Lee's Watch Thread for MM'ers of Impeccable Taste

[WRXtranceformed]

SUCCESS!

I was bummed when I lost an auction at the last second for a birth year Seiko diver recently. It wasn't worth what it went for (and probably would have gone for if I pushed the last second bid) but I found that it is not easy to find original, unmolested (not modded abominations) versions of the 6309 diver.

After browsing multiple eBay sellers and saved searches I came across another version of the 6309 that was manufactured in the same year that I was born, the 6309-7040 or 6309-7049:



This is the true predecessor of the modern "Turtle" SRP series and has some stylistic features that differ from the 7290. After finding a few with some awesome patina I was hooked, but also dismayed because it had been hard enough to find a birth year 7290 (which seem to be more plentiful) and now I got to chase after a tougher, more sought-after model.

It's no secret I am not a huge Reddit fan but after pouring through WUS, eBay and WatchRecon, I happened to find a month old post from Reddit where a guy was selling his all-original 6309-7040 from not only my birth year but also my birth month!! Of all of the 6309s I've looked at, I've found maybe 5 or 6 from my birth year and 0 with birth year and month. Messaged the guy, it was still available, he didn't seem like a scammer so I jumped on it knowing I would be really hard pressed to find another one like this!!

It should be on its way soon, I'll get some more wrist shots when it gets here but....pics!!:


It will come on this NATO but I will probably end up with an Uncle Seiko bracelet for it



Case back is pretty shredded up from some indiscriminate hands in the past, but it's part of the patina and you won't see it anyway!


I will assess it when it gets here but it will for sure get a full service / gasket replacement since it is running but service history is unknown. Dagaz is having a sale on sapphire crystals specifically made for this watch (which is the only thing I would touch so that you can see that awesome aged dial and hands better) but I will most likely live with the current OEM crystal or replace it with a NOS OEM hardlex crystal.

I said I wouldn't add any more to the collection until my grail is secured, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to own a perfectly unmolested and patina'd example of a classic diver from my birth month AND year! These are only going up in value right now too, so maybe I can call it an investment?