Belk: Seiko Blue Black SSK003 or Black Gray SSK001 – $380 w/ SAVINGS ($475)
UPDATE: And they’re gone. Sold out as of Sunday afternoon.
For those unfamiliar with Belk… it’s a southern based department store chain. Which when it comes to watch shopping, is far superior to some random gray market seller on Amazon or eBay named WATCHEZ4U (or something like that). Why? Because you’re gonna get a factory warranty with these. And since they’re a legit business with real history and legal departments, it’s not like you’re our man Ernie, buying an “O” out of some creep’s trench coat:
Belk is legit. Thankfully not the gray market…
because this is what buying a watch on the gray market can feel like.
Don’t do it Ern. That “O” doesn’t come with a factory warranty.
Belk is not the gray market. They’re just a tad lesser known. Which means sometimes stock sneaks in and doesn’t get snapped up right away.
They also happen to have the extraordinarily hard to find Seiko GMTs back in stock, and through today (Sunday 2/26/23) they’re 20% off with the code SAVINGS. Authorized dealer + on sale = pretty tough to replicate with these Seiko 5 Sports GMTs.
Ready to throw (extra) hands
Very much based on the Seiko 5 Sports dive-style platform, these things are robust, great looking, and often sold out since a GMT automatic/mechanical from a heritage brand like Seiko is unheard of at this sub $500 price.
The GMT hand is bright red on the blue & black as well as on the black & gray model. (On the seemingly rarer orange dial option the GMT hand is black.) The smooth rotating (not “clicky”) 24 hour ring is broken into two halves of color via a definitive but still smooth transition at 0600 and 1800 (sun-up and sun-down…ish).
Magnifier over the date window + two tone GMT ring.
Made specifically for time-zone hopping travelers, that GMT hand can be used in a few different ways. But one of the easiest is to “set it and forget” it to the 24-hour time in the 2nd time zone you want to track (London, Shanghai… Poughkeepsie) and then by seeing where that red hand is pointing to on the bezel, you’ll know if they’re eating dinner or breakfast over there. Wherever there is.
That and it just looks cool.
Exhibition caseback so you can see that automatic GMT movement at work.
The case is just 0.2 mm thicker than their non GMT brothers (13.6mm vs 13.4mm). 42.5mm case (which wears more like 41mm), 100m of water resistance, and an exhibition caseback are all carried over from the non-GMT. Movement still hacks and hand winds, and the crown does not screw down. Although it feels nice and secure in the seated, waterproof position.
In stock for now. On sale through today, February 26th, with the code SAVINGS.
Ships for free. Returns will set you back $9.95 via a pre-paid label.
Full review here if you’d like it.
That’s all.
Carry on.
