SEIKO Bell-Matics

[spearfish]

Hi Guys,

I have a silver-dial, stainless steel case 4006-6010. I'm excited because Randall Benson has had my watch for about a year now and I'm expecting to get it back soon! hooray!

I would like to wear it in an office environment. I'm thinking about a brown leather strap. Does anyone have any suggestions for a nice-looking band?

Thanks much!

[John N]

I had this 4006-601x stainless steel on a nice Hadley Roma strap until I found an original bracelet for it:


This blue dial seems to like this black H/R strap with white stitching:


Here is a black dial on a faux alligator strap:


And James Tan put his on a beautiful black strap:

[sempervivens]

black will match everything

black with white stitching is nice (but of course not necessary)

but try to get a strap with the right lugsize !

probably the right size would be 19 mm ?

if you can't find a 19 mm strap, then you'll have to use 20 mm

you can see in the pictures above that most of the straps are a little too wide (1 mm), but that doesn't matter, at least the watch won't move

but in the last picture you can see that the strap is not wide enough : probably an 18 mm strap was used

19 mm straps are rare but they are out there !
_________________
Vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas

[TheTigerUK]

not a lover of leather or rubber straps, i much prefer my Belles on there original bracelets. You guys have more patience than me !! i could never wait a year for a repair, enjoy it when you get it.
_________________
http://thetigeruk.blogspot.com/

[spearfish]

Thanks for the suggestions! I have the same watch as in the James Tan photo. The first photo you showed with a brown Hadley Roma strap was really nice. I think that would go better with khaki trousers and stuff. I tend to wear like khaki pants and a white or blue dress shirt. We're kind of dress-casual "business attire" where I work.

Really, you prefer the stainless straps? Yeah, I guess so. It is how the watch originally came from the factory. I think leather straps are a bit more dressy though. Someone was posting on the Seiko Citizen forum about a year ago and I remember thinking that their story was really funny:

This person bought some fancy new Seiko that came with a hefty--good quality--stainless steel band. He wore it to work and was waiting for people to make comments. On the 1st day, no one noticed his new watch. 2nd day, no one notices. 3rd day, no one notices. So he went out and got a brown crocodile leather band and changed out the stainless steel bracelet. He wore it with the croc band on the 4th day: He had 3 different people come up to him and say, "Wow, that's a really nice watch Bob. Is that new?" haha

He said in his forum post that people told him the leather band made it look nicer, "more classy," they said. I guess I tend to agree with his coworkers.

Cheers!

[sempervivens]

and one of my favorites (i have the same model and two more, one black and one grey dial; two on a strap and one with original bracelet)

i like leather straps too...for comfort and style... but bracelets are also nice and last longer...

i like your story, and it's true that the right strap (or bracelet) can make a lot of difference...

enjoy

[dtdukok]

Are all Belles 19mm?

[John N]

[TheTigerUK]

[sempervivens]

As the Bellmatic is a little bigger than your average watch, so is the lugsize (the most common lugsize for a man's watch is 18 mm).

I thought most Belles are 20 mm; the 6010 has 19 mm; and if John N says so, there must be some 18 mm models as well.

Why don't we try to make a list of all sizes of all different models Bellmatics ?

Including width, length, thickness and lugsize ?

I'd be happy to contribute (but I don't own all different models).

[sempervivens]

I've checked the following Bell-Matic cases for lugsize :

18 mm : 606x ; 700x ;

19 mm : 601x ; 602x ; (probably also 4005-7000, since it is similar to 4006-6010 : could somebody check ?)

20 mm : 603x ;

So (to my surprise) I found that (in this limited collection) only the 603x has 20 mm.

Surprisingly the big 700x case has 18 mm.

The case for all of these is approx. 1 cm thick (without crystal).

The case is usually 37-39 mm wide (without crown) :

37 mm : 601x; (and 4005-7000?);
38 mm : 603x; 605x; 606x; 700x;
39 mm : 602x; 604x ;

So the 601x is the "smallest" in width (1 mm less), but it compensates this in length :
approx. 43 mm (including lugs).

Length (including lugs) :
601x : 43 mm
602x : 41 mm
603x : 43 mm
604x : 39 mm
605x : 42 mm
606x : 43 mm
700x : 44 mm

To put it all together :

601x has 37 x 43 with 19 mm lugsize.
602x has 39 x 41 with 19 mm lugsize.
603x has 38 x 43 with 20 mm lugsize.
604x has 38 x 43 with 24 mm lugsize integrated bracelet.
605x has 38 x 42 with 22 mm lugsize integrated bracelet.
606x has 38 x 43 with 18 mm lugsize.
700x has 38 x 44 with 18 mm lugsize.

The case for all of these is approx. 1 cm thick (without crystal).

Please excuse me if I made any mistakes : I don't have a special tool, I use a plain ruler.

It would be nice if somebody could check and complete this list.

As a conclusion I would say all the Bell-matics are very similar in size.

Bigger than the average, but no extremes, and all are very stylish.

It's a big man's size ("oversize"), but elegant, and all are still suitable for a boy as well.
_________________
Vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas

[John N]

That looks like an accurate listing to me. And, yes, it appears that the 4005-7000 are 19mm

One thing to consider, the -604x and -608x integrated bracelets use, I believe, 10mm springbars.

Do you mind if I add your breakdown list to the website's archive?

[sempervivens]

Please put it in the archives, it may be useful.

I hope you will add the 5-6 cases which are missing in this list ?

Excellent suggestion, it would be useful to add the size of the springbars for the three models with integrated bracelet.
(For those I have only mentioned the lugsize of their 'outward appearance'.)
_________________
Vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas

[dtdukok]

Very useful and very kind. Thank you

[John N]

http://www.bellmatics.com/archives/Archives%20Cases-Dials/index.htm