Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The Fujitsubo

SEIKO Automatic Chronograph 6138 "Tokei Zara"
Caliber 6138-0020 Twenty-one jewels
Dated: April 1972

This piece was quite hard to come by and little did I expect two 6138s (the "Jumbo" and the "Tokei Zara") to appear before me. So I did what any good'o WIS will do when undecided - Buy both.
The "Tokei Zara" or Fujitsubo means a chemical dish or bowl due to the shape of the case. Mr. Goh of K2 Watch has fully overhauled this piece and changed a clean original crystal but there was some work for me still. I will need to clean up the original full length bracelet and sourced for a NOS minute hand as the lume job done on the original minute hand was disastrous. Both was easily done in two weeks and a pristine Tokei Zara is the result!



This model is the domestic model with the word "Speed-Timer" on the dial. The blue subdial at 6 o'clock with matching yellow hand is the most outstanding detail of this watch.




This picture was taken before my cleaning was done. Look at the grim and dirt that was between the bracelet links!

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