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<blockquote data-quote="thor447" data-source="post: 3931063" data-attributes="member: 24867"><p>I was going to type up this long winded explanation, but while googling for a couple pictures for reference I cam across an article that explains in much better than I could. I'll post it below:</p><p></p><p>Watches until 1970 were branded ‘waterproof’ on the case back and sometimes also on the dial. This was the normal nomenclature for that time to describe the imperviousness of the watch to water. In 1969, the US government passed a law that required watches to be described more accurately as ‘water resistant’ rather than the technically incorrect ‘waterproof’.</p><p></p><p>Compliance was required by 1972, and so beginning in 1970, Seiko started changing all of their watches to comply with the new legislation. Watches from 1970 are typically found to be proof/proof, meaning that they have waterproof on the dial and/or the case back.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]332923[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Watches from 1971 are typically resist/resist meaning that they have ‘water resist’ written on the dial and/or case back. In fact, the case backs have the complete ‘water resistant’ text while the dials have the shorter ‘resist’ text, presumably to avoid significant layout changes associated with the longer ‘resistant’ text. Of course, as with most things vintage, the rules are never clear cut. There are 1970/71 transitional watches that may have a mismatch of both phraseology and some models lost all references to water resistance from their dials. Additionally, because the legislation was specifically for the US market, Seiko changed those watches first. They did eventually change all their watches to comply with the US legislation but some domestic lines did not change over until 1972.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]332924[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p>So to sum up, there is no difference mechanically, but it's just a change to the wording used on the watches to comply with US law so they could import their watches. It's a cool bit of history, and for Seiko nuts, they use it as part of authenticating a watch's originality, etc. Depending on the watch, like my 6139-6005 Pogue mentioned earlier, it can add a good bit of value.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="thor447, post: 3931063, member: 24867"] I was going to type up this long winded explanation, but while googling for a couple pictures for reference I cam across an article that explains in much better than I could. I'll post it below: Watches until 1970 were branded ‘waterproof’ on the case back and sometimes also on the dial. This was the normal nomenclature for that time to describe the imperviousness of the watch to water. In 1969, the US government passed a law that required watches to be described more accurately as ‘water resistant’ rather than the technically incorrect ‘waterproof’. Compliance was required by 1972, and so beginning in 1970, Seiko started changing all of their watches to comply with the new legislation. Watches from 1970 are typically found to be proof/proof, meaning that they have waterproof on the dial and/or the case back. [ATTACH type="full" alt="1672101741816.png"]332923[/ATTACH] Watches from 1971 are typically resist/resist meaning that they have ‘water resist’ written on the dial and/or case back. In fact, the case backs have the complete ‘water resistant’ text while the dials have the shorter ‘resist’ text, presumably to avoid significant layout changes associated with the longer ‘resistant’ text. Of course, as with most things vintage, the rules are never clear cut. There are 1970/71 transitional watches that may have a mismatch of both phraseology and some models lost all references to water resistance from their dials. Additionally, because the legislation was specifically for the US market, Seiko changed those watches first. They did eventually change all their watches to comply with the US legislation but some domestic lines did not change over until 1972. [ATTACH type="full" alt="1672101779103.png"]332924[/ATTACH] So to sum up, there is no difference mechanically, but it's just a change to the wording used on the watches to comply with US law so they could import their watches. It's a cool bit of history, and for Seiko nuts, they use it as part of authenticating a watch's originality, etc. Depending on the watch, like my 6139-6005 Pogue mentioned earlier, it can add a good bit of value. [/QUOTE]
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