Sam's Watch Review (Seiko 5 SRPD 53K1)

How I Got It

This is my first ever mechanical watch! An important piece for myself in my watch collecting journey. I am an experienced swim instructor in our swim academy and I recently get the opportunity to lead a life-saving program in September for a total of 90 participants. It was a 6 days straight program from 6AM to 7PM everyday. I worked hard for the program to ensure everyone was satisfied with the overall event after the event ended, i was given some money as an incentive for the success of the program. Since by that time I was so into watches, I decided to use the money to reward myself with my first mechanical watch 😂. Most of our time-keeping equipment used in out country is from Seiko anyway so combining the 2, this is watch i picked and I am quite pleased with it.

Build Materials & Appearance

The watch is stainless steel overall. Solid link bracelet with hollow end links. Crown again positioned near the 4 hour mark (cause it's a Seiko 5). I got the Pepsi bezel that is actually alligned with the minute ring and indices. It has beautiful blue sunburst dial and day date function at 3 hour mark. See through case back even though the movement is not that pretty to showcase compared to other luxury brands but being my first mechanical watch, i am still excited about it.

Pros & Cons Starting with Cons then Pros

Somehow, I feel like the bracelet is worse than my cheap Addiesdive bracelet. It is 'solid' links but I can see a fine line showing on those links that made it look like it's folded instead or full solid links. The clasp when put on keeps making noises as if it is not properly locked even when it is properly secured. The day wheels is fine but the date is always slightly off which is very annoying to me. There's a small play for the bezel when rotating but a true diver's watch should have a little play for the bezel movement as the salt water could dry up under the bezel making it hard to move therefore the slight back play is important in my opinion. But the '120' clicks feels weird. When rotating, after one click it will then do a 'half click' sound that is totally different from the first click and then the third click will then sound and feels like the first click again and then that fourth click sound and feels the same as the second. This is also annoying to me.

Other than that, the watch is good overall. Lume is fine, case feels sturdy. The 4R36 movement in my day to day use is similar to the NH35 for the Addiesdive which is around +40s/-20s. It's still under proper regulation as mentioned by Seiko so I'm fine with it. The case and lug to lug size is perfect for my 6 inch wrist as well which is very important to me since I can't wear a perfect made watch but too large for my wrist.

Summary

Since the SKX models have been discontinued, i do strongly recommend getting the Seiko 5s. To avoid most of the quality control issues from Seiko I recommend going to the AD yourself and check the watch yourself before buying one. If you're purchasing online then maybe talk to the seller about your concerns before buying so they can at least check the watch for you before sending it off. The watch is no longer 200m ISO certified but the watch I believe is not intended to be made a diver's watch. It is just a diver's style watch and most of the diver's watch from Seiko is now under their Prospexs lineup. Bracelet feels kinda cheap but you can always change into a better one so that is not really an issue. Overall, great first watch. I strongly recommend getting these instead of the SKX now. I hope SKX owners won't bash me as much I' m not saying the SKX is bad, this is just for those who have not yet bought an SKX but are looking for one.