Seiko 7015-8000
When two life interests crossover it can have a significant impact, and my latest watch, with its motor racing connections, is quiet remarkable.
Let me explain. With some 50 watches in my collection, it is normal for me to put on a different watch each day. I do this to keep each watch relevant, and because I just love the luxury of having a choice of significant watches. But this Seiko Speed Timer 7015-8000 has now been on my wrist for ten days straight. That is most unusual.
The reason for its longevity is twofold. Firstly, it is a significant watch in its own right (with a couple of tricks up its sleeve). And secondly it is a watch connected with motor racing/rallying which has been a passion since I discovered the joys of motor vehicles in the 60’s. I had an unnatural interest in all things automotive and could reel of the engine size, and power rating of most cars with a sporty pretension available at that time.
Rallying was a key interest, and probably one of the most memorable cars I have owned was a Morris Cooper S. The Morris Cooper S won many international rallies, and in Australia famously won the Bathurst Mountain Race outright in 1966. On my study wall is a photo of a Morris Cooper S cheekily hounding a monstrous Dodge V8 through the cutting at Bathurst, eventually passing the much more powerful car, but then giving up the lead again on the main straight. I mention this bit of automotive nerdiness only to illustrate the key life experience connection I have with a watch that was inspired by motor racing and rallying.
The 1960’s and 70’s was a particularly productive time for tool watches, and chronographs like the Speed Timer were at the forefront. They were used to time a whole range of activities including races, underwater dives, industrial processes, and so on.
Professional motor racing and rallying involved dedicated stop watches that were positioned on the dash of the car. However, Chronograph watches worn on the wrist were also important. The first chronograph watch dedicated to motor rallying was reportedly the Heuer Carrera. Jack Heuer of TAG Heuer fame was apparently inspired by The Mexican rally Carrera Panamericana when he created this chronograph, first launched in 1963. He was using a style of mechanism (the chronograph) that dated back to the 1930’s and he introduced a 0-100 timing scale to the dial.
So, what about the watch featured in this article? – A Seiko Speed Timer 7015-8000. Seiko’s 6138/6139 series chronographs were developed in the late 1960’s from their Suwa factory. Seiko’s Daini factory also produced a chronograph series, the 7015/7017 and theirs brought a significant advantage to the table. The Daini 7015/7017 were much thinner than previous chronographs. In fact they were the thinnest column wheel, vertical clutch chronograph available through much of the 70’s before the Swiss once again claimed the mantle. It was significantly thinner than its 613X series cousins from Suwa. It is an automatic movement, beats at 21,600bph and does not hack. Interestingly the day is fast forwarded by pushing in the crown, and the date is fast forwarded by pulling the crown out to the first stop and turning.
The Speed Timer 7015-8000 has a couple of unique features. It has a 0-100 scale as the timing method, (just like the Heuer Carrera), and a “flyback” mechanism. In assessing the significance of this watch perhaps we should first look at how a chronograph is used.
I failed mathematics at high school and that is my excuse for struggling with scales on watch bezels. The chronograph in this article has a timing feature that seems to confuse many, but when you know the background, makes a lot of sense, and it is pretty rare.
“I don’t even understand the chronograph function”
- A quote from a Youtube reviewer of the Zenith Chronomaster Sport.
Understanding a chronograph’s function is not a prerequisite to owning one of these delightful watches, and I am going to suggest that a lot of owners don’t go beyond the simple stopwatch function during their ownership. You press one button to start the Chronograph hand, another button to stop the Chronograph, and then read the elapsed time in between. Chronographs can do a lot more, but accurate time-keeping, and the occasional stopwatch reading, is enough for most.
In this photo one of the watches has a 0-100 scale, and the other, a 0-10 scale. What is that all about? The use of a 0-10 scale confused a Time & Tide Watches reviewer, when he reviewed a Zenith Chronomaster Sport, considered by many to be a viable alternative to the famous Rolex Daytona. He didn’t really give an answer to that confusion, at least in that video.
The Seiko Sports Speed-Timer 7015 featured in this article, has 0-100 on the bezel, and that totally confused one blog reviewer who described it as a “useless” feature and concluded that the bezel must have a “hidden purpose.” Ironically it was a comment on that blog reviewer’s post that seems to explain the reason for a 0-100 scale rather than a Tachymeter or 0-60 scale.
Many chronographs use the 0-60 scale, which seems to make sense because there are 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour. But in many of our general daily activities we use an intuitively simpler measure - Decimals. The word “Decimal” really means “based on 10” (from the Latin decima: part of 10). Multiples of 10 are just so easy to understand, multiply, add, and they make percentage calculations very easy. Decimal currency is a great example of the benefits of using multiples of ten.
Here is the comment to the blog reviewers’ article that explains the merits of a 0-100 scale, and its connection with motor rallying –
MikeC - APRIL 16, 2018 AT 6:24 AM
“1/100ths of a minute are useful to two sorts of people: those timing industrial processes particularly Time & Motion studies and rally navigators in (typically US) Time-Speed-Distance rallies. For most of the population adding multiples of 1/100ths and converting to whole minutes is easier than adding 1/60ths and converting to minutes.
Overall, a lot more useful than the common “Tachymetre”. My rallying career many years ago was all timed in seconds not 1/100ths, so I wore a plain seconds chronograph.”
So, the point seems to be that adding decimals is easier than adding minutes and seconds, and that certainly makes sense to my non-mathematical brain. The photo below shows a reproduction of Jack Heuer’s original motor sport chronograph. Note that this watch uses a 0-100 scale for timing. There are other examples of using decimal scales including the highly regarded Zenith Chronomaster Sport where the chrono hand completes a circuit every 10 seconds.
Another feature of the Seiko 7015 that would have assisted with motor rallying was its “flyback” operation. With a normal chronograph you stop a timing session by pushing a button, and then press another button to reset the Chronograph hand. You then press the start button again for a new session. With a “flyback” mechanism you press just one button to reset the chronograph and it restarts immediately. Moving from one timing session to another is quicker – every second counts.
I have read in reviews that there are few watch operations so satisfying as clicking the button to start timing on a mechanical chronograph. Certainly, this watch exhibits a wonderful tactile feel as the timing operation is started, stopped and reset. The sensation is akin to shifting the gear lever in a manual gearbox motor vehicle. There is no mistaking that the mechanics have been engaged and the function completed.
A watch that uses a unique bezel scale, geared to 70’s motor car rallying, is definitely a welcome addition to my watch collection, and has earned its extraordinary wrist time. This is a significant Seiko watch with great historical connections.
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