During the nineties, Seiko made a couple of Kinetic divers that were nicknamed “starfish” due to their unique star shape bezels.
Today, after more than ten years, Seiko came out with a new diver that has a similar bezel design as the original Starfish Kinetic divers. Even though the new diver is powered by the 7S automatic movement and is by no means a reissue, it does look like Seiko has pulled out and reused the bezel design of the Kinetic divers from their design archives.
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This time round, I had the opportunity to handle this limited edition Mini Monster from Thailand. It is based on a regular Seiko 5 Sports model that was nicknamed “Mini Monster” by Seiko fans due to its similarity to the Seiko Monster.
Recently, a couple of early and popular 6R15 models from the Spirit line were discontinued and some people are rushing to buy them because they were much lower in price compared to the current models.
This time round, I had the opportunity to look at the blue dialed SARB045, one of the more expensive 6R15 models to find out what makes it cost more.
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I own a couple of 6R15 watches from the Seiko Mechanical line and have handled a number of others in the same line but this time round, I had the opportunity to handle a 6R15 from the Premier line. The watch I handled is the SPB011J. It is not a new release. If I remember correctly, it was released in 2007 along with a black dial (SPB009J) and a white dial (SPB007J) variant.
The SPB011J specimen I got here is a used piece so while looking at its features, I’ll also get a chance to see what disadvantages the used watch will reveal.
Seiko SBDC001 and Orient CFD0C001B
The Orient 300m diver is often compared to the Seiko 200m SBDC001 (aka Sumo) because both watches have similar case diameter and are of similar style. The Orient has a list price of JPY150,000 in Japan while the Sumo is only JPY60,000 (both prices exclude tax).
For a real life divers, there is no comparison. The Orient 300m is a professional diver that is designed to handle saturation diving while the Sumo is only good for scuba diving.
For the rest of us, we compare their physical attributes to decide which one we prefer. If you are choosing between the Orient and Seiko, here is a quick comparison for your reference.
I have posted on the new SNKH63K1 before (two posts down) but this time round, I managed to bring home a specimen and I took the opportunity to take some pictures of it.
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This is a discontinued model but I am taking the opportunity to document it here on this blog since I had the chance to handle a brand new piece recently.
This watch was the first automatic model that was released under the Seiko Criteria line. This particular specimen that I have here was manufactured in September 2004. I believe it was from an early batch because the watch actually hit the stores in early 2005.
In case you are not aware, Seiko has released a new series of Seiko 5 “Flieger” to replace the previous models. I had the opportunity to take a look at the black dialed version, SNKH63K1 as well as its predecessor, the SNK809K1.
SNKH63K1
Shown above is a picture of the SNKH63K1 and below is a picture of the discontinued SNK809K1 in case you have forgotten how it looks like.
From a picture on the catalog to the final product, the 4R15 diver is finally released. This is the first Seiko diver that uses the 4R15 movement. Like the 7Sxx movement, the 4R15 does not hack nor handwind but it has a power reserve of 50 hours according to its specification.
Let’s take a look at the watch….
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Yeoman's Watch Review 