I Bought a Seiko 5 From India (Vintage) | Is it a Frankenwatch? 

You've got scammed! Send it back and ask for a proper frankenwatch.

When watches were sent for repair they would of been sent to Pradesh in India. Their are still a lot of Seiko spare parts in and around that region. So you have more than likely purchased a mongrel watch with genuine Seiko parts. Nice watch and very nice price. Well done keep the 5 alive.

I am an Indian, and I wanted to buy from etsy India, but the sellers mentioned that the 7009 mechanism is authentic rest of the parts and straps are sourced from different manufacturers they dont say those parts are of authentic seiko. I would like to have a sunburst red dial seiko 5, thinking of going to local market where I can get different parts from different shop and then assemble it in a different watch repair shop.

I am convinced that today's watches will be considered overbearing and out of style in a few years. They are too big.

But isn’t a standard watch just a lot of mass produced parts put together anyway. If it looks clean and cool and cost 20 bucks, I don’t see an issue. It’s better than buying my wife another pair of shoes.

I bought a Seiko 5 on eBay from India last year, which looks quite similar to this one you are reviewing, and now I know how to adjust the say of the week, which I had not understood previously. thanks.

That's a great score for $21! A piece of advice from someone who has bought quite a few 70's and 80's watches, especially if you're going to use the original band. As you found out they tend to be pretty dirty. Buy a small ultrasonic cleaner and get a tool to remove the brand. They're inexpensive and they work really really well. You'll be blown away by how much grime and dirt (and blood or worse, who knows) that comes off of it. I couldn't believe how filthy the first one I ever did was, now the first thing I do when I get one is take the movement out and the bracelet all apart and clean it. Obviously a lot of people wouldn't want to take the watch apart but the band is pretty easy to get off and that's where most of the disgusting stuff is.

Hey Oleg, hey Bond! I have had hit and miss luck with this. I’ve gotten 2 Seikos and an Orient that were genuine 80’s and in great condition. I’ve also gotten 4 Frankenwatches that were seiko’s and Citizen. But for under $20, I got some fun well working watches. I really use the heck out of the real ones and they are my favorites. Great video! Have a good one!

Wow, that is one damn pretty looking watch! The sizing looks nice on you and I would love to own one like it!

I like it. I am eagerly awaiting two fives from India myself. Very cute. Can't wait to see what turns up... Thanks for the review:)

People tend to underestimate Seiko 5s because of their low prices but in fact, those watches are really good quality watches, some of them last up to 30 years without service and with a proper care and service every 5 years they can last for generations. Tes, their crystal isn't saphire but who cares it costs about 10€ to change the crystal, their bracelets are not full metal but who cares its not like they are gonna brake. Seiko 5s are still much better than majority of 300+€ quartz watches lol. If you are put down by its price just put the saphire crystal, put some high quality leather band or full metal bracelet if you can find it and BANG there you have 400€ automatic watch on your wrist. Seriously, if Seiko 5s had saphire, full metal bracelets and at least 100 meters WR they would cost much much more.

Great watch! Typical 70’s Seiko 5. These Seiko 5’s are great watches. Thx for the review 😁

I bought a similar one for 17euro from India. Has a 7009 movement with the funky push to change day mechanism. Not fashionable but keeps decent time and will look great when I change dial and brush the polished case! I agree the metal bracelet was crazy dirty and mine came without gaskets (and the movement wobels a bit inside the case). But in general I'm happy with the purchase!

I have bought about 30 of these India watches. I am new to this hobby, about 3 months, so judge accordingly. Of the 30, about 20 were quartz. Most were 40mm to 45mm which I assume are relatively late models. Everyone of them looked brand new, new crystal, new case, new dial, new hands, new strap, and all were citizen brand costing me $10 to $20 each. One was dead on arrival, and a new battery did not fix the watch. The rest work great, and are keeping good time. Of the 30, about 10 were mechanical. I have not had time to check them out thoroughly, but one I did, and it has multiple problems, and the seller is offering me to choose another for free to replace it. One other mechanical from a different dealer, was not the watch in the photos, but similar with many defects and blemishes. My overall opinion is, the quartz models that look brand new are good. The mechanical models are a lot riskier, and as you mentioned a lot dirtier.

