Whether you realise it or not the Seiko 5 srpd55 is arguably one of the most important watches ever. Now that is a bold statement and you have to bear with me a moment.
This watch has not influenced designs massively, trends in fashion or broken any particularly new ground. But instead this watch and its forebears like the SKX007 have started more watch collections than arguably anything else.
this is the perfect stepping stone into mechanical watches. So if you’ve come here looking for a review on that affordable new seiko of yours as a way into watches then you’re going down the right path.
However it’s not all sunshine and rainbows with this watch. You have to know what you’re getting into. Enthusiasts already in the watch world will tell you these cost too much, but in reality they just cost more than when they got into watches.
A new one of these is £280 or $350. When I was getting into watches these I swear less than half this. But here we are. You’ll see this is not a new one, it has been worn, it has been beaten up and if that’s what you intend for your seiko – give it a few years this is what yours will look like. I quite like it – you might not.
Those enthusiasts I mentioned before will say this is too expensive. But that’s because their perspective has often been lost. If you’re in the world of watches for a while you’ll realise that microbrand watches offer considerably more value than both their Japanese and Swiss competitors.
After some time in watches you realise that they’re generally pretty reliable and you don’t need that household name marker to back up your purchases.
But when you’re starting out you want that reassurance of a brand you recognise and trust. The Seiko name is that, it’s not rolex but people know it. As a brand they’ve been around since the 1910s and a company even longer. They triggered the quartz crisis with the astron and were in blade runner as a near future advert.
You might not know that as a new person in watches, but you have a confidence in the brand for some reason and that in a way justifies the price. It’s the same way people approach rolex. Rolex is to luxury watches what seiko is to everyday affordable watches. It’s not the best – but it’s good enough.
However people will say that this particular watch isn’t good enough. 100 metres of water resistance not 200m, a push pull crown not screwdown, a 40 hour power reserve and an accuracy of +45 to negative 35 seconds a day.
But again it’s probably good enough for your first watch.
In fact this watch here well I put it on a timegrapher and it’s apparently operating outside of this accuracy rating. Even though I’ve never really noticed it being too far out, it appears to have a longer power reserve than 40 hours with me noting it working 3 days after wear. A bit weird I’ll admit. It has a quick set function for the day date and better still when you wind it you don’t have the hassle of fiddling with a screw down crown. Something likely as a new watch buyer you might struggle with.
This is not a perfect watch, far from it. It’s very thick and comically so when it’s on a nato strap like mine is. In fact it’s even worse with how square the piece is, it doesn’t particularly have levels, the Hardlex crystal and bezel form one brick. It isn’t the prettiest either. But that isn’t the point of this watch, it’s a hefty one intentionally so with a 22mm lug width and 42 mm wide case it is a big manly watch.
Yet if you’re looking for a first mechanical watch, or a mechanical beater then this or something similar in the Seiko lineup will always be a good buy.
And if you don’t accept that then you need to come to terms with the fact that we’re all on different points in our journey with watches. And at some point in your journey this watch would probably have served you quite well.
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