Vintage Watch | Seiko 6139-6050 Seiko 5 Sports Speedtimer "Reverse Pogue" Black dial

Seiko 6139-6050 5 Sports Speedtimer: Black-Dial “Reverse Pogue,” November 1980 (Fully Serviced)

Colonel William Pogue did not wait for NASA stationery. Before Skylab 4 he trained for months on a Seiko 6139 he had put on layaway at the Ellington AFB exchange — a yellow-dial 6139-6005 that cost him about the price of a week’s groceries. When the issued Omega Speedmaster finally arrived, he still packed the Seiko. On 16 November 1973 it left Earth on his other wrist. It became the first automatic chronograph to work in space. The Magic Lever kept winding in zero-G. He used the rotating inner ring to time engine burns: short, exact firings that decide whether a spacecraft stays on the path you planned. Get the burn wrong and you are not “a little off.” You are in the wrong orbit. That is the closest this watch family comes to a life-or-death job — not a movie rescue, a pilot timing a burn because he already trusted the tool.

This listing is not that yellow Pogue. Those now trade at Pogue money. This is the later black-dial 5 Sports Speedtimer 6139-6050 from November 1980 — same Caliber 6139 idea, same column-wheel / vertical-clutch chronograph, same inner timing ring — at about half that price. Collectors call the dark-dial cousins “Reverse Pogue.” This is a late one.

Why the Seiko 6139 Still Matters

In 1969 Seiko put an automatic chronograph on sale while Zenith and the Chronomatic group were still arguing in press releases. Caliber 6139 is an integrated movement: column wheel, vertical clutch (the seconds hand starts clean, without the jump of a cheap horizontal clutch), Magic Lever winding, day-date on a push-crown, 30-minute register at 6. It is the architecture Pogue took upstairs and the architecture still inside this 6050.

Condition of This Seiko 6139

Black Speedtimer Sports 5 dial. Crystal has no usage marks. Inner rotating bezel turns as it should. Chronograph start/stop and reset pushers work correctly — start, stop, flyback, no sticky column. The movement has been fully serviced and is running in proper condition. Case is the familiar 6139 cushion: about 41 mm, 46 mm lug-to-lug, 19 mm lugs. It is already on a green army NATO. That strap is not a fashion afterthought; it is how a timing tool looks when you stop pretending it is a dress watch.

Specification

Maker: Seiko

Model: 6139-6050 5 Sports Speedtimer (“Reverse Pogue” / black dial)

Era: November 1980

Case Diameter: 41 mm

Lug to Lug: 46 mm

Lug Width: 19 mm

Crystal: Clean — no usage marks

Functions: Inner timing bezel, chrono start/stop and reset all working correctly

Movement: Automatic Caliber 6139, fully serviced by our watchmaker in Japan, running well

Strap: Green army NATO

A yellow 6139-6005 is the watch that flew. A serviced black 6139-6050 is the watch you can actually buy and use — same movement family, same inner-bezel logic Pogue timed burns with, later case and dark dial, without the Pogue premium. If that trade feels fair, this is the one.