Seiko Sarb - " Alpinist " Cal 6R15

Having family commitments as well as a very busy workshop sometimes it leaves me with less time than id like to add new and interesting posts to this blog, however it's been a while so here's some fresh new posts coming up to entertain you all :)

The Seiko Alpinist is a truly great little watch and certainly a popular piece whether your a collector or not, with great looks and a reliable proven mechanical history ( 7S26 onwards etc ) its certainly a winner. Almost sad now that they are no longer made or sold but if you look online your sure to find one or two crop up, even when they do you will part with a small sum for what is a great tool watch.
​

An otherwise good photo spoiled by my finger print, sorry :)

Without doubt a great looking watch, nothing overly complicated just simple and practical with a few useful features thrown in. The look of the watch is somewhat of a mix between new and old, the skeleton hands add to that vintage style look and the casing shape is not too dissimilar to older styles either. With a 6R15 calibre, Seiko have built on their 7SXX/4RXX success and improved on it, manual winding, hacking seconds, rapid date, and well known reliability and timekeeping, so what more could you need :)

So how does that rotating bezel work ??
​

Plastic is often looked upon now as an inferior material and although full metal gear and bezel would be nice they would add to the cost. Further to cost, metal would require some sort of lubrication to keep it turning smooth and reduce wear, fortunately some plastics have self lubricating properties so this is likely the reasoning behind plastic for the gear and bezel ( aside from cost of course ). So let's get the movement out and see the finish on that dial....
​

Radial brush sunburst which changes colour slightly depending on angle.

Very clean print finish with nice font chance for "Automatic "

Stamped dial, no applied numerals here, saving costs again but well done so no loss here

The movement used in this watch is a great choice, whilst similar in appearance to the famous 7S26 the 6R15 does have a few extra parts and functions so requires a little more effort to service than its younger generation. Overall the movement is a well engineered marvel, take the success of the earlier design and add real usable features such as hacking and manual winding, a few extras parts and  a few simple changes and voila ! For those who want to see the full strip down view the photo gallery below >
​

When the watch arrived it was running 30/60 seconds slow a day but after service it was running a absolute treat, the casing was given a light clean and the whole watch put back together ready for working life again. Having owned many many Seiko's i surprise myself for never having owned one of these, perhaps one day i will but for now returning this one to its happy owner will suffice :)

On occasion i do get a brain fart and forget to take photos after a service is finished, so this time no after shots, big apologies , will do better next time :)
​