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March 23, 2010

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Seiko Catalog from Year 2000

Many great Seiko watches were released during the 1999 to 2001 period. In Japan, The Marinemaster, Grand Seiko handwind, the Year 2000 Historical Collection and many others were released.

What about the Far East? What watches were being offered at that time? Let’s take a look at the year 2000 Seiko catalog to find out.

Let me start by showing the front and back cover of the catalog.

Front cover

Back cover

There is a small print on the bottom right of the back cover that says “09/00 Printed in Japan”. I believe this is the second catalog for that year (volume 2). It contains watches from volume 1 that were still in production and new models to be introduced in the later part of the year. The catalog is printed using recycled paper.

Bottom right corner of back cover

Bottom left corner of back cover

From what I understand, this catalog was issued to Seiko distributors at country level. It was printed in limited quantities and each catalog has a unique serial number. Each country distributor was given a few copies and it was definitely not meant to be given to the retailers.

Watches shown in this catalog were not necessarily released in year 2000. Some could be from 1999 or even earlier. Since this is not a Japanese market catalog, you will not see Japan domestic models like the Grand Seiko’s or the Marinemaster. It does however have some interesting models that are pretty high end (at that time).

Now let’s take a look at the better known models that are found on the catalog. Some models were available in different colour variants but I am not showing all of them to avoid turning this post into a modem burner.

Spring Drive
These handwind Spring Drive models were available in 2000. I know the SMK001J and SMK003J were launched in 1999. Not sure about the SMK004J though.

1000m SAT Diver
The SQ dial 1000m professional diver (aka golden tuna) is another high end watch that was on the catalog at that time. It is powered by the 7C43 quartz movement.

Sportura
This Sportura Kinetic chronograph is an expensive model I saw on the catalog. The watch has an odd design. Some like it while some don’t. It is powered by the 9T82 movement.

Kinetic Chronograph
This watch uses the same movement as the Sportura model above but was not put under the Sportura model in the catalog. I actually prefer this design to the one above but unfortunately, it is quite pricey.

Kinetic Auto Relay
Here are a pair of 5J22 powered Kinetic Auto Relay models that were popular back then. The Kinetic Auto Relay watch has the “hibernate and wake up” function and is able to preserve accurate time while it is in hibernation mode.

Arctura Kinetic
These Arctura Kinetic comes in many different dial colours. Men’s version were powered by 5M42 and ladies version were powered by 3M22.

I remember the market was flooded with them at that time. Of all the watches posted in this blog entry, I believe these Arctura Kinetic’s are most likely to have NOS pieces sitting in some obscure watch shops.

Kinetic Sports Divers
These sports divers are popular among collectors. I have owned a few of these and found the 6Mxx movement to have pretty good power reserve. However, it takes a long time to have it fully charged.

Here are the 200m models. They are powered by the 5M63 movement.

Here are the 100m models powered by the 5M62 movement.

Perpetual Calendar Diver
This watch is probably one of the first Seiko divers that uses plastic parts. I suspect this model had a very short production run or only limited pieces were brought in to Singapore because I don’t remember seeing it in the retail shops as often as the other Perpetual Calendar models.

Despite its limited supply, parts are still available at the service centre after ten years.

Besides the Perpetual Monster above, this Seiko Pipin was also a prominent diver that was powered by the 8F35 movement.

Perpetual Calendar GMT
Most people in this part of the world have yet to hear of the Grand Seiko in 2000 and these Perpetual Calendars were the most accurate quartz we knew of at that time. Retailers often emphasize on their accuracy when they showed these Perpetual Calendar watches to their customers.

Here’s a pair of stainless steel and Titanium models. The stainless model was used in the marketing campaign at that time.

Automatic Divers
Here comes the Monsters. They were released in year 2000 in black and orange dial colours only. Back then no one expected it to end up with so many dial and case colour variants.

The SKX171K was introduced during that period of time. Unlike the Monsters, it was not as popular and was once rumoured to be discontinued.

Quartz Divers
Quartz divers are always part of Seiko’s product offerings. These two were offered by Seiko in 2000. I believe there is “SQ” dial variant of the black one on left.

