Seiko Recraft SRPC09 Review: Greatest Hits Album

Wherever you go, it seems like everyone is aching for the "good ol' days". In an age where everyone from your grade school lunch lady to the people who run this country make you feel hopeless and dejected about the future, it's only natural that people crave some nostalgia in order to pursue some sort of endorphin high. This also applies to the world of watches. Gone are the days when normal people like you and me could walk into a Tourneau and buy a brand new steel Rolex sports model for around sticker price; now, the best you can do is buy a secondhand Ginault and hope it isn't made from fake watch parts.

One of the more recent falls from grace is Seiko. No longer can you get the classic green Alpinist for under $500; instead, you have to pay $300 more to get a slightly better movement and a white date wheel. The SNKs are now being replaced with the 5KX range. And worst of all, Seiko can’t align its bezels and chapter rings for shit, even with watches costing north of a grand.

But Seiko, like most watch brands, knows it can bank on nostalgia. They’re undoubtedly one of the most important watchmakers in the history of horology, along with the likes of Rolex, Omega and even Casio. They proved to the Swiss that you don’t have to reside within the hills of La Chaux-de-Fonds or Le Locle in order to make a quality timepiece that’s better than a Timex V-Conic yet still costs considerably less than an Omega or Tissot. They also damn near ended Western watchmaking as a whole with the introduction of the original Astron on Christmas Day of 1969.

Such a philosophy was undoubtedly considered when Seiko launched their Recraft line. The Recrafts are essentially reissues of (or at least heavily inspired by) Seiko’s back catalog, especially for their old 5s from the 70s, although you can get a very nice analog solar chronograph in a couple of different colors. However, most of the Recrafts are practically kindred spirits to the pre-5KX Seiko 5s; they come with the old workhorse 7S26 and with 50m of water resistance, all for under $250. I personally believe that most of the Recrafts with newer serial numbers come housed with whatever dead stock 7S26s Seiko has lying around after they introduced the SRPD/E. But, there is one Recraft that I feel stands above the rest: the SRPC09. Modeled after a 5 Sports model from the late 60s and early 70s (specifically the 6119-6400), this Recraft comes with 100m of water resistance and the undisputed king of affordable mechanical movements, the 4R36. Seiko fans have dubbed this model (and its grandpa) the “UFO”, though I liken it more to a Turtle, due to the nonexistent lugs and recessed 4 o’clock crown.

My Recraft was made in October of 2017, but despite that it’ll be turning 5 this year-two years beyond Seiko’s recommended service interval for any of their watches-the watch doesn’t fog up after full submersion in water and the movement runs healthily; after a lot of nervous bodging and tweaking, the watch gains about +8spd and has no beat error. I actually got mine second (or possibly third) hand off eBay for about $175, which is a pretty good deal when you find out that a new SRPC09 will run you over $300. While that isn’t a horrible price, I’d reckon these will only go up in value as the years go on, so your mileage may vary.

As you might’ve guessed by now the SRPC takes some less-than-subtle cues from Seiko’s 70s watches. The style of the handset and indices were widely used on Seiko’s more sporty non-diver’s watches during the early 70s. It has a brilliant blue sunburst dial that reminds me a bit of my blue Vostok diver, and Seiko’s logo is applied, not printed. It features a similar “fishbone” handset as the legendary Captain Willard, and the indice at 12 has two batons instead of just one, allowing you to distinguish the time in darker conditions with more ease. And because it’s a Seiko it’s blessed with Lumibrite lume, making it a surprisingly good choice if legibility is a concern for you.

One of my favorite things about the Recraft Turtle/UFO (Alien Turtle?) is how it wears. Measuring in at 44mm with a thickness of 13.3mm and a lug width of 22mm, the SRPC would normally wear quite large; however, we’re talking Seiko here, and Seiko is the mack daddy of big watches that wear small. The SRPC is only 41.5mm long, and it’s the only watch I’ve ever seen in person that’s wider than it’s lug-to-lug. Consequently, the Recraft feels more like my Tissot PR100, which is a whole 5mm narrower than this is.

The crystal is also a blessing and a curse. Like most affordable Seikos it’s made of Hardlex, but unlike most affordable Seikos it has a unique shape and design. You see, rather than just being flat or domed, the Recraft’s crystal has a plateau shape; it has a flat, raised surface that drops significantly to meet the case. This allows for some stunning distortion that’s usually absent from most stock Seikos. But if you end up scratching or otherwise damaging it, good luck getting a replacement; even after scouring Cousins UK and other watch parts sellers, I couldn’t find the exact crystal the SRPC comes with, and I’m not looking to replace it with something generic. It’s kinda annoying because it has a small nick between the K and the O (there’s a joke in there somewhere) and polishing a mineral crystal is a fool’s errand.

I also can’t speak with confidence when it comes to the stock bracelet…because mine didn’t come with it. Instead, the guy I bought it from (or whoever had it before him) put a respectably pliable yet bizarre quick-release rubber strap on it. Based on the unpronounceable name that was on the buckle, I assume it was from one of those no-name Aliexpress or Amazon brands that you find when you search the phrase ‘22mm rubber watch strap’ on those two mentioned sites. I took it off, put it on a Vostok I never wore, and sold it to one of my brother’s friends for a cool $60. Right now I have it on this very fitting and quite sporty mesh bracelet I had lying around, although the Recraft is a great recipient to lots of kinds of bands and bracelets, making it a retro-styled strap monster. In fact, I think the SRPC is one of the very few watches I’ve ever seen that fully embraces its idiosyncratic style while simultaneously remaining versatile; with the correct strap this watch would be right at home in a wedding or non black-tie formal event.

As mentioned previously, Seiko can’t align its parts to save itself. This particular SRPC is no exception; the 60-minute chapter ring is kiltered very slightly to the right, so it misses the indices by about a ⅓ of a minute. The hour hand is also about 5-7 minutes ahead of the minute hand, so when it’s noon or midnight, you notice the hour hand is a bit further ahead than it should be.

Even though the crystal will be a serious pain to find or polish, one of the best things about the SRPC is that it shares the same basic architecture as the current 5KXs. Even though the case of this watch is wholly unique to the SRPCs, it uses the same style of see-through caseback and gasket, meaning finding replacement gaskets will be easy and inexpensive. On top of that, any watchmaker worth their salt will be able to service and repair the 4R36 that lives inside of it.

The Seiko SRPC09, much like it’s beefier younger brother, the SNJ025, is Seiko giving us a college try at reminding us of when they, not Apple, were the kings of the watchmaking world. Now, though, tons of people now scoff at their products and eat up Orients and microbrands.

Seiko reminds me a bit of my favorite band, the Beach Boys. Everyone thinks all they do is run the nostalgia circuit, singing about their Detroit Iron and teenage girls (despite that the original surviving members are pushing their 80s). But for a short while, they beat the proclaimed kings of modern music, the Beatles, at their own game with Pet Sounds, and would’ve delivered the killing blow with SMiLE. But much like Seiko, the Beach Boys lost their way, and much like Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and countless of their contemporaries, have been firmly relegated to singing the oft-repeated anthems of the old times.

But at least we (or some of my older readers, given I’m all of 21) can go back to those nostalgic days with the Made in California boxset and the Seiko SRPC09.