Affordable Vintage: the Ultra-Thin ’60s Seiko Goldfeather

My preferred watches tend to lean toward the dressier side. The simplicity of classic dress watches have always been a breath of fresh air to me, having everything a watch needs and nothing it does not. Plus, having so little elements one can play with in terms of the design makes designing a dress watch an art all of its own.

One of the features of a proper dress watch that is often taken for granted is its thickness, or rather, its thinness. Imagine a slim sliver of a watch hiding within a well-tailored shirt from Savile Row, ever ready to present what it was made to do when called upon, which is to simply tell the time. Yet as simple as the task might be, to be able to do this via a beating mechanical heart containing hundreds of minuscule parts—arranged in an efficient manner with super-tight tolerances—rather than with a quartz movement makes it a micro marvel of engineering all by itself!

Today, we’re going to take a look at what is possibly the dressiest watch Seiko ever produced, and it’s one with tons of vintage cred to boast of. Manufactured only for a short span of time between 1960 and 1966, the Seiko Goldfeather utilized a movement that was and still is Seiko’s thinnest three-handed, manually-wound caliber—the 60M. (It’s not the thinnest Japanese caliber of its kind–that title belongs to the Citizen Diamond Flake–but that’s a story for another time.)

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Another clue to the movement’s pedigree are the individually serialized movement plates, something that is generally indicative of some form of testing or extra care being taken before being cased. Perhaps it allowed Seiko an easier way of tracking servicing history if and when the watch was ever returned for service.

As per the traditional style of construction, the large balance wheel comes seated on a balance bridge rather than a balance cock, promising additional stability to the balance wheel. This is similar to how Rolex constructs their bullet-proof movements.The 60M came in two jewel variants—17 and 25—and it beat at a leisurely 18,000 bph, which is a typical beat-rate for its generation.

Despite its incredible thinness, the caliber had a diameter of approximately 27mm, which lent itself to watches that were relatively large for that era. My own model featured here clocks in at 35mm.

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Case

Most Goldfeathers were gold-filled, though some rarer examples feature solid gold or stainless steel cases.  My own example is 14K gold-filled and save for some tarnishing at the lugs and crown, it has largely withstood the test of time.Being wide and flat, the watch is certainly very wearable today, and arguably it is far more wearable than other dress watches from its generation that came under 35mm. It also certainly helps that the bezel is exceedingly thin, which, when coupled together with the radiant silver dial, make the watch wear bigger.

What’s Not to Like?

At this point, it sounds like I’m completely smitten with this watch. But like many older watches, this one is not without its issues. The first problem I had with the watch was that the crystal (I never did determine whether it was original or aftermarket) was so badly scratched and cracked, I had to find a replacement. The first crystal I sourced for it was so domed it nearly doubled the height of the entire watch! That’s a no-go. The second crystal I sourced was domed but it lacked the appropriate clearance. It pressed down on the seconds hand, causing the entire watch to seize up. I eventually found one that fit, but it was a bit of rial and error.

The second issue was the case itself.  Unlike a simple stainless steel case, which can be lightly polished, there’s no way to polish a gold-filled case. The same for parts where it has already been tarnished. There’s absolutely no way to restore it short of re-plating the entire case! Thankfully, much of the tarnishing was localized at the lugs and crown. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting.

All in all, I’m actually very pleased with having a fairly good example of a Goldfeather, which is undoubtedly one of the milestones in Seiko’s watchmaking history. So, what do these run? Examples can be sourced for around $200-300, which makes the Goldfeather a tremendous buy, as most vintage Seikos usually are! If you’re in the market for something vintage, something thin, and something that won’t break the bank, the Seiko Goldfeather might be right up your alley.