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Seiko 5 Rally Diver — Arabic Day-date

Details

The Story

Here's a vintage Seiko 5 Sports Rally Diver with a black dial from the 70s. Keeps great time and is fully functional. Measurements include a 40mm case size and 20mm lug width. On a vintage black tropic strap that suites the piece quite well. Quickset day and date function at 3 a clock. Arabic day wheel which was probably made for the Iranian market. This seiko is quite rare for the Arabic day disk. Yellow second hand. Bi-directional rotating black bezel. Inner blue minute track and and red on the bezel. Brushed finishing the lugs. Both the dial and crystal are free from any scratches or marks. The crown has been replaced. All other parts are original including the dial, movement, and caseback. Both the dial and case are in great cosmetic, untouched condition.
Key Specs
History

When Rolex introduced the Day-Date in 1956, it did two things no watch had done before: it displayed the day of the week spelled out in full at 12 o'clock, and it did so only in 18-karat gold or platinum — never steel, never silver. The message was clear. This was the watch for people who had arrived.

The President bracelet, created exclusively for the Day-Date, added another layer of distinction: a three-piece link design in solid precious metal that became so associated with power that the watch earned the unofficial name "the President's watch." Dwight Eisenhower was among its earliest recipients; the list of heads of state, CEOs, and cultural figures who followed runs long.

References 1803 and 18038 define the classic era — the 1803 from the late 1960s through mid-1970s, and the 18038 through the 1980s. Dial options across these years are staggering: champagne, black, onyx, diamond-set, baguette, wood, and stone dials all appeared in regular production. The Day-Date is the watch Rolex made to prove that Swiss precision and genuine luxury were not mutually exclusive. Fifty years later, that argument has never been made more convincingly