RefFileSeiko Chronographs → 6138-0040/0049
FILE NO. RF-6138-0040SOUGHT AFTER

SEIKO 6138-0040/0049 "BULLHEAD"

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PRODUCED
c. 1970–1979
CALIBER
6138
CASE
44 MM
BEZEL
TACHY

The file

The Bullhead rotates the entire movement so the crown and chronograph pushers sit on top of the case, a decision that makes sense the moment you see one on a rally driver's wrist and at no other time. Forty-four millimeters of 1970s confidence in brown-and-gold or black-and-blue, it has become one of the most collected 6138 models and, by the reference books' own warning, one of the most frankenwatched.

The fraud follows the fame: dials, subdial hands and pushers from parts donors assemble into correct-looking Bullheads constantly, and the two legitimate color schemes have documented details that assembled watches routinely get wrong.

FROM THE FILE

The character actor of the family and the one to buy most carefully. The Bullhead rewards the same discipline as a vintage Submariner at a hundredth the price: every component tells its era, and they must all tell the same one. A watch this distinctive deserves the twenty minutes of photo requests it takes to buy it honestly.

Before you bid: the checklist

  • Two schemes, fixed details. Brown with gold registers or black with blue. Mixed or off-catalog combinations are assemblies.
  • Subdial hands are the tell. Correct Bullhead subdial hands have documented shapes; donors from other 6138s do not match.

Sources

Production windows and specifications compiled from documented collector references and period catalogs, cross-checked across independent sources; manufacturer records for this era are approximate by Seiko's own account.

Production runs end. The file on the reference never does.