As the world became accustomed to Seiko's novel new Astron quartz technology dominating the watrch market in the early 1970s, the Japanese watch manufacturer was hard at work improving its unprecedented quartz technology, developing the Superior, Grand Quartz, and King Quartz lines – like this 1975 Seiko Quartz 0842-8000 dress watch, with its great lightly textured dial and Grammar of Design dial/case design, on its original Seiko-signed stainless-steel bracelet.
But we will back up a bit now - 1969 was easily the most spectacular year in Seiko’s storied history - that year, the Japanese company released the world’s first automatic chronograph, the Calibre 6139 and the V.F.A. (Very Fine Adjusted) movement, which delivered Seiko’s highest yet level of precision for a mechanical movement.
It released another first upon the world, the first quartz wristwatch - and the Quartz Astron changed the way the world told time, brought high technology within the reach of all, and severely tested the dominance of the Swiss watch industry.
Following Seiko’s 1975 introduction of its Grand and King Quartz lines, Seiko reigned supreme by any metric – the combination of innovative technology and Tanaka’s Grammar of Design lines overwhelmed anything the Swiss had on offer. And the Swiss literally paid the price for it in global market share loss.
Seiko’s newly developed quartz collections replaced its mechanical Grand Seiko and King Seiko collections were produced until the early 1980s. The Japanese manufacturer, thankfully, has never seen fit to let go of its famed Grammar of Design philosophy, and for the hard-core collector, there is ample evidence of Seiko’s dial design genius and finishing techniques here – this Seiko 0842 dreww watch here gleams like glass, despite nearly half a century of service.
Seiko would go on to produce a diverse line of Grand and King Quartz watches, characterized by a beauty that competes with the best of its 1970’s golden age. To wit, some of its quartz lines were identical in price point as Rolex at the time. Their accuracy was unmatched and live on today in Seiko’s newest generations of quartz movements, such as the classic 9F.
This Seiko Quartz comes on its original Seiko-signed bracelet, and with a nylon strap, rugged travel case, and springbar tool.
1975 Seiko Quartz 0842-8000 Dress Watch, w/Original Bracelet
DIAL: Lightly-textured Seiko-signed dial, with matching hour, minute, and second hands. Applied stick hour indices provide the dial with an intriguing depth.
CASE: Stainless-steel case measures 38mm (38.5mm w/crown) x 41mm, with sharp Grammar of Design case edges. The case retains its non-machine polished sharp caselines, with matching battery caseback hatch fits tight.
CRYSTAL: Hardlex crystal in good condition, with no deep scratches or edge chips.
BAND: This Seiko 0842 comes on its original Seiko-signed textured stainless-steel bracelet, which will fit up to an approx. 7.5 inch wrist; it also comes with a dark blue and red nylon strap.
MOVEMENT: Seiko introduced hacking Seiko 08 quartz series towards the end of 1974, and used it in QT, QZ and King Quartz branded watches. This Seiko Quartz example was manufactured in September 1975.