Quartz Chronographs
There are a wide variety of 7T32 quartz chronographs on the catalog and I believe these are the most sellable ones.

This military style chrono with “SQ100” on its dial was also quite popular and worth a mention.

Young Air Pro
There is always a line of watches targeted at young people in most Seiko catalogs that I have seen. In year 2000, these funky digital watches were supposed to do the job. They came under the “Young Air Pro” series. No sure if they did a good job though.

************ The End ************
Note: Pictures are not to scale.

52 thoughts on “Seiko Catalog from Year 2000”

  1. Thank you very much for showing this book. I had never heard of seen hand wind spring drives. Is the re a test about that type of watch Were vthe holding time pecisely als the nowedays Springdrives?
    Bert Geuze Holland

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  2. Hi Thomas,

    Thanks for sharing that bit of info. Some of the diver chronos were recently ‘re-issued’ though with only 2 push buttons and crown at 3 o’clock. Depth rating had also been improved to 200m! I currently have one with the dial just like the SDWE23P but with the new chrono movement.

    Thanks again and a real pleasure to stumble upon such precious information.

    Best regards & keep up the good work!

    Ian

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  3. Hi,

    You mentioned that spare parts are still available for the SLR001 at the service centre. Which service centre are you referring to? I need the parts as my juz gave way.

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    • Hi Wayne,

      I was referring to the Seiko service centre in Singapore (Thong Sia). My regular watchmaker was working on this watch last month (March 2010) and obtained the parts from Thong Sia.

      Perperual Monster
      (Not my watch)

      Best regards,
      Thomas

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      • HELLO YEOMAN:
        I need to buy this “tougher-than-nails-to-find” part for my SEIKO SLR-001P , case 8F35-0019
        Watch SHROUD PROTECTOR…8992-5290
        Any suggestions? I live in SF, CA
        My Mechanical Design Engineer Apple Computer days are over so I no longer frequent Singapore or Japan or China and no longer have access to a 3D printer. HELP!

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  4. Hi Thomas,

    Thanks for info, man. Your “regular” watchmaker i presume is Mr. Goh of K2? Ok, noted. Will trot down to Bideford & try my luck. Hope they have spare parts for my SLR003, same as the cream-colored one in yr pic.

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    • Yes, he’s Mr. Goh of K2.
      Actually you can call up Thong Sia to check the availability before going there. Tel: 67376122
      Ask the operator to transfer you to the service centre. Next, ask for the person in charge of spare parts.
      Get ready the movement and case number of the watch.

      – Thomas

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  5. Managed to get my parts after calling to make sure they still carry it. Bought the last 2 pieces of Part No. 8992 5290 left in Singapore today!!! HAHAHAHA

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  6. Hello Yeoman!
    It seems to me that you are the person who can help me.

    I’m looking for a strap replacement for my Seiko watch, which proved to be really rare – I couldn’t have find it’s official name, and it’s images are really sparse. That’s what it looks like: http://www.fondrieschigioielli.com/kinetiautoarcu01.jpg
    It’s basically similar to SKH525p, but it more elegant (in my view :).

    Do you know which model is that (it’s supposed to be years 2000/2001 approximately) and where should I try to find a replacement for it’s strap?

    Thanks in advance,

    m

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    • Hi Max,

      Do you have the movement and case number of the watch? It can be found on the caseback and the format is like this: XXXX-XXXX.

      To be frank, even if you can establish the model number, it would still be difficult to find a replacement strap since it is a 10 year old model.

      Best regards,
      Thomas

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  7. Thanks for your response, Yeoman!

    The problem is that I’m in Tokyo now, and the watch is in Tel-Aviv 🙂
    So… I guess it’s movement is 5J22, as for the case… I don’t have a clue.

    Do you know any good shop here in Tokyo I may try to visit?

    m

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  8. Hello there,
    My Seiko Kinetic Arctura SKH525P got stolen so I am looking for a replacement.
    So far I didn’t find one.
    What do you mean with NOS pieces in your text:

    Arctura Kinetic
    These Arctura Kinetic comes in many different dial colours. Men’s version were powered by 5M42 and ladies version were powered by 3M22.

