Seiko 5 SNZJ59
, SNZJ53
, SNZJ67
, SNZJ65
, and SNZJ63
| $134 – $174
Pictured Above: The SNZJ59, which the price has dropped back down on to a reasonable $159.00
Inertia is a powerful force. If you’ve never been a fan of the way stainless steel links look on your wrist, or you’ve never placed a premium on watches with automatic movements, it’ll take one hell of a watch to get you to change your mind on both fronts. This is one of the few watches under $200 that’s up to the challenge, and could very well make you leave your leather band, battery powered, old favorites in their case.
The Pros
The Size: 42.5mm is the sweet spot for many guys who want a watch with some size but nothing ridiculous. Well balanced & stands out just enough. You can get a perspective on its size here.
.- The Color Schemes: Five options to choose from
and the dark dial w/ the dark outer top ring on the SNZJ59 (pictured here) knocks the shine down nicely. Good for those who are wary of metal bands
. - The Dial: Varies only slightly between the 5 and 6 model options, but both have enough detail without getting cluttered.
. - The Crowns: The one at 9:00 rotates the inner bezel, and the one cocked down at 3:30-4:00 gives it great balance w/out being completely symmetrical. They really set this thing apart.
. - The Links: They’re not matte but they’re not obnoxiously chromed out either. Great spacing and width. Sport inspired, not jewelry inspired.
. - The Versatility: Recently wore this for an hour hike in the afternoon, and then to a wedding later that night.
The Cons
- The Slippery Bezel: The crown that controls the inner bezel is touchy. So much so that sometimes the skin where your arm meets your wrist will nudge it a couple degrees/minutes or more.
. - The Scarcity: Finding these can be a pain. Amazon has a couple of the models, but the prices on the SNZJ59 has swung wildly by more than $100 recently. Looks like it’s back down to around $160
. For now.
The Bottom Line
It’d be fair to call me a convert, and I’d never thought I’d get used to any watch with a metal band. It doesn’t look cheesy, it doesn’t look showy, and the automatic movement is a nice bonus.
You can’t wind it via the crowns, but instead to start/recharge it you hold it between your thumb and index finger (like you would a flashlight) and gently swing it from side to side. That’ll oscillate the weight which winds the spring. When fully wound it’ll go for about 40 hrs if stationary, and it seems to stay powered up easily if you live a moderately active lifestyle. Nothing quite like having a watch that you look forward to taking for a walk like you would a dog.
.
Bought the white-face one, wore it for about a week, and returned it in favor of my darling Orient’s “thresher” model. Couple reasons others might consider:
1) I found the inner bezel on the seiko (yes, iPhone, I really do mean “seiko,” and not “drill”) to be distracting, when the time markers were so close to the bezel markers in prominence–I was reading time off the bezel, just for a split second, and it was buggin me. Perhaps if you’re used to using an analog watch and just “see” the time w/o numbers at all, this is a non-issue for you. I’m not in this camp, but had no problem with my existing orient “aviator,” which has all the digits printed, in Arabic form, on the simple face. Kitsch strike 1.
2) there were two knobs on the thing, and one was just to move the virtually useless inner bezel. As Joe mentioned, the knob is incredibly sensitive. It’s also multi-directional, so if you actually use it as intended, as a sort of low-tech timer function, you not only have no idea whether you’re approaching the set time, but whether you’re short or long on time. Not a huge deal, but when I get this bit of useless information at the cost of another knob on an already-pushing-it-in-the-cluttered-department watch? Analog Strike two (umpire simultaneously calls kitsch)
3) the relative lack of illumination (again, perhaps paired with my non-innate-nor-honed-analog-watch-skills) made checking the time in a dimly kit place much more of an issue than I wanted. Again, if you could consider one of those minimalist-movado-with-just-a-diamond-at-noon for your own use, my lack of skillz ain’t gonna be an issue for you. While the thresher I bought didn’t have full numeral markers like the aviator I’ve got, at least it has a full illuminated mark at every hour. It’s not like I’m making SEAL team maneuvers in pitch darkness and need split second precision, but knowing more than “it’s something o’clock” while on a mid-night fridge raid is helpful. Tactical strike 3 (tried to make a “kitsch-en raid” joke, but that’s just not working).
Honestly, I’m not 100% sold on the thresher, but it was the only white-face auto with day and date in the face that was also a 22mm lug width, so’s I could share NATO bands with my blue face aviator (and I loves me some fun-colored NATO bands). The seiko also met those criteria, btw.
Ah, but alas, he did not also leave the second hand set at 12. So close, yet so far… (especially with a non-hackable watch)
Thanks for the explanation (to both Joe and Shawn) of the bezel/crown problem. I’d read about it in a review somewhere and couldn’t figure out what the person was actually talking about. The black and orange accented version of this watch, as well as the black and blue accented version, were tempting me for a while, but then I happened to walk into my local Costco the other day and saw a Rolex Submariner homage watch in the case for $20. Not an automatic, obviously, but it’s a surprisingly good watch for the money and has at least temporarily scratched my sporty watch itch. Plus if the watch breaks, my heart and wallet won’t follow suit.
If anyone here is a Costco member, you might want to check out their watch selection. They actually carry legit brands (I saw TAG Heuer, Movado, Tissot, Wenger, Seiko, etc.) for respectably discounted prices. A lot of the watches I saw were really nice, name-brand autos in the $100-200 range. Their online selection is, unfortunately, somewhat limited and doesn’t reflect the variety you can usually find in person.
Here’s a picture of my $20 baby, in case anyone wants to take a look. Yeah, don’t judge me by the sketchiness of the brand…. I know Invicta suffers a poor reputation for quality control and customer service, but mine is a nice little beater watch, and it hasn’t broken yet 😉
I can confirm the quality control and customer service fails. Watch broke, $29 “warranty service” later, it came back with the same broke-ness. Haven’t bothered sending it back.
But, for $20? Skip it across that nice lake when it breaks, and it’s worth it.
Also, screw your picturesque, mountainous background–why don’t you just have a bevy of babes in there, too? Showoff.
Man I love that extra crown 🙂 But, different strokes, no? I was wondering if anyone would notice the time/date set.
oh; also–I didn’t like the shape of the hands on the seiko. They were straight on both sides, with no taper out to the arrowhead. I like the look of a tapering hand more.
Ah. Good. Anything else? 🙂
hmm…just realized I’m sounding like a wet blanket. Well…it’s not news that I can be a jerk. Sorry.
No reason to apologize at all… now I just know what I’M NOT GETTING YOU FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR. Not that I know you. Or, we’d exchange presents if we did know each other. Thanks for the feedback Shawn, good to get another in person opinion on these things.
Just copped the white face. Noted on all of Shawn’s feedback, but at some point functionality, price and beautiful design come together and you just can’t pass up these opportunities.