Introducing the Seiko 6M26 Multifunction Quartz

Here is a simple little dress watch styled after the much beloved Grand Seiko line, with long, polished indices and classy dauphine hands on an elegantly simple dial. The only things that betray the simple appearance of this timepiece are the two pushers protruding from the left side of the case.



This is the Seiko Auto-Calendar which was a Japan only model equipped with a fascinating quartz calibre 6M26. Loaded with features, this three hand watch has the features of a 1/10th second chronograph with split time, a countdown timer, automatic-calendar and alarm. The functions of the watch are directed via the setting crown and the window to the left of the date displays its mode. To switch modes, one simply needs to rotate the crown.

TIME SETTING
Setting the time is extremely easy with this piece because when the crown is pulled out during TIME mode, the second hand flies back to the zero position and one push on the top pusher will advance the minute hand in one minute increments. The lower pusher advances the hour hand. The fact that the second hand zeroes makes it very easy to synchronize the time. I am beginning to think that all watches should have this feature.

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ALARM SET
Shown below is the watch in alarm setting mode, and currently it indicates that the alarm is set to 10:30. When the mode is switched, the hands will quickly rotate to the appropriate positions. The top pusher advances the minute hand and the bottom one advances the hour to set the alarm time. Afterwards, simply rotate the crown to the “Alarm” mode to turn on the alarm.



CHRONOGRAPH

In Chronograph mode, all the hands converge at 12, moving smoothly from their original positions. In this mode, the second hand becomes the 1/10 second indicator, the minute becomes the second indicator and the hour hand turns into the minute indicator.



What makes the chronograph mode so fascinating is how the 1/10 second hand races to the10 second position and jumps back to the 12o’clock position every second for the first minute. After the first minute passes, the 1/10th second hand rests at the 12 position until the chronograph is stopped whereby it will jump to the appropriate 1/10 second. This is probably a battery saving feature.


Below, the chronograph has been stopped and it indicates an elapsed time of 33 and 8/10 of a second (the photograph’s angle may obscure the indicator).

TIMER

In the timer mode, all hands converge at 12 once again and to set the time for countdown, simply depress the lower pusher and the minute hand will advance until it reaches your desired time. In the picture below, it shows that the timer was set to 10 minutes for countdown and was started 7 seconds ago. Simply press the top pusher to activate the timer. The second hand and minute hand actually move counter-clockwise to count down the timer.

DATE

The “Date” mode indicates the month. As can be seen below, the hands converge at 4, indicating the month of April. To set the date and month, simply pull out the crown and the top pusher will advance the month and the bottom one will advance the date. Because the watch acknowledges the month, you only need to set the date once every leap year to correct for date errors.



The solid link bracelet is quite nice, but the folded end link has a tendency to rattle a bit and they never seem to hold the bracelet quite in its place. The watch is very light and comfortable. The case measures 37mm in diameter and the watch itself is styled similarly to the Grand Seiko/King Seiko line. The 6M26 movement has not been produced for a while and seems as if it has been discontinued. I don’t know much about this movement or its history, but it seems that it has been around since the late 80’s or early 90’s.





In addition to all the aforementioned convenient functions, there is also a demo mode. Simply depress both top and bottom pushers and hold them for a couple of seconds in the “Alarm” mode and a chime will sound. Do the same in “Time” mode and the hands start dancing, it is certainly interesting to watch!

The Seiko Auto-Calendar is a fascinating watch and its ability to do so much with only three hands is very creative and entertaining.