Home, 2006-12-27
I decided to give my father an automatic everyday watch to replace the old quartz he used. He wanted a diver's watch and we looked at a number of Seikos and a few Citizens. He wanted a watch smaller than the popular SKX007 Seiko divers, and liked the SKX031 best.
The watch came in a basic but nice cardboard/cloth box.
The watch looks really great, the bracelet looks ok (but is and feels crappy). The watch looks better in real life than on photos.
The case is polished steel, except the top of the lugs, which is brushed.
| Bezel | 39mm |
| Lug tip to lug tip | 47mm |
| Lug spacing | 22mm |
| Height | 11.5mm |
| Weight (watch) | 70g |
Dimensions (measured).
The crown is basic and it does not operate as well as on my Black Monster. The crystal is mineral (Seiko's Hardlex), without any anti-reflection coating. The watch is "only" water resistant down to 10 BAR, and it does not come with the wave back as on the "real" divers.
The dial is easy to read, it is almost like the contemporary SKX007 dials. The hour markers are placed on metal inserts and the date field is also encased by a metal frame, the Seiko-logo is also metal. The hour and minute hand are the same as on the SKX007 watches, but the second hand is in a more traditional design with the luminous dot at the long end. The date wheel is white, I generally think the color of the date wheel should match the color of the dial.
The printing on the dial and date field is ok, but does not look good under a loupe. The Lumibrite on the hands and dial has the same color and the luminosity is the best I have seen on a non-radioactive watch.
The movement is a Seiko (in-house) 7S26 (Seiko's replacement for the 7002) used in the inexpensive Seiko automatics. It cannot be wound or hacked. I do not think this is a problem. I have read somewhere that the 7S26 is designed to be robust and it might require less service than most ETA movements. It takes 2-3 hours for the movement to change the day and date.
The movement currently gains 10 seconds a day, I expect to be able to regulate this to less than 5 seconds per day.
The movement is described in more detail here: http://www.thepurists.com/watch/features/8ohms/7s26/.
The bezel is bidirectional with 60 stops per hour. There is no luminous dot at 0 minutes.
The bracelet is pretty basic "Oyster"-style in brushed steel and with flat metal sheets instead of pins. The end links are not solid, and neither are the other links. I think you would have to look hard to find a cheaper bracelet. I put the watch on a NATO strap and it is a good combination.
I really like this watch and at little more than $100 it is very nice Seiko with an almost Swiss classic look. After I worn it for a few days I found it even nicer looking than when I first put it on. However, the bracelet is a joke and if I was to buy this watch to myself I would try to get it without the bracelet and in all cases throw it away and get a decent strap or an alternative bracelet.