Seiko Board of Directors

Get rid of all cyclops 😜

Regulate movements from the factory. It is the brand’s biggest downfall in my opinion. I will probably never buy another mechanical watch from Seiko for that reason. A lot of the micro bands that are less expensive do it, and their Swiss and German competitors at the same price range do it.

QC improvements.

Bezel alignment.

Clear delineation of lines Credor->GS->Seiko->Orient.

Way too much overlap and cannibalization in the product lineup.

I don't like them either. One of the rare times I prefer form over function. I like a date complication, and if it takes a few seconds to read a small date, so be it. You don't need to know the date Right This Nanosecond anyway. And a lot of cyclopses don't magnify very much.

I also don't like the day complication on a watch. I always know what day it is. I'm typing this on a Monday and I didn't have to look at my watch.*

*Which today is an Alba AEFD557 field watch which does in fact have a day-date complication.

They do need to regulate, but I sidestep this by preferring their quartz watches.

I was going to say that I'd push thinner movements, but thin movements won't help if the watches have a reputation for poor QC standards.

I'd be willing to overlook some of the thickness of Seiko watches, if I could reasonably assume that the watch arriving at my door would be properly aligned.

Thank you for the response. Has one or more of your Seikos had issues?

Thanks for your response. Did you get a misaligned bezel?

Thank you. Did you get a Seiko that was not properly aligned?

Thank you. I actually like this, getting a "family resemblance" in a less costly watch.

I never had any QC issue with my Seiko watches. However, the bracelets have always been subpar for the price and I hear that's also true for the entire Prospex line all the way up to luxury GS watches.

I'm tempted to pull the trigger on a 1968 GMT but paying 1500€ for a bracelet that doesn't fit the lugs and a cheap pressed clasp with its useless diver extension is truly making me reconsider.

I might just stop buying watches altogether for a few years until all these brands figure their sh*t out and all evolve to on-the-fly adjustment clasps. Chinese micros do it for 50€, wtf are these giant corporations with their millions profits waiting for?

Doesn’t everyone? I thought that’s how you know they’re authentic. 😆

I was just thinking the same thing yesterday (I really was) when I put a Seiko quartz watch on and it was suddenly too big on my wrist due to the weather, or I'm losing weight or . . .? And two holes of microadjust don't cut it.

You're right, the Chinese microbrands do it, and in 2023 you'd think this would all be worked out.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=seiko+misaligned+bezel&t=iphone&iax=images&ia=images

Thank you for sending this link. Some Seikos look way off, some I think(?) I can tell, and some I can't.

The Rolex they show looks just a little off, but the worst offender of all the watches shown is the JLC with the misaligned hour hand clear as day.

Ha ha fair play!! — I do a lot more desk diving than actual diving. If so remove the date function altogether.

Yeah, some you can really tell. Others it’s not as noticeable. At least at first. Some people are fortunate and have no problems. It can be a crapshoot. It’s not just Seiko, but they do seem to be the most notorious for it. With the technology they have available it should really be a nonissue. Get it together, Seiko!

I agree, Rolex and JLC have no excuse. Not at that price. They’d be going right back. Doesn’t appear to be widespread, though. There’s always going to be a few that slip through the cracks.

Desk diving is a real and competitive sport. People just don’t realize it 🤣

Nothing . Seiko knows whats best

I can't figure it out. I have 13 Seikos priced from $60-$180 and am just amazed at how well finished they are, how rugged they are, and what the dials look like. All three of my little old-school Seiko 5s with 7s26 keep pretty lousy time, but they're finished like perfect little jewels. My quartzes and solars all look great and keep super accurate time.

Here's the best I can reckon it. The worst offenders seem to be bezels and chapter rings. Do these still need to be hand assembled?

Also, you're on to something when you say a few will always slip through the cracks. I wonder if the whole thing is just mathematical. What if a high end manufacturer only made 1000 watches per year and two came back defective. At the same 2/1000 ratio, let's say Seiko made 1,000,000 that year. At the same ratio, 2000 would be defective.

But that still wouldn't explain why the other big hitters like Citizen and Casio don't (seem to) have the alignment problems, unless they do also and for whatever reason it hasn't become a big item on the Internet.

Thank you for your response. But after working together on this, I think our definitive answer is still "?????????????????????"

I {(somewhat) (grudgingly)} agree.

Fliegers seem to get a pass. And sterile dial Fliegers lost the war for Germany. American and British pilots took one look at those and said "We'll be damned if they conquer us and we have to wear those boring things."

Our answer? Maybe it’s out there. Somewhere. On the edge of space. Beyond what we can comprehend.

I’ll chalk it up as one of the great mysteries of the universe.

It’s most certain we’ll never know… and that’s what scares me the most. The unknown.

That, or the Seiko factory quality control dudes are just taking one too many lunch breaks.

Haha, that's as good as anything I've got!

We’re making a high quality 40mm mechanical diver (ISO certified) that costs less than $500.

Stop putting the same movement in every Seiko watch, I why does a 200 Dollar Seiko have the Same movement as a 600 Dollar Seiko?

Make a better bracelet for the £500+ watches

Ooops. I'm a bit late to this party.

I'd suggest the board renewed their respect for both their customers and the brand. Seiko just says... Sapphire? No. Accuracy? Nah. QC? Hahaha, nope. Prices? Kerching and f**k off!

Now customers just say Seiko used to be good.