I’ve made a bit of a fool of myself lately, with a flipping spree that went along the lines of Monster – Tuna – Monster – Tuna – Monster – Tuna – Tuna. Well, that’s not quite right because the final Tuna is staying, and that’s because I eventually followed my heart and went vintage again. This one’s a 7549-7010 from 1978 and it’s absolutely amazing!

It was actually the first of Seiko’s shrouded divers, designed by Ikuo Tokunaga (Tokunaga-san was the chief designer of Seiko’s Professional Diver series) but what little information is archived away in the (no longer available) Tokunaga Watch Museum. However, it can still be accessed thanks to the amazing Internet Archive Wayback Machine, from which the following has been “rescued”:

The first professional quartz diver’s watch model of 300m saturation diving specification in Japan. The movement is (the) 7549 caliber which has 5 years battery life. There are 17 new technologies, such as L shaped glass gasket structure, glass screw ring fixing structure, twin side shield crown structure, special elastic strap made from polyurethane rubber same as 600m professional diver’s watch.

The interesting thing in that passage for me is the reference to Seiko’s pioneering L-shaped glass gasket, which is – still – the reason that Seiko’s professional/saturation divers avoid the need for a Helium Escape Valve (HEV) which you’ll find on pretty much all the the “oppositions” watches. Anyway, I can’t begin to describe how lovely it is, but here’s a few quick shots to show off the really nice lume on the dial. Apologies too, but it’s a very reflective crystal and requires more time and attention than I could give it right now.