SLA after a few weeks

I have been surprised at just how much I like this watch, I wasn’t completely sure I would, or that it would even fit on my wrist. Having owned a few SLA’s and knowing how well they are built are I thought I’d give it a try.

It popped up for sale locally at an ok price, but when I inspected it I realised the bezel and insert had copped an absolute caning. Caseback sticker was still on, I have no idea why, this bloke wasn’t precious with the watch *at all*. What was he trying to preserve?

I negotiated further by a fair margin, we agreed. I paid him in cash, then turned an ran like a thief in the night.

I have a new bezel incoming which I stumbled on by chance on chrono24, but the appeal of not having to baby a watch like this is something in its own right.

It is meant to be used in place of other more delicate watches; I also think the bezel looks pretty great all bashed up. It’s growing on me.

As a Seiko nut and a fan of oddball designs I think this was always going to become a keeper.

The previous owner had worn it from 2019 every single day as a chef. It looks as if it has been through some stuff.

It has been worn to the gym, fishing, hunting, diving, cooking, changing nappies- just in the time I’ve had it.

It still bounces back looking great.

The unorthodox case design, thin stick handset, chunky hand applied and super bright lume, awesome movement, excellent bezel feel and quality throughout makes for a rugged daily watch.

The 8L35 is hand assembled, built in the Shizukuishi watch studio, and is hanging in there at +1.1 spd.

I’ve had five different 8L’s over the last two years- with just this and the sla043 left in the box as definite keepers. I’m a really big fan of the positional tightness of the calibre.

All five have kept within COSC, ranging from +1.1 to +4.7 seconds per day across the group, with consistent 300+ amplitude and minimal beat error across all five.

Might just be my luck (although most reviewers of 8L35 based watches say exactly the same thing) but I’ve found they all just stick to almost exactly the rate per day they have, day after day, with a variance of less than 0.5 spd, whether worn running, camping, fishing, diving or sitting still in the watch box.

To me the lack of drift or positional variance is the sign of a great quality, powerful movement. Whilst accuracy is rarely a deal breaker for me with a watch- as they almost always power down in rotation, it is interesting to observe how well Seiko does with these calibres.