Hi Oleg, hi Bond :) Great vintage Seiko for a great price I think. And apropos Frankenwatches: I've seen some offers from India that were clearly made of more than one watch - and nobody tried to hide that -, and I've really loved them! What a pity you've got an original one ;) Happy Halloween and stay safe ;)

Wow you just saved me I was tryna figure out how to change the date , I thought my watch was broken 😧

thats a good looking watch ! like that retro look to it. i im gonna look on ebay see if i can find a watch like that :) thanks for the review !

Subscribed !!! Loved the video

I was going to buy one of these off eBay but got scared about it being fake. I'm glad you did these review because I may just pull the trigger now. Thank you.

I bought a 5 with the Seiko 6309 movement. Crown at 3. Keeps good time. Domed acrylic. £15 from India. What a bargain. I love it.

Happy Halloween to you also! Thanks for appropriate review! Even though it's still a fairly nice watch and not a Franken watch! :D

I just got the same one like yours it’s really a good watch 👍

Happy Halloween to You too!! I don't even with Seiko, but if this Seiko is with genuine parts, You win the lottery :D

Wait a minute: from what I know a 'Frankenwatch' is an assembled watch with original parts that are not necessarily corresponding to the same exact model or serial number, unless your intention was to buy a false Seiko watch. It seems to me you do actually have got an honest Franken Seiko 5 with just reassembled original Seiko 5 parts.

I have Seiko 5 (7009-602RR model) dia. 35 mm, bought in 1995 and running well until today.

It's a Franken watch. The mechanism is suspiciously shiny and no spots. This is impossible for a 35-45 years old watch. One of the things you can also do iw to compare serial numbers on the case and inside. But even if so, don't let that stop you enjoy the watch, it's great.

Oleg, I really would like to know how can you do that... What a lucky guy! hahahaha But serious... What do you think about make a video showing some tips to buy these vintage watches? You always buy great watches for a nice price. =) Congrats again, my friend. Just waiting for the next video.

The dial is a replacement dial ☺️ . The movement is a 17j one while the dial says 21j. Don't worry I have a similar condition watch 😂 .

You can get a similar watch, brand new, for 62 US dollars: an Orient Tristar made in Manaos, Brazil. If I had to choose between a new and one refurbished I would buy an Orient.

Im from India, and here there is a huge market for such vintage watches at very cheap prices. I my self have brought several Swiss made vintages from the 60s-70s, including Favre Leuba, Omegas and Titonis. Some of them are really good.

Dang it!! So sorry to hear that you got screwed out of a Franken-watch!! It really sucks when you put so much effort into getting what you hoped would be the perfect Franken-watch, and they go and send you the real thing!!! EGADS!!!! Where's the buyer protection when you need it??!! Well, thanks for taking one on the chin and powering through this review for us anyways :) My best to Bond!!!

I am always amazed at how you find these watches...what a great deal! Thanks for another great review Oleg :)

I bought one too, and mine is a true frankenseiko, is build from different seikos because their numbers match with different models, and the case has a nonexistent model probably this is a generic case with a fake number, but works pretty well and looks nice, I change their hands and put a leather strap keeping the spirit of a true "franken"! XD

