Seiko Sportsmatic SilverWave 697990 - Tropical Dial - March 1965

In May 1963, Seiko was appointed official timer of the Tokyo Olympics. When the Games opened the following October, its clocks and stopwatches were doing work that Swiss names had long dominated on the international stage. For Seiko, those years were about more than making better wristwatches. The company was learning to build instruments for specific jobs, and proving that Japanese watchmaking could compete wherever precision mattered. Five months after the Games, this SilverWave was made.

Seiko had introduced the Silverwave in 1961, the first version combined a 50-meter rating, a screw-down back, luminous markers and an internal rotating timing ring. In 1964 Seiko reworked the idea into the Sportsmatic 697990, reducing the original water-resistance specification to 30 meters but keeping the rotating inner bezel and large crown. Then, in 1965, the 62MAS arrived as Seiko’s and Japan’s first true diver, with 150 meters of water resistance and the external bezel layout that would become far more familiar. The SilverWave sits just before the formula many know as a diver today settled. 

You can see the experimentation in the black ring beneath the crystal. Its scale does not count elapsed minutes upward the way later dive bezels generally would. The numbers fall clockwise from 50 toward 10. Turn the oversized crown at four and the bezel moves beneath the dial; pull the crown out and the same control sets the hands. Set the luminous triangle against the minute hand and the ring shows the time remaining rather than the time already spent.

The dial is truly tropical it began it's life as a silver sunburst. More than sixty years later, the surface has turned warm salmon and copper, lighter through the center and deepening toward the edge. Fine dark speckling runs through the color. As the watch moves, the sunburst still rises through the copper in the light. The transformation is dramatic, but the dial itself has not fallen apart. Nothing has lifted or flaked. The printing remains sharp, the applied steel markers still stand cleanly above the surface, and the small blue 30 in WATER 30 PROOF is still there against a special palette Seiko never intended. 

The dial, hands and luminous material are all original. The lume aged to a warm tone with dark spotting across portions of it. The luminous triangle on the inner bezel is intact unlike most examples existing today. The black ring retains its white markings with light wear, and the acrylic crystal is clear with light surface marks.

The stainless-steel case carries scratches and wear from use, but the long lugs still retain their flat facets and defined edges. On the back, Seiko’s wave emblem has been worn shallow from decades against the wrist. It is fitted to a grey Kreisler leather strap.

WATER 30 PROOF records what Seiko built the watch to withstand when it was new. This is now a sixty-year-old watch with its original case and accumulated wear, and it should not be considered waterproof by modern standards. 

Inside is the 17-jewel Seikosha Sportsmatic automatic movement used in the 697990. The broad rotor is signed SEIKOSHA SPORTSMATIC, and the movement presents cleanly inside the case. It runs at 18,000 beats per hour without hand winding or hacking seconds. The watch runs, and its service history is unknown.

Terms: Please review all photos carefully as they are a part of the listing. This is a vintage timepiece. Accuracy, power reserve, and water resistance are not guaranteed. Vintage watches may require periodic service. Performance can vary with wear, temperature, and position.

All sales final.