What's so special about the watch?
Vintage Seiko chronographs come in all sorts of unique case and dial designs. While I've owned a fair share of these charismatic watches, the Kakume has got to be among the top of the litter with its blue and white theme that gives a far cooler vibe than it's other cousins.  Silver squares sit framed on the bright lightning blue dial, a pair of matching hands so honestly sweeping op top of bright white applied stick indices make it all a sight to behold. 
 
With the case and crystal in good condition, the combination of condition and age on this piece makes this guy one rare bird. 
 
What are the functions of the watch?
It tells the time, it has a chronograph that records up to 12 hours across two subdials, and it also tells you what day and date it is.
 
Let me tell you about the case...
The Kakume belongs to the family of vintage Seiko chronographs that were presented in their own unique case shapes, the others being the bullhead, UFO and the Jumbo. 
 
Being large in size makes the Kakume very relevant in today's generous wrist dimensions. Knowing how idiotic a large case will look on an Asian man's wrist, Seiko went ahead and gave all these large chronographs a short lug, hardly extending past the bezel. This makes the large case size extemely wearable. Perhaps the only problem I have with this is that it makes wearing nato straps with these guys a little of a hassle, since the short lugs mean that you can't use very thick leather with these guys. 
 
Size aside, the case on Swift is well preserved, light scratches and a single slight ding at the 5'O mark the only signs that it's more than 40 years old. The crystal is nice with a few hairline scratches , while the caseback is in good condition free from the careless tool marks we all hate.
 
And now the dial...
An electric blue dial is a major selling point of the Kakume, which manages to retain a relative symmetry despite having to cram in two registers and a day-date window. 
 
Seiko does this very well by introducing two large squares at 12 and 6. The unique sub-dials on this example have aged to a nice dusty grey, its numerical and hash markings still very much visible. Balancing the dial from the large sub-dials are the day-date window and a printed Seiko logo with Chronograph Automatic beneath in a smaller font.
 
The lume dots at the end of the stick markers are in the same murky green as those on the hands, rounding up the dial of this very honest watch.
 
Let's not forget the hands...
Time recording hands on this watch are of an orange tint, faded from the bright red from its younger days. The timetelling hands are stick with white triangles at the end that match the white on the stick indices.