Nice find for the price. I'll also say that the watch in itself is not a Frankenwatch. When you have a vintage Seiko in your hand/have good pictures of the caseback, try to Google the XXXX-XXXX number on the back. That could you give you a kind og idea if there are other watches like it. The dials can vary in this case. You got a nice dial that reminicents the "pie pan" design. The bracelet in it self looks like a real Seiko, I have seen plenty of Seikos with this bracelet. I remember buying a new Seiko Quartz in 1994 (many things happened to me this year, some which connects with the watch, therefore I remember clearly) with this particular bracelet. The design of the watch looked not much different from yours, so one can conclude that this design is timeless to a certain degree. I am not completely sure that Seiko ever made a clasp with "Seiko Japan" written on it - anyone please correct me if I'm wrong. Lately I bought a Citizen Frankenwatch from India, 10 dollars. It runs strong, maybe a bit small for todays standards, but good deal I think. I don't mind Frankenwatches, but what upsets me is these mass produced watches from India that has a new standard case and back, a old manual FHF or AS movement (which are abundant) and a new painted dial with Roamer, Titus, Cyma, Favre Leuba, and other middle-end brands from the 70's. These watches are as fake as a fake Rolex. I know that real 60 and 70's watches of those brands are not expensive, but still devaluated and hereby regarded lower than before. Well, again a long rant, everybody take care of your REAL or FRANKENS vintage watches in this price range. IMHO they are steals for the price. Looking forward to your next video.

Thank you for the video.I was about to buy a similar vintage Seiko on Ebay,but I have just one question.Are the bracelet links removable?

the glass is surprising clear

Thnx for the video

You were not scammed, it is a "legit" Frankenwatch!!! It is not a bad watch and like you said the dial, case, bracelet and movement seem to be original. Here is what's wrong with it. First the glass is flush with the metal ring around it and I bet it's real glass rather than acrylic (plain language: plastic). A vintage watch would have a slightly domed plastic top. The next tell is the crown which does not sit flush with the case, so probably replaced with a new stem and it doesn't fit perfectly. Both changes were made to make it more presentable, so nothing to complain about.The movement was probably cleaned and the case polished. Again, it's just good practice. Some dealers even regulate the movement. I recently bought two similar watches and both are keeping time at -4 and -8 sec/day. Pretty darn good! I also bought a real vintage Seiko automatic (not 5 but very similar) and it's off by 40 sec/day, as you'd expect from a watch that was never opened for service (you know it when the case lid is seized...). So, overall I feel that if you do your homework (definitely avoid the mickey mouse dials) then you can find excellent bargains from India. All the horror stories about a watch stopping in a day are most likely crapshoot that a smart buyer would not give more than a brief glance and move on to the next ebay listing. One thing I found about legit dealers from India is a relatively low rating around 95% instead of my usual expected rating of 99+. They're dealing with thousands of sales and slow shipping so I'd expect some not very satisfied buyers. Overall not a bad way to go if you know what you're doing, but that's true for anything in life... Enjoy the bargain!!!

Hello. Good deal for that price and it is still in nice condition. I have Seiko 5 6119-8450 from 1971 in excellent condition that keeps time really fine. Mine is around 40 mm. in diameter. With a Seiko you can not go wrong.

I bought two seiko watches from India and knew that I was taking a gamble with each watch only costing £16 and free shipping. One watch looks legitimate and I wear it a lot. The other watch from a different supplier was terrible so took it apart and junked the dial and movement kept the case and bought a new dial and just waiting on a new movement and hands so at least I will have a watch at the end up that I will wear.

Happy Halloween to you and Bond, Oleg! Next year, you can do a Michael Myers watch haha!

I have a seiko 5 but the crown doesn't sit all the way in. It sticks out 1 or 2mm. Is that normal?

Cool info beautiful watch

the link exactly same my full lume seiko 5 bought at 2000yrs 😂

It looks like the real McCoy to me, and a good buy considering it's potentially an original vintage Seiko and shipped from India. It's weird how watches from decades past just seem so small these days. I had watches of 34mm in days gone by and now they look like girls watches - oops , I better close that sexist door !!! :-) Happy Halloween Oleg & Bond and thanks again for an interesting tale and review.

