Yep, it’s another Seiko Bell-Matic, this time a model that I’ve known about for a long time but never had on the bench, a blue dial 4006-7002.
(Click pictures to enlarge)
Seiko are renowned for the execution of their blue dials, both modern and vintage. Their dress watch and chronograph back catalogue contain some stunning examples, and the Bell-Matic range is no stranger to a blue dial as all nine models in the 17 jewel, 6-series range (4006-60xx) have a blue variant.
Here are a few examples…
In the 7-series (4006-70xx) watches however, it’s much slimmer pickings as there are only two models with a blue dial, the subject of this post, and the date only, 4005-7000. (You will often see pictures of a 27 Jewel 4006-7000 with what looks like a light blue dial, but it’s just a trick of reflection, as the dial is actually silver.)
The 17 jewel Bell-Matics were created mainly for the overseas market to comply with import tariff restrictions, the first models being produced and exported in 1969. In Japan, only the 27 jewel models were available for the majority of the production cycle (1966-78), and the range was limited, both in terms of models and colours when compared with the overseas offerings.
Browsing through vintage Japanese dealer catalogues online (as you do!), the largest range of 27 jewel models was available during 1970, thirteen in total, with the only blue dialled model being the 27 jewel 4005-7000 pictured above.
The only 17 jewel model officially sold in Japan appears to have been the 4006-6070, which was first introduced in 1975, and sold until Bell-Matic production ceased altogether in 1978.
Looking at this page from the 1975 Japanese domestic catalogue, you’ll see that there were six Bell-Matics available that year; three 27 jewel 4006-701x models, and below, making their debut, three 17 jewel 4006-6070’s.
It’s pure speculation on my part, but could this be the reason why this 4006-6070 is the only Bell-Matic model that doesn’t have the jewel count printed on the dial? Side-by-side in a dealer’s display case, it would have been hard to justify ten fewer jewels inside, especially when the retail prices were exactly the same.
As I’m focusing specifically on blue dials today, I’ll say that the catalogue picture above does the blue dial 4006-6070 no justice at all, so here’s one in the metal.
Ok, enough of my Bell-Matic musings, let’s get back to the subject of this post…
You could say that the blue dial variant of the 4006-700x is largely overlooked, as there seems to be very few around. From a relatively extensive search of social media and other online sources, I could only find a handful of examples in a sea of the white and charcoal dial variants. So, does that make this watch something of a ‘sleeper rarity’ in the Bell-Matic world? Possibly.
Many of the examples I found were small pictures from historic auctions which made collating any concrete information difficult, but I spotted two versions from my limited findings; the first being a 4006-7001 model with plain hands, all of which appear to have been made in early 1970…
… and the second being the 4006-7002 model featured here, with a black stripe on the hands. The watch in this post was made in December 1971 and inside is a 17 jewel cal. 4006A as expected.
The only other blue dial 4006-7002 that I could find belonged to the original ‘Bell-Maniac’, John N, who had the same model with a production date of October 1971, so pretty close to the one here.
So, could all the blue -7001’s have been made in 1970 and the -7002’s made in 1971? Possibly, but it’s hard to be sure from such a small sample size.
In terms of restoration, mechanically, the watch needed little more than a movement service. The winding rotor bearing was heavily worn, and as a result the rotor had worn through the plated edge of the winding bridge, so I swapped out the entire bridge and bearing to put things right. I also switched out the Spanish day wheel for an English version, and replaced the casing spring as the original had corroded.
From a cosmetic perspective it just needed a good clean, crystal polish, new gaskets, and some minor case work to tidy up the bezel and case top brushing.
If you have a blue dial 4006-700x in your collection, it would be great to hear from you. Let’s see how many more are out there!
Rich.
I have a 4006-7001 with blue dial.
In good shape but the day wheel does not work.
I have a blue faced 4006 watch. Face is scratched unfortunately