The Seiko 6139 automatic chronograph – a historical movement in its own right, like this early 1969 Seiko 6139-6010 SpeedTimer "Bruce Lee" automatic chronograph here, on a stainless-steel rally bracelet similar to that worn by Lee – was the world's first automatic chronograph, beating out the likes of Zenith’s El Primero and Heuer’s Calibre 11.
 
Of note, this is a quite excellent example, with multiple desirable traits - a mid-July 1969 manufacture, rare matte-grey handset, and near flawless black SpeedTimer dial with vibrant blue and red lettering.  All are sought after by serious collectors.  
 
Back in the 1970’s, Heuer and Zenith had taken hold of the entire sports watch industry by racing to become the first to produce an automatic chronograph. It has been widely debated who won, but in the background of this skirmish, Seiko quietly created one theirs at the same time, beating the Swiss at their own game – the Seiko Calibre 6139 automatic chronograph movement.
 
The black-dialed 1970s Seiko 6139 model received its nickname by regularly being worn by Bruce Lee - yes, that Bruce Lee.  Numerous photographs of the era reveal Lee as wearing his unmistakable black-dialed Seiko 6139 chronograph, on a series of stainless-steel rally bracelets.  
 
From the recent GQ Magazine article, "Why I Bought Bruce Lee's Watch" - "Be Water," ESPN’s moving documentary about Bruce Lee, artfully reframes the martial arts icon as a protest figure who spent his entire life fighting for equality and respect both onscreen and off.  It’s also got a lot of footage of Bruce Lee wearing dope stuff.  The first time I watched it last June, I caught a glimpse of something intriguing in an archival photo of Bruce in a production meeting.  There, on his wrist, was a mysterious shiny band with a series of holes along the side. Was it a bracelet? A watch band?"
 
"A few minutes of Googling delivered an answer: it was a Seiko 6139 automatic chronograph, Bruce’s watch of choice in the final years of his life.  Just like that, I had a dream watch.  I’d already been considering a Seiko as it was, for their value, reliability, and understated good looks.  But a Seiko co-signed by Bruce Lee?"
 
"That’s a whole other level of covetable, especially for a Chinese-Canadian kid like me.  I grew up worshipping Bruce, one of the few visible Asian men in the Western pop cultural canon.  And, as I quickly realized in the course of my research, I was hardly alone in my lust for his watch—in fact, it seemed like half the Asian actors in Hollywood had chased one of these rare vintage Seikos down."
 
"Daniel Dae Kim, noted watch guy, is the proud owner of a Bruce Lee Seiko.  Same with The Good Doctor’s Will Yun Lee, and The Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chieng.  All three sourced their Seikos through the exact same dealer: Los Angeles-based DC Vintage Watches."
 
During the early months of 1969, Seiko put the final touches on its revolutionary 6139 chronograph - in fact, the Japanese company first began putting the 6139 in automatic chronographs as early as January of the same year.
 
Seiko published its first advertisement for their new automatic 6139 chronograph in February 1969, easily beating the Swiss - however, the company was concentrating on the release of the world's first quartz watch, the Astron, which would completely disrupt the watch world as it was known at the time (again, much to the chagrin of the Swiss watch industry, we're certain).  We possess 6139 dials dating back to November 1968, indicating Seiko beat all other rivals to produce the world's first automatic chronograph.  Period.
 
The watch world recognized this recently, with an early model Seiko 6139 - January 1969, well before the Swiss - garnering nearly $20k at auction.
 
The 6139 was the first chronograph to have a vertical clutch, a feature considered by many to be one of the hallmarks of a superior automatic chronograph movement.  The 6139 features a single register chronograph allowing time to be measured in increments of 30 minutes,.
 
It also features an automatic column wheel timing control, vertical coupling mechanism, and an integrated chronograph – the first in the world – which means the entire 6139 movement was designed and built to be a chronograph, vice being an automatic movement with a mere timing module added (**ahem** Swiss chronos at the time).
 
This Japanese Domestic Market (JDM)-only Seiko 6139 comes on a stainless-steel rally bracelet, and with nylon strap, springbar tool, and rugged travel case.