1969 was one of the most spectacular in Seiko’s storied history. That year, it released the world’s first automatic chronograph, the Calibre 6139 and the V.F.A. (Very Fine Adjusted) movement – which delivered Seiko’s highest yet level of precision for a mechanical movement.
Seiko would release another first upon the world, the first quartz wristwatch - the Seiko Quartz Astron, which went on to change the way the world told time, and severely tested the dominance of the Swiss, bringing high technology within the reach of all.
As the world got accustomed to the novel new Astron technology dominating the market in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Seiko was hard at work on its next innovation to challenge Swiss watch industry dominance, developing the Superior, Grand Quartz, King Quartz and eventually other quartz lines – like this 1988 Seiko Avenue 2K22-0080 gold dress watch, with its great Arabic-numeral dial an original Seiko 2K22 instrucitons manual.
Immediately obvious on the gold Seiko Avenue here is the classicaly-designed gold dial - the black handset mirrors the design of the dial’s black Arabic hour indices nicely, with an atypical seconds subdial that suggests a far older watch. Add in the Seiko quartz movement with its known accuracy with hacking feature and you have a watch that stands out on the wrist.
Seiko lanuched its Avenue line in 1985, and targeted it at young people, included the high-priced Chario and Société models. The series was a hugely popular, thanks in part to the effect of TV commercials featuring popular artists.
In line with the watch style popular in the 1980s, a genre of watches referred to as "traditional watches" became popular. Within the Seiko answer to this style - its Avenue line, like the watch here - was retro-inspired oxidized gold and silver exterior finishes featuring user-friendly dials either with 60 markers and classic numerals around the circumference or sans numerals. Avenue variations incorporated small second hand dials (like on the gold Avenue here) - and moon phase complications also proved popular with the line.
This Seiko Avenue dress watch comes on a black leather strap, and with rugged travel case, springbar tool, and original Seiko 2K22 instructions manual.
1988 Seiko Avenue 2K22-0080 Gold Dress Watch, w/Instructions
DIAL: A fantastic gold Seiko "Avenue"-signed dial, with matching hour, minute, and second hands. Arabic numeral hour indices along with classicaly-designed handset and atypical subdial design render a watch that appears far older than its 1980s pedigree.
CASE: Gold case measures 24mm (25mm w/crown) x 29mm, with sharp case edges.
CRYSTAL: Hardlex crystal in great condition, no scratches, cracks, or edge chips.
BAND: This Seiko Avenue comes on a black leather strap, with gold hardware to match the gold case.
MOVEMENT: Three-jewel Seiko 2K22 quartz movement, manufactured in November 1988; movement hacks, as designed.
Of note, this Seiko Avenue dress watch comes with an original Seiko 2K22 instructions manual, in both Kanji Japanese and English.