It’s been two and half years since I last wrote about a Bell-Matic (Wow, time really does fly!), so here’s one of the best looking Bell-Matics ever made, the blue dialled 4005-7000.
(Click pictures to enlarge)
Produced for just 12 months between June 1968 and May 1969 and sold exclusively in Japan, the cal. 4005A powered Bell-Matics are easily recognisable as they only have a date, rather than the day and date seen on the majority of Bell-Matic models.
The 4005 range comprised just five models, the example seen here, along with a charcoal version of the same dial and three further models with a different dial design, in both stainless steel and gold plated cases. All five models (and all Bell-Matics incidentally) were fitted with a metal bracelet.
Despite the limited model range, short production run, and only being sold domestically, you would think that they would be difficult to find after 50 years, but that isn’t the case.
Like most of Seiko’s vintage models, they were produced in large numbers and despite the last 4005 having rolled off the production line in 1969, they were still featuring in the domestic sales catalogues as late as 1973. Many found their way west over the years and as Japanese auction sites are now much more accessible than they used to be, finding a decent example is much easier than it once was.
The subject of this post belongs to the son of the original owner who bought the watch during a business trip to Japan in 1971 or 72. Despite having not been serviced for over 30 years, the watch was still in decent cosmetic condition and did tick when shaken, which is always a good start.
Turning the watch over, you can see from the build up of dirt that the watch had been used extensively before being retired to a drawer (the serial number dates this one to March 1969)….
… and inside is the expected 27 jewel cal. 4005A which was all present and correct. It did show some wear through on the train plates from a worn rotor bearing, but the watch must have been serviced/repaired at some point in the past, as the bearing currently had no excessive wear.
Another issue which wasn’t immediately obvious was a crack in the crystal, so that too would need to be replaced.
The watch also arrived on its original bracelet, which is always a bonus. The majority of Bell-Matic bracelets and vintage Seiko bracelets in general, were typically made from folded stainless steel links, rather than being solid stainless steel.
This is unfortunate as the folded link bracelets, when exposed to moisture and sweat over an extended period, rusted from the inside out, before eventually falling apart – this is likely to be the main reason why you’ll see most of Seiko’s vintage output on straps now, rather than their original bracelets.
The good news here is that late in the production run, the 4005 folded stainless steel bracelets were replaced with a much higher quality and now much rarer, Stelux solid link bracelet, an example of which was fitted to this watch.
Buying tip : If you’re looking at a 4005-7000 with this style of stainless steel bracelet, you can spot a solid rather than folded link bracelet by studying the end links. A solid link Stelux bracelet has two stripes down the end links, a folded link bracelet does not.
The bracelet wasn’t without issue however as the clasp wouldn’t close. On closer inspection, the problem was immediately obvious, the securing pin for the clasp had broken off.
The owner had included an aftermarket bracelet with the watch and asked me to reshape the end links to make it fit, but rather than doing that, I opted to swap out the broken clasp with the aftermarket one instead to preserve as much of the original bracelet as possible. The original clasp was returned with the watch to keep everything together.
In terms of servicing work, the watch itself needed no more than a routine movement service, new crystal, fresh gaskets and a thorough cleaning.
Here it is all finished up. I know I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again, Seiko blue dials are hard to beat! 🙂
Rich.
** Many thanks to Jon McCollough for letting me feature his watch on the blog. **