I got almost the same as yours except the indices are in silver and uses the modern Seiko 5 ones. It’s a looker and I definitely don’t care it it’s a frankenwatch

Sounds like if it was rebuilt, you got one with all Seiko parts.

A good looking vintage seiko5

I did the Same last month firstly I was amazed it arrived then the fact it worked. all for £12 UK pounds delivered.

nice watch . I have one just like this in black dial .

I have seiko 5 automatic 6349-501A watch with muscat oman emplem in it. is it worthy??

I think there Seikos, that have been taken apart, polished and had the dial replaced

It's funny when I'm window shopping on ebay I play a game with myself and guess which watches I see are sold from India. I'm right every time.

Where do you get these in India. I’m from India and I can’t get any for less than 80 usd for used watches. New basic seiko models starts here at 300 usd

Greetings, Can you share it's lug to lug width / strap width ?

Almost four years late for the Hallowen party, but I've now ordered from India a Seiko model which I'm about sure doesn't even exist, so the expectation will be very high to get a real Frankenwatch. We'll see in a few weeks hopefully. On the other hand I'm not a Seikoist, so I dunno: Has anybody ever heard of a Seiko 6319-8200? Me neither. 😉

Well done getting a real one whilst playing the Indian lottery. And where's your Scottish accent gone lol

Does anyone think it’s worth buying vintage watches from Etsy? I’ve seen a couple nice looking Ones from Russian sellers but I’m afraid that they will have a switched out movement.

I just bought this watch off of Facebook, but with a blue textured dial

Hey Oleg - Just caught Hunter Killer, the latest US/Russia Submarine intrigue flick. Entertaining, but of course does not rival Red October. The Captain of the US Sub had a diver that I'm trying to ID. Some interesting Russian footage. I bought a few Parker Pens (Amazon) manufactured in India and they appear to be legit. Regards, JP

I would say most are legit. Unless they have a nice new dial. I got about 15 of them from India. All appear correct and nice.

I got watched from India, where they say that the dial is not original to the watch. They state the 8200 movement or a ST96 movement (Fortis, Oris, other faces) with a stated swiss made watch. The expectations are not out of proportions.

I love the 35mm watches..

looks legit 👌

Interesting watch. Really like the Orient today. PS your wife will get the shoes regardless (if she is anything like my wife).

I see these seikos by the hundreds. It seems like you either get lucky or you don't. The ones that look new are frankens for sure. But honestly. For $20, who cares. You like it? It looks good? It has a good movement? Who cares at that price. Plus usually they are original dials. Which when spending $20 on a vintage Seiko. And original dial and movement is all I can ask

Thats surprising that you got sent a real Seiko. I just ordered one for £18 just to see what the fakes are like but now it looks like I might actually get what the listing says, which tbh I wouldn't mind

My Indian seiko wasn’t water resistant at all. Just hand washing got moisture in there

But rotor is missing with the markings of seiko

Indian vendors are hit or miss.

It's a shock.... But I think most of these cheap seiko autos have truly somehow ended up in the hands of Indian watch mechs.... Who have revitalised them and are selling them on ebay for less than 50gbp for really nice... Even sports and divers editions. They show detailed pics with serials matching on all the parts. I'm about to buy a few that I like the look of. Not sure what the story is here... But I hear a lot of these watches were awarded to Japanese workers in the 60s to the 80s...railwaymen, factory guys, for long service or just excellent work.... And they are good watches..... I don't know. There is definitely a story here, and I think any watch guys would be crazy not to pick up a few models they like (and there are some very handsome ones).. While they last. I'm getting into them anyway!

Oleg, where do you keep all this watches?

Alot of people outside India dont know that seiko watch they recieve is not a franken.Reason India use to manufacture some of those back then seikos were cheap in India cheaper than Hmt and alot of people in india dont actually care if they have seiko or not other than watch collector hmt is much of a collector item here because of the mechanical winding. also early citizen watches were famous it was everyday watch that everyone use to wear hmt collaborated with seiko and citizen for part,later they had their own setup. But yeah next time try getting your hands on hmt -rajat,pilot,janta those are collector item and people are willing to pay more than seiko 5s and 6s if its legit hmt.

