My Soxa from Docrwm!

Doc is putting up some of his watches for sale to snag a bigger fish. His first one was his Soxa 6309-7040. I believe he said this watch is around 20 years old. He recently aquired it but it just didn't SING to him! Go figure! I fell in love with the watch the minute I saw it. I have been eyeing these for some time. Well, he tempted me so much I fell off the wagon. THAT DOITY SUMMABEECH! Anyway, it arrived yesterday. It came with a couple extra goodies also. A practically new Oyster bracelet, brand new black NATO, pepsi bezel and a zippered case. Well as soon as I took that bad boy out of the box it was sized and on my wrist. Other than some expected wabi this thing is SUHWEET!!! There isn't a major ding or scratch on this baby. The fit and finish is awesome and it's keeping great time. I love the cushion case with the crown at 4 o'clock. It feels fantastic on the wrist and I would safely say it's as comfortable as my Super Ocean.....and I'm damn partial to my SO let me tell ya. OK so enough of my rambling. Here's a few shots I took when I got home today. Thanks again Robert! This SUCKUH ROCKS! Thanks for looking!

Great watch Duff! hard to not like a 6309 with a great dial and hand set like this one! Enjoy it bro.

That's sweet

Congrats Duff

Very Cool Duff'ster!

Is that DOC guy ok to deal with?

Hard to believe that thing is 20 years old!

Congrats to ya both!

Dealin with that Doc Dude was PERFECTAMUNDO!!! He's so cool he should be huggin trees!!!!! THAT'S HOW FREAKIN COOL HE IS!!!!

DUFF, DUFF, thought you didnt have the coin!! You just threw my off track before i jumped on it!! Glad the watch stayed in the family and since you are such a seiko fanboy now maybe you need to sell the breitling!!

put the pepsi bezel back on it! you damn harley everything has got to be black!

Glad you like it Duff. It is from December 1984 as best I can figure it based on the caseback.

Very nice photos!

Wear it in great health

1976 - 1988 Cal. 6309 150m divers 6309 gallery

Models: Models with big cushion cases: 6309-7040 (all have big cushion cases and black bezels, though some have seen 6309-704X divers with blue-and-red bezels) 6309-7049 Models with slimmed-down case: 6309-7290 (start of the use of slimmed-down cases, black-bezel version) 6309-7290 with "17 JEWELS" on dial (Japan-made version, with black bezel) 6309-729A (identical to 6309-7290 except with blue and red bezel) 6309-729A with "17 JEWELS" on dial (Japan-made version, with blue and red bezel) 6309-729B? (very rare model, with slimmed-down case and orange dial) Details: The 6309 divers replaced the 6105 as the standard models of 150m divers. The 6309s were marketed outside of Japan while a version using the 6306 movement was sold only in Japan (but for a relatively short 5 years). The cal. 6309 movement is a successor of the 6105. It has 17J and runs at 21,600 bph. It's non-hacking and has a quickset day/date calendar mechanism. Like the 6105, there are 2 series of 6309 divers. The earlier versions -- 6309-7040 and 6309-7049 -- are housed in big cushion cases and have round markers. The later versions -- 6309-7290 and 6309-729A/729B -- have slimmed-down cases and rectangular markers (which make them very similar to the current SKX007/173 models). While the earlier 6105 divers used the "turn and lock" crowns, the 6309 crowns are all screw-down. The 6309 divers seem to all have bi-directional non-locking bezels. Some people have asked how the 6309-7049 and 6309-7040 differ. The consensus among S&C Forum collectors is that there's no difference between the 6309-7040 and 6309-7049 models. John Davis/ei8hthoms explained that the last digit of the case number indicates a regional code used for marketing (9 means N. America and 0 means elsewhere). Mr. Tokunaga, the designer of many of Seiko's diver watches, has provided some valuable historical info about the 6309/6306 divers here. The 6309 and its brother the 6306 were both put into production in 1976 -- the cal. 6309 movement was designed first (and serves as the base caliber for the 63 series of movements), but the 6306 diver was put into production "slightly first," before the 6309. He also included a scan of the original specification drawing for the 6309/6306 divers as well as promotional pics of the 6309 and 6306 watches from early Seiko catalogs. For a comparison of the details of the 6309-7040 and 6309-729A with lots of pics, check out Mark Skorji's post here. There are many anecdotes of folks who have put their 6309s to the torture test. NDT34321 writes: <blockquote> I've come out of lurking mode to present my version of an extreme torture test on the 6309-7049 150mm diver... this watch spent over 1100 hours underwater...I was a contract diver who worn the Sekio as a good luck piece....not a part of my working system....I had made a 4" rubber band cover out of a leg tourniquet to fit over the watch...pipelay barge or dredge or jet barge divers and Non Destructive Testng divers don't wear watches....strange?...Not really..the limited visiablity conditions where my type of diving takes place were river bottoms and mid harbors(the sekio was there)in 76 Boston Harbor USA had 12' of overburden above harbor floor(the 6309 was there)...biopsy (coreing sampling) a bridge spanning the Mississippi.. easy current.. no visibility (the sekio was there)torque valve on the hydraulic machine slammed my wrist into a piling...(the seiko was there)I add that I did wear a 50cm depth gauge at all times..the incident broke a bone in my wrist it moved the bezel to one side..new bezel and crystal... the watch was find... destroyed my GG..the Seiko had 5 years of this real time torture test... I also played in my Sekio..this was a 24hr watch...the watch has been restored now by IWW... Jack related not a spect of rust on the movement... it is still my everyday watch though its diving days are over...so when a watch is nominated as one of the most robust and enduring divers... with a strong record to prove by....I believe my unintentional real life torture test on my 6309 speaks well of the watch. </blockquote> The 6309 divers (like the 6105s before them) were extremely popular among the military. Read the annecdotes here: "17 Year Long Torture Test, Seiko 6309." Ed Harris wore a 6309-704x in the 1989 movie "The Abyss." In this 1983 photo, Mick Jagger is wearing a 6309-704x.

