Many Seiko watches from the 1960’s and 70’s have rightly gone down as legit design classics, building a considerable following amongst watch collectors.
Conversely, some truly gorgeous watches from the era were produced by the same company have quietly slipped below the radar for the simple reason they were designed for the typically slighter of wrist, ie: women - like this quite unusual 1990s Phaser 4215 quartz women's watch, made by Seiko for Sears, Roebuck & Company. And it’s a shame, because many of these smaller watches feature exquisite details – like the atypical watch here.
Sears partnered with Seiko's manufacturing branch to create these accessible, quartz-driven everyday watches, which often featured both analog and digital LCD displays. The watches utilized reliable Seiko-manufactured quartz or early LCD digital movements (such as the "Phasar 2000" digital line), and could feature day/date displays, chronographs, and alarm functions.
At its 1886 inception, American company Sears (run by former railroad agent Richard W. Sears) sold watches by mail order catalog; much akin to Amazon selling books at its founding, pocket watches were Sears' first commodity, and Sears would gradually add substantially to its catalog offerings, much like Amazon online.
Seiko-made watches produced for Sears carried a number of brand names on their dials - Stellaris, Phaser, and even the Sears name itself. Although Seiko produced Stellaris for Sears, preceding this Stellaris was a brand name registered in 1963 by Swiss brand Mondia; while not a well-known brand, it produced some intriguing watches, such as the Mondia “Big Eye” chronograph and the Top Second. It also put out a watch model called Stellaris with an unusual fluid case.
How did Mondia and Stellaris evolve to be separate watch brands? No idea – another mystery lost to the ages, akin to how both brands would become victims of the Seiko-initiated Quartz Crisis. Watch periodical Fratello speculated, “Mondia was used as support to make Stellaris trustworthy."
"Or, I suppose another possible scenario is that the Mondia Stellaris became so popular that Mondia decided to make it a separate brand featuring its own range of watches. And there were quite a few of them, mostly later Stellaris electronic models.”
This Phaser womens watch comes on a leather strap, and with rugged travel case and springbar tool.
1990s Phaser (Seiko) 4215 Women's Dress Watch
DIAL: Enamel-like white and green Phaser-signed dial, with unique oblong shape. The sparse dial features circular hour markers at the three and six o'clock positions, paired with silver and green stick baton hands.
CASE: Metal case measures 3mm x 33mm, with matching caseback. Case lines remain sharp, with no evidence of machine polish.
CRYSTAL: Original crystal, no deep scratches or cracks.
BAND: This atypical Phaser comes on a green leather strap.
MOVEMENT: Seiko/Phaser hacking quartz movement.
CROWN: Unsigned stainless-steel crown.
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