Hello all,

this is my first post - I have here a Seiko A359-5040 LCD from July 1980 (if my serial number calculations are correct).
I have tried running the model number through a well known search engine, but alas have found very few pages/images that provide information on this watch.

On the ‘Seiko’ wiki page, its says: ‘The A359 5040 Sports 100 Chronograph released in 1981 is an extremely rare chronograph with only a few examples seen world wide. From Seiko Australia 22/1/2013 regarding the A359 5040 Sorry, all the details of that model have been lost in the mists of time. We have no image/s on file Regards,Harold Seiko Australia,Sydney’

If anyone could provide some information on this watch, please feel free to post / PM me.

T.W.

Some quick photos

serial number

Hi, T.W.!

Your post really brings back memories!
I had one almost identical to yours. Mine had a white dial and looked exactly like this:

I thought it was super cool back then and now that you remind me of it, I guess I still do. For one thing, it was the first watch I had ever seen that displayed the week day alphanumerically.

I got mine in Norway in 1981 or 1982 if I remember correctly. It was a gift from my parents. It was stolen from me in 1996, I think it was. I forgot it in a wardrobe in Finse, Norway (close to where some of the snow planet battle scenes in Star Wars were shot), and 5 minutes later some lowlife scumbag had nicked it   :’(

The last couple of years that I had it, it was no longer perfectly water proof. My local Seiko dealer said that new gaskets were impossible to get hold of.

I am certain that even today, 17 years later, I could operate that thing blind-folded. Set the count-down timer. Start the stop watch and take lap times. Turn the alarm and hour signal on and off. I still remember!

This is really a nice watch to own and wear! That I know from my own experience, as I got one on my 18’th birthday. I was very happy and liked it very much from the start and it became a trustful companion through the years. Especially the alarm function came handy to wake me up in time for the bus to school, never failing. Maybe that’s why I saved the original user manual, the giftbox and the paperbox as well.
When I got it I was quite alone having one, and I can’t really recall I met anyone with the same watch! Some of my friends got cheaper watches with more features (and less quality), but I always thought mine was kind of more ‘stylish’ and reliable.

Something puzzles me though, as it was supposedly released in -80 and I got it in mid -82. Perhaps it had stayed on the shelf for some time before it was sold?!
Serial number starts with 06, would that be manufactured in june -80?

Here is a closer picture of the watch, together with a catalog picture of the A359 SilverWave, which seem to exist only in the Seiko 1980 vol. 2 catalog.
This is the only model that resembles with the Sports 100, but it differs in 3 places:
- the rectangular ‘riveted’ plate with the 3 black acoustic grids, which are oval shaped on the SilverWave
- the top-right text “Alarm Chronograph” and just below, the text “Sports 100”, which is “Alarm Chronograph” and “SilverWave” in one line on the SilverWave
- the case which is cut out in 1 piece of metal, compared with a front plate attached with 4 screws on the SilverWave.

Some speculations:
The Sports 100 watch seem not to be presented in any regular product catalog, and this makes me think that Seiko at some point decided to try out a ‘Sports Chronograph’ watch on the domestic market. They used the SilverWave as a base and made a better and more rugged case and maybe upgraded the link, to make it more suitable for sport activities.
This must have made the watch more expensive, and harder to sell. At this time, Japanese companies usually tried out new products on their home market first to see if they where good enough and popular enough for larger launches abroad. The response from the domestic market might been inconclusive and it was never entered in the official product suite, and it never was produced in big numbers. Some examples where exported to the Europe and Australia, maybe for try out or simply to sell it off.

I think this is a plausible scenario, but I have no proof of it being so. There is not much information on the net about this watch and it would be great if someone could dispute or even agree!

It is claimed to be a very rare watch, and I knew noone else having the same watch back then either, so that makes sense to me.

Happy Days!

Went to the watchmaker today to get the battery replaced. I feared the old battery might have leaked and damaged the clockwork. The watchmaker gave me not much hope and said these type of watches usually didn’t work anymore mostly due to leaky batteries, and that he would charge me 5€ if it failed and 13€ if it was a success. Indeed the 34 year old watch worked and I happily paid the man 😊!
Right now I terrorise my family by telling them the exact time to the second - wait til they hear the alarm go off 🧛  !

This is a cool watch :coolsmile:

Hi Folks!I would be lost without my sports 100 A359 5040 watch,I bought it in Dubai around about 1982 and have worn it ever since.

The watches were made in June and July of 1980 but were not released until 1981 (it was a mistake by distribution,or genius on the part of management).I was told they were a factory fumble due to the backs being silver wave which the watch was originally based on,however Seiko wanted to create a premium Sports 100 range and the A359 5040 was intended to be the flagship of the new range with its two different coloured fronts.I was very fortunate to get the last one in the shop and they had only had ten delivered in the same week that they sold out,the watch was a collectors piece already in the eyes of the guy selling them as they were pulled from the catalogue and as such he had put the price up,there was not a huge difference in cost between the Sports 100 chronograph and a lower range rolex and they were displayed on the same shelf.I could have had any watch in the shop as it was a gift but i chose this one as I was a youngster who just wanted a digital watch as any kid in the early eightees would understand the cool factor and whilst there were loads of kids with the Seiko James Bond or solar calculators, i had the watch that nobody knew anything about.30 whatever years on and I still get mates asking where i got my watch and now they are the pinnacle of geek fashion.

Thanks UDP for sharing your story and the facts about this nice watch, really interesting!
😊

Hi, I’m new to the forum.

My love of Seiko LCD began in 1981 when my dad bought me a Seiko A156-5020 which I still wear.

I bought a bag of “broken” watches recently from my local charity store look what I found inside…

A359-5040 in very nice cosmetic condition complete with original bracelet but non-working.

I’ve done the basics but can’t get it to work so my next step is to either find a working A359 module (impossible?) or a repairer who can fix it!

Cool Watch… I have one myself… but sadly it isn’t working.
But I’m trying to get mine repaired.

I can repair replace A359 modules. Send me a pm through the site or contact me through the vintagelcd.com site and i’ll give you further details.

regards

Adam

This is my A359 - (Silver Wave version)

what a beauty in the best condition!! 😉

Awesome :-p