This Vintage Seiko Is the Best Everyday Watch You’ve Never Heard Of

A bit of forgotten history, a storied movement and the reissue that brought it all together.

Published January 17, 2025

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For my money, Seiko’s best everyday watch isn’t the infamous “Turtle” or one of the myriad 5 Sports. Nope, it’s an obscure 1970s timepiece tied up in dive-watch lore.

a watch on a man's wrist — The 6306-800 Silverwave has a day-date window with English and Kanji settings.

The watch in question is the 6306-800 Silverwave, which, at first glance, doesn’t resemble a dive watch at all. Narrow dagger hands and raised dash indices are typical of dress watches; in fact, they were stripped wholesale from the contemporaneous King Seiko High Beat.

Without a bezel or lume, the watch would be even less useful underwater than it appears at face value. But several water-resistant features that remain hidden at arm’s length make it ideal for everyday wear.

A dressed up diver

For starters, a screw-down crown and rubber gasket inside the screw-down case back mirror the 6306-7000/1 “Turtle,” and provide the same 150-meter dive rating.

a steel watch with a blue dial — The dial is marked with the same “Silverwave” script used on the original 1961 design.

Keeping your watch on while swimming in a pool, diving in the ocean or just taking a shower puts the Silverwave in line with water-friendly dress watches like the Rolex Oyster and Datejust.

The most distinguishing feature of the 6306-800 Silverwave is the blue-gray dial color. Without access to any marketing information from the watch’s release, I can only speculate that it is meant to resemble the cold North Pacific waters around Japan.

Regardless, the color creates a beautiful contrast to the polished metal hands, indices, day-date window border and Seiko logo. And, speaking from experience, it quite literally goes with everything.

case back of a watch — The case back is stamped with a raised double wave symbol.

On the back of the watch is one of my favorite little details: a raised, stylized double wave. This replaces the “tsunami wave” etching that appeared on the first Silverwave, the “Turtle,” and subsequent Seiko dive watches.

A forgotten history

Of course, pedigree goes a long way in watch circles and the 6306-800 has plenty of it — even if it’s place in the canon of Seiko releases fades with every passing second.

The watch was released in the late 1970s alongside the now-iconic 6306-700’1 “Turtle.” Outstanding performance, an affordable price tag and global availability made the latter an instant classic, and this fan favorite has remained in production ever since, spawning dozens of variations and housing multiple movements.

Meanwhile, the 6306-800 was exclusive to Japan and lived a much shorter production life. Sportier dive watches took over the genre in the 1970s, so Seiko had little need for one with a dressy dial. After its brief resurrection, the Silverwave was once again dropped by the end of the decade.

That said, with a powerhouse movement, unique dial color and historical provenance, it checks all the boxes of a classic Seiko.

Pricing and availability

Flying under the radar for so long has kept the market price for the 6306-800 Silverwave low. It was a Japanese Domestic Market release, so existing numbers are small. However, plenty of examples have found their way to the secondhand market, as well as a silver dial version. I got mine for less than $400 on eBay in 2020.

Anyone looking to buy one should factor in the cost of servicing the watch. The 6306 movement is a reliable workhorse that can function like new with a little tuneup. As an obscure piece from the 1970s, any Silverwave you find will probably need one.

There is a remarkably similar Silverwave that Seiko produced under the 5 Actus line later in the 1970s. This one has a funky textured dial and can typically be had for less than $200. But from where I’m standing, it lacks the austere charm of the 6306-800.