When the lights go down and the mood is right, and you need the exact time, you’ll see the seconds pip tracing away, displaying the time exactly 30 seconds behind the actual time the pip is opposite the indicating end of the seconds hand. One issue I’ve always had with the SKX and Seiko 5s (and any other watch that uses it) is the counterweight pip on the seconds hand. Well, the SRPE51 and its comrades do away with the bulge and replace it a with a slimmed down minute hand crowned by a slimmer arrow. The minute hand goes thick-thin-arrow, like some heavenward street sign on a plinth. I complained about the hands on the SKX and the new Seiko 5 divers being a weak point for me. What has changed is the handset, chiefly the minute hand. They all shine brightly as ever with a generous application of Seiko’s proprietary LumiBrite lume. The indices are unchanged, with a 12 o’clock triangle, capsule plots at the cardinal hours, and rounded plots for the remainder. Further, I don’t know what else you would put there - it’s too wide for a polished insert, and black or white would be too discordant. During everyday time-telling glances, it blends in perfectly. But it’s only something you notice when you’re looking too hard, looking for issues. I think it’s decidedly modern looking, and that the old badge was stodgy and inelegant I welcome the change as both an improvement and a sign of progress for Seiko.Ī color-matched-but-not-radiant chapter ring encircles the dial, and that difference in texture gave me pause upon very close examination - I like continuity and fluidity and matching. I’ve never understood the opposition to this. ‘Automatic’ appears in script at 6 o’clock and a polished ‘SEIKO’ is applied at 12 o’clock, while just below is printed the controversial Seiko 5 logo: a skewed ‘5’ in the shape of the old Seiko 5 badge that used to occupy the same space.
The new Seiko 5 SRPExx series is available in a number of dial colors, but the grey called to me for its subtle beauty and versatility. Under the classic Seiko Hardlex mineral crystal, the SRPE51 features a radiant grey dial, bursting from the center in resplendent magnificence. Thanks to the lack of a rotating, chunkmonster bezel, the dial feels open and airy, like it can finally breathe. I think it ties the case together: look at how the polished tops of the crown guards finally have a friend to play with, instead of some itinerant, everchanging rotation of numbers that always seem a little off. If it weren’t clear, I like the change-I love the change. It is the most overt signal to the buyer, the wearer, and the watchfam writ large that this is not a dive watch. In place of the oft-misaligned bezel, Seiko has attached a fixed, polished one that complements the rest of the polishing on the case. The biggest visual shift away from the SKX and the other new Seiko 5s is the lack of a bezel. That’s more than enough for most activities, though I’ll likely swap to a less aquaphobic piece for my seaside adventures (though I did brave the treacherous depths of my son’s intense bath times). The crown is an easy-to-use push-pull, and as such you’ll find only 100m water resistance. At 4 o’clock, the ridged crown is nestled between crown guards that flow organically from the case. The fluid sides are polished and feature a single thin bevel abutting the top of the case, which flows from lug to lug. It sits easily on the wrist, without standing out like Uluru in the Outback.
The dimensional shift alone makes it a far more wearable watch.
Plus, it’s a full 1.5mm thinner (by my measurement some sites are saying it’s 11.5 compared to the SKX 13.5, but my calipers show 12mm - so the other sites are wrong). And the new Seiko 5 SRPE51 has the same case but scaled down to 40mm with a 44mm lug-to-lug. That’s what we all love about the SKX (that and the price). What I did love about the SKX was the case. So how could I have been so surprised when the new, fixed-bezel Seiko 5 SRPE51 came along? How did I not anticipate the love? You see, I’ve always tended toward cleaner watches, even with my divers (like my Mido Ocean Star and Omega SMP 2254.50, the latter which I’ve described as a ‘dress diver’). Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered with the three SKXs I’ve had (two stock, one modded).
I didn’t want the weird handset, with that odd minute hand situation. I didn’t know when I purchased it that I’d suddenly realize why I never connected with the iconic SKX.