My top 2 favorite Seikos, why I love them and the small little things I hate about them.

First my all time favorite blue Willard.  I’ve told my few watch geek friends that my blue Willard SPB183J1 is my all time favorite Seiko.  I absolutely love this watch!  
 

Being a reissue of the original reference 6105 this modern interpretation is a bit smaller and thinner than the original from 1970.  The short lug to lug, deep cushion case & asymmetrical design is quintessentially Seiko.  For me, this watch rides the line of being both classic & unique.  in my point of view this watch has the perfect proportions for a Seiko diver.  I‘m a big fan of The Grey Nato podcast and since James Stacey got his SPB143 I’ve always associated that watch with him.  In the way I associate the SPB143 with James, I can confidently say you can associate the SPB183 with me. 😁
 

I love how the blue can appear to be a deep vibrant Royal blue, sometimes navy blue or even under certain light the dial can look black.  The Willard’s bezel is great too, the coin-edged bezel with that crisp & somewhat soft bezel action is a joy to use and fidget with.  

For me there are only 3 things holding the blue Willard from being in my view the perfect Seiko Diver and these 3 are fully articulating screwed links, a milled clasp & an easier to manipulate crown.  The swing arms on the clasp are milled but it would have been awesome if the clasp itself was milled as well.  The crown is small and when it‘s screwed down it’s  a bit of a challenge to unthread the crown between it’s chunky crown guards.  
 

Next my 2nd favorite Seiko of all time, the 2021 Padi Samurai SRPG21K1.  I’ve always recommended any Seiko dive watch as a great first mechanical watch for newbies.  For some reason it was only last year that I finally decided to pull the trigger and add the first Seiko in my collection. 
 

 I chose the Padi King Samurai because of it’s aggressive angular case, the shark teeth markers & sword hands & the very generous amount of lumibrite applied on this watch, this watch glows like a torch in the dark. Lumibrite just might be the best luminescent paint in the industry. The touch of blue on the minute hand, the hash marks on the bezel, the “PADI” co-branding on the dial & the embossed globe on the dial all adds to the very cool, very modern & slightly futuristic design of the SRPG21K1 Samurai. 

Now moving on to the negatives of the Padi Samurai.  As time passed and I’ve worn and experienced both the Willard and the Samurai  the flaws of Seiko’s SRP line of watches compared to the SPB line of watches became more and more obvious.  For me, I chose the Padi samurai because it came on the silicone strap while the Turtle came on a bracelet.  I’ll just go ahead and say it fellow watch nerds, Seiko’s bracelets that come with the SRP line of watches are complete trash.  The clasp and swing arms are pressed and if there was an award for “most jingly-jangly cheap bracelet“ I would say it would go to Seiko’s SRP line bracelets. Plus, I’ve always thought that some watches look way better on a strap then on a bracelet.  The Samurai is one of those watches.  
 

I love the look of the Samurai’s bezel but the one little thing I hate about it is the knurling on the bezel.  It’s meant to make the bezel easier to grip and turn but for me it’s the opposite. For some reason I have a hard time gripping and twisting the bezel.  I use my dive bezel to time random things throughout the day and having an easy to grip and turn bezel with great bezel action is important to me.  
 

What the Samurai bezel lacks in bezel action the matching knurling on the large crown is fantastic to manipulate and interact with.  great crown, good job Seiko.  
 

 Just wanted to share my thoughts.  If there is a group of people who understand how meticulously I analyze the small details of watches in general it would be the WatchCrunch community.  
 

What do you guys think?  Would love to hear your thoughts..

Cheers!