cali kid wrote:

DUFF, DUFF, thought you didnt have the coin!! You just threw my off track before i jumped on it!! Glad the watch stayed in the family and since you are such a seiko fanboy now maybe you need to sell the breitling!!

As for the coin, let's just say Doc made me an offer I couldn't refuse. As for selling the Breitling, COME TO YOUR SENSES MAN!!!

cali kid wrote:

put the pepsi bezel back on it! you damn harley riders have to have everything black!

That's right hot shot ALL BLACK!!! The only color that goes with BLACK is ORANGE Buddy!!!! And don't you forget it either!!!!

TikkTakk wrote:

That's sweet

Congrats Duff

Thanks Silje! Great to see you! (HOT CHICK IN THE ROOM!!!)

i'm going to send you a damn orange bezel for the watch!

Nice Soxa snag!! Looks great on the bracelet. Amazing things those 6309's...tons of them out there, all 20-30 years old and running strong. Seiko kicked @$$ with that one!

Wowee Duff ! Great watch sir ! CONGRATULATIONS on getting
one of Doc's watches ! I think these watches are FANTASTIC all the
way around. Really like that bezel !!! Flawless dial, markers and
the case shape is EXCELLENT ! What's EXTRA impressive imho is that
the watch is 20 years old ! Doc keeps his watches in amazing shape
I think ! Now it's yours and I know it's found a good home ! Once again,
NICE pick up, I'm glad you got this one Duff ! ENJOY !!!!

Flat out nice watch!! Congrats Duff......

Great pick-up by you Duff! Congratulations!

Doc's plan is working out well...he will have his Seiko Army up and ready to fight the mighty Swiss Army storm troopers

Nice watch.has some character.

Congratz Duff and you are right about that: "The only color that goes with BLACK is ORANGE!!!!"

Wow, very cool Duff!! You got a winner there my friend.
Perry

Great looking watch Duffster....Enjoy that bad boy and great review by the way..

I changed the shoes and socks on my Soxa the other day cuz Trevor said to quit bein such a Harley Dude. Well, you can take the Harley from the dude but you can't take the dude from the Harley. Anyway, I put changed it up for Trevor and actually..... (Oh how I hate saying this) .......I like it! Here's what it looks like with the pepsi bezel and black NATO!

Im late to the party, but congrats on a sweet classic Duff!
Those old Seikos are just ubercool if you ask me. I prefer it with the black bezel though, like Henry Ford said: "You can have any colour you want, as long as it`s black"
Back in Black, baby!

andrema wrote:

Doc's plan is working out well...he will have his Seiko Army up and ready to fight the mighty Swiss Army storm troopers

By the way, I went to work on the brushed area of the case with my scotch-brite and scratch pen and now she's even MORE AWESOME!

Nice, Duff! I like it even better with the Pepsi, but looks awesome any way you combo it!

ENJOY IT!

looks good with the new strap!

barnbuilder1 wrote:

Great watch Duff! hard to not like a 6309 with a great dial and hand set like this one! Enjoy it bro.

Brother, I completely missed this thread. What an incredible looking watch!! I love divers, especially retro divers and this is one sweet looking watch. It is awesome and I'm sure will have a permanent fixture in the rotation! CONGRATS!!

Hey I missed this thread along with 1000 others but that is a cool piece and even better with that pepsi bezel. Congrats on that piece and how many does that make in your collection now!!! Trevor didn't say fanboy I know. How many Duff? I have noticed a change but I couldn't put my finger on it until now. I will PM you about the Breitling.

Dale wrote:

Hey I missed this thread along with 1000 others but that is a cool piece and even better with that pepsi bezel. Congrats on that piece and how many does that make in your collection now!!! Trevor didn't say fanboy I know. How many Duff? I have noticed a change but I couldn't put my finger on it until now. I will PM you about the Breitling.

Yeah, PM me all you want about the Breitling. You'll have to pry that baby out of my dead rigor-mortised hands!!!