    I remember the market was flooded with them at that time. Of all the watches posted in this blog entry, I believe these Arctura Kinetic’s are most likely to have NOS pieces sitting in some obscure watch shops.

    Any advice where i find another Arctura SKH525P?

    Thanks for you help,
    Martin Kossen
    Holland.

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  9. Pingback: Some pictures of an old Kinetic Arctura « Yeoman's Weblog

  10. Hi Max,

    I have a similar watch 5J22 OA80, bought in Singapore in 2001. I’m guessing the rubber part of the strap has broken. When this happened in 2006 I got replacements from Seiko Tokyo, the same thing has happened again and now they tell me the parts are no longer available – I can’t find anything else to fit, apart from a 10 mm ladies leather strap which looks stupid. Have you ahd any luck?

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  11. Hi,

    I am desperately looking for the Seiko Young Airpro. I’ve tried searching everywhere but cant find it available for sale. Could you kindly advise is there anywhere i can find this rare piece of watch. I’ve tried ebay but nothing can be found. I really want to get it for my a very special person. Please help.. 😦

    Hope you can help.

    Best Regards,
    Clueless

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  12. Hi Yeoman:I am looking for a new strap, I purchased a Seiko Kinetic in 1999, I have since lost the strap for this and would like to use the watch again. At first i had the half metal/rubber bracelet, which I replaced with full metal. Either one would do. I have a pretty thick wrist so a large size would be needed.

    I believe this is the code,5M42-OE39, which is on the back of the body of the watch.

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  13. Hi yeoman, Any chance that you would have Seiko chrono catalogs circa. 96-98. Looking to replace a stolen watch I bought in ’97 in Bosnia. It was a 7T32-XXXX. Chrono, water resist, 100m, w/ tachymeter and alarm. Steel band with white face/silver dials or silver face/white dials. Tried image saerches, can’t find the exact model #. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

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  14. Nice web page, it makes me go back to 1999. The year , I bought my sports diver watch KINETIC, I still have it after all these yrs it has been repaired quite a few times but still works

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  15. I like your name how did u pick it.?
    I was bitten by seiko a year back and haven’t stopped .
    My favrts.are divers. I live in uae and was lucky to pick a sawtooth
    At a great price pristine from a seller who was willing to get rid of his old stocks. By large which is the biggest seiko diver
    Are there unidirectional bezel divers. Best

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  16. Hello,
    I have a Seiko watch that I acquired secondhand, and it is gorgeous. If you could provide any info about this watch it would be greatly appreciated. On the back of this watch it is written “022133” and ‘7123-8449-P-A1’. It is a gold tone watch with a white face and says “Japan movement” and the bottom in tiny print. There is also “SQ” written above the “Japan movement” print. It is a date watch with the date being at 3 o’clock. On the first link of the band (stainless steel I’m assuming) there is “C143” imprinted. I’m not sure if this the model no. or where to find it. I just want to know the name of the watch, and when it was made. The watch is in good working condition and keeping time. Thank you in advance and have a great day.

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  18. Hello,
    I’ve bought an Vintage Seiko watch on an auction. The model number is SHN 5A54 0220 the serial number is 160781. Can you maybe help me to clarify in which year this watch was produced? I expect 2001, but i don’t have the catalog to verify. Would be great if you could help me out.

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  19. Do you have the full catalog from 2000 in pdf version? I’m really interessted in seeing the whole catalog!! If you could just take pictures of every sites in the catalog? Thank you for a quick answer!!

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  20. Is there picture and iformation about this speciffic model with reference number SXJT77P1? If so can you take a picture of the page and mail it to me? Thank you for a quick answer!!

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  21. Can you post pictures of the pages inside? Those pages with the watches on, you doesn’t need to scan thme you can just youse your mobile phone to take some so I can se if you have the time.

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  23. Hi there… I just got SMA079P5. The serial number 0N0079. Is it from 2000? And could you send me a picture of page catalogue that show of SMA079P5? Thanks.

    Best Regards,

    BLX

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  25. Thank you for sharing. I’m looking for a stopwatch or chronograph watch that I purchased in the year 2000 from a store. I know it’s been a long time, but are all the modules photographed?

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