SEIKO 6105-8000 Refurbishment
When you talk to people about classic vintage dive watches there is one that always gets a mention. The Seiko 6105. It came in 2 versions, the later and more widely recognized 6105-8110 also known as the Captain Willard. This name came about because in the movie Apocalypse Now, Martin Sheen played a character called Captain Willard and for historical accuracy he wore a 6106-8110. The watch was a favorite of American GIs during the Vietnam War. It is instantly recognizable because of its 4 o’clock crown and distinctive crown guard profile. I used to own one but regrettably sold it in 2016, for no other reason than I didn’t wear it much! Production dates are not exact but it is believed to have been produced from around 1970 until 1976.
Then there is the less recognizable and earlier version: the 6105-8000. Similar in many ways but the differences include a bidirectional bezel with no click. A non screwdown / locking crown and no crown guard. The case was more symmetrical. Again production dates are not exact but it is believed the 6105-8000 began production in 1968. Mine is pictured below. Using the serial number on the case back and the Seiko date calculator, it is dated to April 1968.
Just as a piece of information you may find interesting. As many people reading this will know, I’m the DOXA guy. I have owned numerous vintage DOXA SUBs over the years and trying to date them or make sense of the serial numbers is Mission Impossible. Seikos on the other hand are a lesson for other manufacturers. Using the movement number and serial number you can place the watch production date to the month and year. Also you can tell which market the watch was made for. In this case the 6105s were available with the following model numbers: 6105-8000 and 6105-8009 same for the 8110 and 8119. Identical watches in every way. The difference being the 8009 was for the US market, the 8000 for the rest of the world. Same for the 8110/9. There were some other differences in wording on the dials and casebacks. Some said Proof, some said Resist which is why in for sale listings you may see: “Proof/Proof,” “Proof/Resist,” and “Resist/Resist” classifications.
So here’s the background on my 6105-8000. My Captain Willard, 6105-8110 ran terribly from the day I bought it sometime back around 2009, if I remember right. Rather than have it serviced I bought the 6105-8000 as a movement donor. The movement was running very accurately but I just never got round to swapping it into the 8110. Then I sold the 8110 so the 8000 just sat in a box all this time. It got no love because it looked in a bad state. Recently I pulled it out had a good look. First off, the crown is not original to the 6105-8000. It is non screwdown as it should be but I think it is from a Seiko 6119. The caseback is well worn and the crystal is some thin plastic thing. The dial looked completely fake and has a black date wheel and the movement is a 6106B. I was convinced it was a fake but had a genuine movement so I was going to junk it and just sell the movement.
The movement number confused me at first because the watch is a 6105 which is the name of the movement. The earlier 8000/9 used the 6105A which was non hacking and then the hacking 6105B which was also used in the later 6105-8110/9. I was sure that the movement was going to be a 6105 because that’s why I bought it. Of course there was always the chance that this was an ‘old school fix’ where the watchmaker would drop in a 6106 (or even a 6306) instead of servicing a broken 6105 movement. Noah from TheWatchSite gave me the following information:
So I got to thinking. Assuming the case, caseback and bezel are original, the bezel insert could possibly be original. It is actually more of a grey color similar to the faded Rolex Submariner ghost bezel inserts. The movement is mostly a 6105A and probably original to the watch from 1968.
The date wheel is a retrofit as I don’t believe any 6105 came with a black date wheel. As for the hands. My guess was they are original.
What made me think the dial was fake was there seemed to be no lettering at the 6 o’clock position, but when I removed the movement and gently cleaned some of the gunk, I could see very faint Japan 6105 on one side and something on the other. It also looked like some ghosting at the Automatic and Water150m lettering. What’s weird is that after the 150m there should be the word Proof or Resist, but it looks like someone had written Jewels or part of it.
I began to think that maybe it was an original dial that has been refinished, well refinished is probably too kind of a word.
So that then got me thinking about trying to restore it in some way. At a minimum I could just replace the crystal and wear it as my nod to the 1960 Seikos. Of course I could go further and try to find an original crown and date wheel but it looks like they are pretty darned hard to find and bloody expensive if you can. Of course I could also replace the dial and hands with some replacement parts and tart the old girl up nicely.
I have a number of old Seikos and the more I looked at this one the more I thought about what a nice watch it was and just how cool many of the vintage Seikos were.
I ordered a new mineral glass crystal, correct crown, aftermarket dial and hands and bezel insert. I ordered a NOS 6117 date wheel. I assumed anything beginning with a 6 would fit. The teeth looked to be in the right position for a 4’oclock crown so I took a chance. I already had a gasket set. It would take a couple of weeks for everything to arrive but I thought I’d start pulling the watch apart to see how things were. The bezel was quite difficult to remove. As expected, unlike the 6105-8110 there was no click ball and spring.
The crystal was next. It was a thin plastic affair. Not unexpectedly everything was pretty gunked up but it all came off fairly easily. The window on the bezel insert was still intact. The lume was just completely shot.
Here’s the crystal again with what at first glance looked like a normal crystal gasket
But it wasn’t. It is actually a metal one (aluminium I assume) with a lip / groove on the crystal side and flat on the case side.
I’ve used soft metal gaskets before to ensure tight gas seals, but on engines not watches. I’d never seen anything this before.
Everything cleaned up pretty well. Few dings and some minor corrosion but not bad. Worst corrosion was on the sealing face of the caseback. Good old differential aeration corrosion.
Unfortunately the dial and hands were pretty much knackered and the retaining ring / spacer was cracked. 
The dial is definitely original. The 84 number on it indicates 4th month of 8th year of the decade: 1968. I’d love to know the story behind the repaint. It didn’t make sense to use the word Jewels instead of Proof or Resist.
The bits arrived so it was time for a rebuild. First thing was to change the date wheel. The gamble worked out perfectly. It slotted right in and works just like it should.
The dial spacer was broken and pretty gunky. Cleaned it up and did a repair on it.
I was able to get a dial with 6105 – 8000 instead of the 6105 – 8119 which seems to be more common. The extra bonus is that the lume is white rather than the awful green stuff I’ve seen on other aftermarket dials. Very happy how it looks.
I bought some aftermarket hands because the lume and red dot on the old ones were shagged. Of course I didn’t know that there were long hand and short hand versions of the seconds hand. The ones I bought are short hand. Suxs!!!! I decided to relume and repaint the original hands and see what they would look like. They actually don’t look as bad as they do in the image and I’d prefer to use them if possible. I also received the new mineral glass crystal. Light case dressing and it was next to go in.
So I relumed the hands and had some old DOXA bezel paint to repaint the sweep hand
Then it was put the new mineral glass crystal in. Turns out that strange aluminum ring wasn’t something used with the replacement plastic crystal, it was an integral part of the crystal assembly. Without it the gasket was too loose and the crystal moved. With it and the gasket on top of it sitting in the channel in the ring, everything locked down perfectly.
Of course that now left me with the dilemma, do I use the original hands or the nice new bright shiney aftermarket. In the end I went with the originals. One thing I have noticed the internal dome on the crystal makes it a bollox to photograph the watch and it reflects all the lights from any angle.
I knew the movement was running pretty strong and accurate but I wanted to time it and adjust if necessary. It really wasn’t needed in the end but a very small tweak and the image below shows the result. More than good enough for the girls I know 🙂
And then there was one final dilemma. Nice new aftermarket insert.
or original faded ghost bezel insert.
If the original crown which has gone missing somewhere in Europe ever turns up then it really would only be the dial and crystal which isn’t original Seiko stuff.
