For part 1, check out last week’s story.
Have you heard the story about the guy who turned a paperclip into a house, through a series of ever escalating trades? I’m on my way, though not quite so dramatically, and I might just quit while I’m ahead. You see, a couple years ago, I had a watch that I received as partial payment for a bit of copywriting and photography. I enjoyed it for a while but then stopped wearing it. When a friend asked to try it, he offered a vintage Seiko 6139 chronograph in return, first temporarily, then we decided to make the trade permanent. I’d like to think we both came out ahead. I had always wanted one of these yellow dial “Pogue” Seikos (named for the NASA astronaut who wore said watch on a SkyLab mission in 1973) and I wore it quite a bit at first. Then, being a dive watch guy at heart, it languished in my watch box for months on end. It really deserved better. Some vintage watches are best kept on a padded cushion, quietly gaining in value in a dark safe. Seikos are not those watches. They should be worn, just as old Land Rovers should be driven. They’re built to last and look better the more battered they become.
Around the time I was contemplating selling the Pogue I saw another old Seiko come available. It was a 6105, Seiko’s most iconic dive watch, the one worn by great polar explorers, scientists, US Navy divers, and the hero in one my favorite movies (Apocalypse Now). I’d owned two 6105s in the past, during my mad flipping days, where a watch barely lasted a month on my wrist before something else caught my eye. The first was the first generation “slim case” version (the 6105-8000 for those keeping score) and the second was the more familiar -8110 variety that Seiko sold right up until 1977. Looking back, I probably should have kept them both but then my wrist was about as promiscuous as an ostracod during full moon week. Here was my chance to right a past wrong. I sold the Pogue chronograph for exactly what the seller wanted for his 6105. The three-way deal was done in about 30 minutes and the old diver on my wrist within days. And now I want to wear it—a lot, and for everything. That presented a problem: it’s old.
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