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Wrist Check

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Here's a Seiko from their Presage line, with an enamel dial and power reserve complication.
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I was fortunate enough to be able to pick this up during a trip to Tokyo last December. Behind my Omega Speedmaster Pro, this watch has the most intricate and well-proportioned dial in my collection.

The hands are a translucent midnight blue, and pop out against the creamy white enamel dial. Roman numerals normally clutter up a dial, but these are printed so narrowly and finely that it all just works. The calendar subdial is a more unique and elegant (though less legible) way of showing the date than the usual date window. The power reserve subdial comes close to cluttering up the dial, but I think just manages not to. Highly legible overall, and beautiful even at a glance.

However, this dial reserves (no pun intended) its secrets for the close observer. Attend with me.

First, the enamel. Though it's a signature feature, the enamel dial is understated in the extreme. You can't see it from this photo, but the dial is recessed in the centre and about the calendar and power reserve subdials. Not just that, the recessed area is also textured, setting off the glossy enamel at the perimeter of the dial. You're welcome to look for flaws, like tiny bubbles in the enamel. I have. There are none.

Look closer. Tiny arabic numerals are sitting on the periphery marking the minutes. What are they doing there? It's as if somebody said to a Seiko designer, "I bet you can't make an elegant, clean looking watch with numbers on the dial for both hours and minutes", and they went, "Challenge accepted." Do the font and size of the minute numerals match up with the ones on the calendar and power reserve indicator? Of course they do.

In the time we've been examining the dial, the hands have swept on. Did you notice something about them? The hour hand just touches the inner tips of the roman numerals, the minute hand grazes the tips of the minute markers, and the seconds hand lines up with the outer edges of the roman numerals. Highly, highly satisfying.

But wait, before you go, this watch has one more trick up its sleeve. Check out the other end of the seconds hand. Looks like there's nothing there? There's actually a crescent on the end. That crescent lines up almost perfectly with the 'O' in 'SEIKO', which is why you're not really seeing it. Wait 26 seconds for that crescent to reach its nadir at the bottom of the dial, and for a split second the central pip of the calendar subdial fills up the hollow of the crescent, forming a fleeting black full moon. Call the Professor, this is Da Vinci Code level shit.

It took me weeks to notice all these tiny details, and I'm still wondering if there's more I haven't spotted. I often can't believe I paid less than a grand for this.

EDIT: In the course of discussion here, I did notice something new about this watch. The sub-seconds indices are painted in divisions of 4 per second, not 5 per second as you'd normally expect. The 6R27 movement on this is 28,800bph, or 8 beats per second. This means that every other beat of the seconds hand lines up with an individual seconds or sub-seconds marker. This is one detail where this watch is actually superior to the Omega Speedy Pro, which is frankly insane.
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Gugliermo
1317
Oct 9, 2017
Wow, exquisite time piece. Congrats!
Keth
760
Oct 7, 2017
I love this watch, but man that band would be gone in a heartbeat. Glossy leather of any variety just feels cheap to me, regardless of its quality. I've actually been looking to trade my Alpina AL535AB5AR26 for this watch, or an Alpina AL-860S4H6 which is currently my dream watch, right up there with a Tudor North Flag.
Keth
760
Nov 13, 2017
I ended up getting an amazing deal on an Oris Aquis,
https://image.rakuten.co.jp/trend-watch/cabinet/ors/wa-ors-0105-a.jpg
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Daisy_Cutter
1288
Nov 13, 2017
KethCongrats! That's a beauty.
PetrosD
3702
Oct 7, 2017
Gorgeous watch and an excellent description. When you can, please post some additional pictures to show those dial details you described. The watches Seiko sells in the US pale in comparison to those they sell in Japan. That's a great example of true Seiko quality.
WatchDoctor
847
Oct 7, 2017
Daisy_Cutter
1288
Oct 7, 2017
WatchDoctor
847
Oct 6, 2017
Very nice and thanks for all the detail you provided. What are the dimensions of this Seiko?
Daisy_Cutter
1288
Oct 7, 2017
WatchDoctorThanks! According to Seiko's website, this is a 40.5mm watch across the case. According to my own (possibly wonky) measurements, lug width is 20mm, and lug-to-lug is about 46mm. Height is about 13mm. I have a small wrist, and this is very wearable.
Vincent.H
1698
Oct 6, 2017
Seiko, man. They really subscribe to "the devil in the detail".
Absolutely stunning!
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