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Seiko Laurel Worldtime... for sale. Look at, it everything you can possibly want time wise.

Een bericht gedeeld door Collectionist on vintage Seiko (@collectionist0) op 5 Apr 2020 om 8:30 (PDT)

Laurel Seiko or Seiko Laurel?

Seiko's Laurel, well actually Laurel's Seiko, is considered by collectors to be the ultimate vintage product line from this horology house. The Laurel, then with its signature red 12 hour marker, was after all Seiko’s very first wristwatch.

In 1913 when the first Laurel was produced the name Seiko was not yet conceived. For said collectors it is an interesting tidbit of knowledge that even the first Alpinist was launched under the then Laurel sub-brand in 1961 as a manual wind only model.

The Laurel sub-brand comes out of hibernation from time to time, in the mid 1990s one could see them in Japan only of course and also recently in 2013, in the form of the more widely available Presage model SRP385J

The movements Seiko put in their Laurel editons can differ widely, there is the 4S15 caliber movement as a refinement of the chronometer grade 5246 movement introduced in the early 1970’s (King Seiko Vanac) or there is the 6M quartz. Clearly the Laurel on the dial signifies more than the movement inside.

Apparently as stated above in 1995/1996, Seiko re-released the Laurel brand, powered by various calibers. Only later in 1998 was the modern Grand Seiko released with the quartz caliber 9581. One might suppose therefore that the Laurels were mid to high end mechanical and quartz watches, just below the Credor family (where now Grand Seiko is listed). This certainly makes sense for it is easily noticeable that Laurel has more in common with the Credor design philosophy than Grand Seiko's angular esthetics. They are all a bit quircky, flatter and have the bracelet much more dominantly integrated into the design.

The 6M complications

The complications of this watch are displayed on the sub dial at 6 o clock, activated by turning the crown - clockwise or counter clockwise. In random order you can do the following, the “Yankee” on the sud-dial showing:

In Time mode: show regular time, the minutes can be set when the crown is pulled and the 10 o’clock pusher is depressed, the seconds hand automatically hacks to zero so this can be set precisely. The 8 o’clock pusher is used to set the hours.

In Chrono mode: turn the crown counter clockwise and all three hands set to zero (if not read Reset chrono after battery change), when started by the 10 o’clock pusher, the seconds hand "sweeps" back and forth between 12 and 1 o clock, showing 1/10 second intervals as displayed on the dial, hour and minute hand indicate seconds and minutes.

In Month/date mode: all three hands point the month of the year, shown on edge of dial. This may seem silly but in fact it is essential for the perpetual calender which will accurately keep track of say the month of February. Finally, in Timer mode the hands can be set to countdown to zero.

Complications that are less used and often forgotten are the Set alarm mode, the hands can be set to the alarm time and when the Yankee is on the Alarm on mode the alarm is active, to be deactivated by any of the pusher buttons.

The Reset chrono is important after battery change (complete circuit reset). Because if the chrono does not reset to 12 o’clock it is probably after a battery change. The chrono needs a reset like this:

• Turn the crown to indicate Chrono on the sub dial
  
• Pull out the crown to first click
  
• Press both pushbuttons at the same time for two seconds; the hour an minute hands start moving counterclockwise and clockwise respectively. The seconds hand moves back and forth.
  
• Press button A or B to stop the hands
  
• Press button A to select the hand to be adjusted, it moves back and forth when selected. It is on a hair trigger so watch it, you can end up with the date selected before you know it (which will advance one day and back again to indicate selection)
  
• Press button B to reset the selected hand to 12 o'clock, the date would reset to 1 (hands and date move quickly when B is kept depressed).
  
• When finished push the crown back.