The little known Seiko 7s55 caliber
When it comes to Seiko’s entry level automatic movements, most people will readily think of the well-liked and reliable 7s-caliber automatics that are found in the garden variety SKX and limited edition SKZ divers and of course, the popular Seiko 5 family of affordable watches.
The 7s26 is perhaps the most widely known movement in the 7s-family and is extensively used in the base line Seiko 5 model. The Seiko 5 Sports and Seiko 5 Superiors are adorned with the slightly upmarket 7s36 movement, which has 23 jewels – two more jewels than what the 7s26 has. Limited production run 7s-caliber divers such as the SKZ203K Yellow Monster and the SKZ201K Seiko 5 40th Anniversary diver’s watches also use the 7s36.
So what’s interesting about the 7s55?
How to spot a fake Seiko watch (revised)
In the multi-million dollar world of fake and replica watches, you are certainly forgiven if you thought that only Swiss marques are targeted by counterfeiters in the Far East. High end Swiss brands like Rolex, Omega, Breitling, Patek Philippe, Longines and TAG Heuer are the usual victims. The replica watch industry exists so long as there is enough demand and believe me, there is enough global demand for knock-off timepieces.
Originally posted 2008-03-16 23:47:45.
A Farewell to “The Last Samurai”
No, this post has nothing to do with the 2003 epic Tom Cruise movie that happens to be one of my all-time favorite flicks. 
Rather, a little bird told me that Seiko has very recently indicated that their popular and lovable titanium “Samurai” divers are well on their way to total extinction.
As much as I liked “The Last Samurai” film, I liked the timepieces from Seiko that happens to share the same nickname even better.
And by that, I mean the SBDA-series, Japan market Seiko dive watches affectionately known as the “Samurai”.
Originally posted 2008-11-11 23:42:29.
Seiko Prospex SBDQ003 Scuba 200m review
Watch History
- Date acquired: Mar 4 2005
- Production date: Mar 2002
- Source: Hang Thai Watch
- Price paid: MYR1,248 (USD372)
- Status: In production
Background
It may interest you to know that Seiko doesn’t make automatic diver’s watches with a chronograph function. I’m not sure why the Japanese watch giant chose not to when several Swiss watch manufacturers like Oris and Bell & Ross for example, have successfully designed mechanical chronographs that are also true dive watches.
In any case, Seiko did make two ISO certified diver’s watches with an analog chronograph but in quartz guise. It may have released many diver-like watches with a stopwatch function, like the 7T62 caliber SNA225P for instance but these watches are more towards sports watches than true divers.
Originally posted 2008-01-04 06:34:54.
Seiko Kinetic SKA013P diver review
Watch History
- Date acquired: December 20th 2004
- Production Date: July 2002
- Source: Emotus Time Culture, Suria KLCC
- Price paid: MYR700 (USD212)
- Status: Discontinued in some markets
Background
This watch happens to be my first Seiko Kinetic and it took me over a year to decide whether I wanted to try one for curiosity’s sake. Coming from a long-running background of owning quartz and automatic Seikos, I had to do much research on Kinetic watches before contemplating this revolutionary hybrid movement.
Prior to my purchase of this timepiece, I wasn’t particularly convinced if a Kinetic would make a wise "investment". It was probably due advice from one of the watch dealers that I had spoken to, who said that he had heard of Kinetic owner complaints through his network of Seiko watch dealers. Due to this, he pointed out that he sold only quartz or automatic watches in his store, never Kinetics.
I had to find out why he wasn’t keen on selling Kinetics so I turned to the good old Internet for more information. It turned out that there were articles from dissatisfied Kinetic owners who highlighted the problems that plagued their watches.
Well, there was some truth in this as far as the early Kinetic watches were concerned. Seiko had since corrected their teething problems and their Kinetic models constitute their bread-and-butter, mid-priced watches.
Originally posted 2008-07-09 23:45:07.
Sizzling Fajitas, anyone?
Recently, there was an interesting thread in the Seiko & Citizen Watch Forum about copycat Seiko watches. Copycat manufacturers are not to be confused with counterfeit watch makers, who blatantly pass off their fake products as genuine ones.
Okay, counterfeit makers would prefer to be called by a more polite name “replica watch” manufacturers. Either way, it’s the same thing. It is an outright copyright and trademark infringement of the original brand owner and sales and distribution of such fake watches are considered a felony in most countries.
I’m not talking about homage watches either. A homage watch is one that is styled after a very well known and established model but with intentional visual alterations so as not to be sued by the original manufacturer of the watch.
Seiko, Casio, Citizen and Orient have been “guilty” of making homage watches designed after the ones from the famous Swiss brands - Rolex and Omega to name a few. Alpha, AMF, Invicta and Sandoz are also other watch companies that have made homage watches that are almost close to the real thing.
Originally posted 2008-07-30 20:15:00.
How to spot fake Seiko watches on eBay
Ever since I wrote the article on spotting fake Seiko watches in this blog, I’ve received many inquiries from readers asking me to verify whether the watch they are looking at on eBay (or have recently purchased) are genuine or otherwise. Although most of the watches are not really that expensive, they still have the right to be concerned as they want to know whether their hard earned money went into buying the real deal or a counterfeit.
The good news is that most online sellers don’t peddle in fake Seiko watches as eBay is strict with sales of counterfeit goods on the auction site. The bad news is that with so many upcoming new sellers registering themselves as merchants, there’s bound to be a few bad hats that whether knowingly or otherwise that are passing off fake Seiko watches as genuine ones.
Seiko SKXA35 Diver’s 200m review
Watch History
- Date acquired: July 31 2007
- Production date: March 2007
- Source: Seiko Company Store, Seattle USA
- Price paid: USD140 (w/o shipping)
- Status: In production
Background
This yellow faced Seiko divers’ watch actually took quite some time for me to decide. Yellow is not my favorite color in a watch (orange is more acceptable) and I think most yellow dials are hard to read. It’s neither white nor orange. It’s probably an in-between hue. Perhaps the most positive point of a yellow colored watch is that it’s very unique and striking on the wrist.
It’s not a popular color for a watch and that’s probably why one seldom sees yellow dialed watches in the stores or on people’s wrists. I was considering the black SKX173 7s26 diver but I already own two SKX007J divers. The SKX173, apart from its rectangular index markers and the lumed ball on the tip of the sweep second hand, didn’t offer much difference from the classic SKX007 divers.
What made me eventually choose the SKXA35?
Originally posted 2008-07-19 00:49:56.