the way it is, or it could have been swapped at some point, who knows? The WATER 70m RESIST marking at 9 o’clock rightly marks this watch out as an earlier variant of the 6139-7002, dating to May 1971. It has a 6139A movement inside, which must have been pretty late in production as the 6139-6001 started moving from 6139A to 6139B in late 1970. Anyway. Stelux bracelet aside…

…this one also had a bit of personal engraving on the back which meant it wasn’t destined to stick around for long.

It could use a service as the date change is pretty stiff and it really needs a new crystal to appreciate that cracking dial, but my inner voice started telling me “you’ll never wear it”… so off it went to the ‘Bay…