😅i like the bracelet the most ... rather intact for such an aged one👍🏼

I got a Ricoh r31 that works fine from India.

That looks like Franken-frankenwatch and if it's not genuine it's still worth what you paid for it. Happy Halloween

in india these watches have a market watchmakers buy and restore old watches at a very big rate i have a seiko actus from 1972 myself

I just bought a Franken citizen from India. Really, really bad. It would not run when it arrived (I even changed the battery) so I complained to the seller and said I needed to get my money back. But to ship back to India would take more money than the watch was worth so a asked the Seller to pay for it. They knew they couldn't afford that. So I compromised and let the buyer off the hook by taking half the money back ($5). I kept the watch strap and threw the watch away. It was a quartz watch, but the movement was the tiniest quartz movement I'd ever seen. Obviously a Chinese movement with no Citizen logo on it anywhere. So long story short. Get your next Franken watch from me. I seem to really know how to pick them. Brie says hi to Bond!

It is original bracelet from Seiko. 7019 is 21 jules movement.....

Thats a nice vintage 5 whether its a Franky or not..

When you are upset to get a genuine vintage seiko for $20 XD. Well I'll tell you what Oleg, I'll order one from India and if I get a frankenwatch we can trade and you'll have it for next Halloween. Happy Halloween hope it was a great day for you

the best watch

Hello bro! Did you paid any custom or import duty charges to ship to you home country from:INDIA from ebay ?

Honestly you don't find a lot of frankenwatches at this price point. Usually it's the rare models that are faked.

Most vintage car sales magazines are full of Frankenstein cars... I would rather have a vintage car where all the numbers match... The Frankenstein cars are hyped too much in magazines and videos... I get the modified for performance aspect, but when a Frankenstein car is presented as that year's model, is kinda a joke... I rather enjoy a Rat Rod more as it's presented as to what it really is...

I bought a Seiko too from India and was really surprised... It's so nice and cheap I will better if it was fake. I don't understand. The watch purchase broke my brain.

I bought a few three years ago. One could be real, but never serviced and the other looks like a fake (crown at 3 o'clock) that is identical to the Orients that you see. Crystal on both are shoddy replacements and the straps are hacked up to fit. They were only $7 each, so not a huge loss.

Sorry I bought the same model, but it works like the original Seiko, I'm asking the community if this model real exists, with those circles in silver and gold deal, just like this one, because I can't see any review about that... and I don't know if it is real or not Thank you in advance

You could have centered the links better so the clasp would be centered. I have bought a few seikos from just one vendor on ebay and everyone I have got have been real. I have never paid more than 20 bucks shipped for them.

Does that make it a Feiko?

It is weird how everyone was saying your reviewed Rolex Hulk was fake and your Mumbai Special Seiko is real... Next they will be saying Bond is not a dog, but a Rooster...

I got a seiko 5 with an inter grated bracelet with that same movement for £10 so crazy 😜

Hey I have a vintage Seiko 5 automatic

Yup! that is a Genuine Seiko from 70s. I have something very similar to yours. Changing days by pressing the crown is very typical thing for that time period. $20??? yes. probably that would be the going rate now. it is not something special nor collectible watch, but from India to Canada shipping included? that is a pretty good deal even though I highly doubt that it will get a lot of your wrist time. anyway, good review. thanks a lot and happy Halloween!

I have one Seiko 5 old watch with leather strap

That watch is frankenwatch the original has engraved the word seiko in the movement and I did not see that

Are they worth a lot of Cash?

could be a bybm for someone out there

Actually a rather nice watch. Definitely has kept very good condition for a 45+ year old watch. Did you happen to buy this from a seller "vintagewatches4uk"?

Is its real or not ?