The most popular diver watch in the world?

It’s hard to decide if this statement is true or not … but it’s definitely the most popular diver released by Seiko and the most recommended dive watch in the budget up to PLN 300 USD. The watch has already become legendary; one of the famous people who wore this model was the guitarist of the famous Queen band – Brian May. I couldn’t resist the temptation to buy one copy for myself, especially at the time when the rumor appeared, later officially confirmed that SKX models will no longer be produced and will be replaced by another series. For now, the watch can still be easily bought new or on the secondary market, although it currently costs around PLN 1,300 for purchases both in Poland and abroad.

I was wondering for a long time if I should publish a review of the watch in a heavily used condition, but I came to the conclusion that why not? After all, watches are used to wear and use them and this means that they catch singns of use and that is how it look after some time, whether you like it or not.
Therefore, I warn you immediately, you will see in the pictures that this watch has new times behind it ; I also don’t have a box so there will be no description in the review. Because this model has a lot of fans and some people take comments about the watch very personally (people … it’s just a watch) I point out that these are my personal insights based on my experience with other watches in a similar budget that I had and I don’t want to offend anyone.

Case

The case is made of stainless steel, 43mm wide and 13mm high. On the wrist, however, it looks smaller, due to the length of the lug to lug size, which in this watch is only 46mm. It sits perfectly on my wrist, more like a watch with a case width of 40-41mm, so I can confirm what you can read anywhere – SKX007 can be worn by people with smaller wrists. The proportions of this case are simply perfect, a huge plus for Seiko for its dimensions.


The sides and bottom of the case are polished, from above the surface is brushed. Unfortunately, I will not evaluate the cuts of the case due to the fact that it had a large number of scratches and I myself polished it a little to remove at least those shallow and smooth deep ones.


The case has an unusual shape – for most of its height it narrows quite downwards, it is a design characteristic of many Seiko diving watches in all practically price levels.
At 4 o’clock a crown is located between the heavily developed crown guard. It is not signed, but it’s screwed down, thanks to the large crown guard work with it is not the easiest but it’s possible to set the time and date quite efficiently.


The watch is famous for its water resistance at 200m confirmed by ISO certificate. It’s this certificate that allows SKX to be proudly called “a real dive watch”.

Movement

SKX007 is powered by the Seiko 7s26 mechanism, it is an automatic movement at a frequency of 21,600 beats per hour. This movement doesn’t have a hack second or the possibility of hand winding and is now obsolete, it isn’t mounted on any currently outgoing models. Therefore, some people decide to exchange the movement for another Seiko – NH36 which has both options.

Dial

The dial is matt black, the indices are white, painted: a triangle at 12 o’clock, rounded rectangles at 6 and 9 o’clock, and dots at other hours, these indices are filled with luminescent mass and I didn’t like this watch for a long time because of those indices . These dots of paint and lumens do not look too attractive, but because over time my watch taste has changed a lot, it doesn’t bother me, and I even like the “ugliness” of the dial, however it sounds 😉

Under the index of 12 o’clock there is a white inscription Seiko and automatic below. At the bottom of the dial, however, we have the orange inscription DIVERS 200, if it was the Japanese version, under this orange inscription would also be written in white information about the number of jewels in the movement. The biggest attraction of the dial is for me a double date stamp, located at 3 o’clock; they are black numbers on a white background and although in most cases I would complain about such a solution, here because of the white indices it fits well. What I like is the color of the date stamps – on Saturday it changes to blue and on Sunday to red, such a cool accent typical of day-date watches from Seiko.

On the periphery of the dial is a black ring floating upwards with painted minute indices in the form of white lines. The quality of the dial and its elements is decent, it doesn’t impress, but it does not offend deficiencies; in its form, there wasn’t much to spoil.


The minute and hour hands are silver, polished to a high gloss, while the second is white with a black counterweight at the end of which is a circle filled with luminescent mass.

If we are already at the lume, then the watch has a green luminescent mass that shines quite strongly and long, until the morning you can read the hour on the watch in total darkness, it could have been better but it is the cheapest Seiko model with wr200m, so it’s not bad anyway.


The watch has specially hardened mineral glass (the so-called Hardlex), which in theory is to be difficult to scratch, but in practice I have seen many scratched hardlexes and many opinions about the fact that they are easy to scratch, the glass in my copy also has a scratch … The standard in this budget there are already sapphire glass, but Seiko insisted is installing mineral glass in its divers. The explanation for this decision is the higher resistance of mineral glass to cracking (sapphire is more fragile and apparently easier to break from impact or high pressure). I did not check for resistance to cracks, but personally, as an EDC watch for me, I would prefer it to have sapphire glass mounted.

Bezel

It is tall, has 2 rows of teeth, making it easy to grab and operate. From the side it is polished to a high gloss and gives the impression of plastic, painted with silver paint, similar feelings I had in the case of the Citizen GTS bezel. There is a large gap between the bezel and the case, larger than necessary … the bezel just does not stick tightly to the case and hovers a little above it and can be pressed more by hand, but immediately rises back into place. The bezel has 120 clicks and turns much too lightly, on the first day of wearing the watch I accidentally twisted the bezel by a few teeth … in addition, it has a lot of slack and it needs to be corrected after setting it in the right place.

The bezel insert is aluminum, painted with black paint with silver minute indices in the form of dots and vertical lines every 5 and numbers every 10. At 12 o’clock there is a silver triangle with a luma dot in the center, this is the only bezel element with a luma. Such a bezel will be drawn quickly, mine already has some deeper, more visible scratches. This is the worst bezel I’ve seen in watches from this budget (PLN 1300), Phoibos Wave Master which is a watch for 2/3 of the SKX price and for which quality I also had a lot of comments fared much better in this matter, there is not much to say about Zelos and Aquatico at a similar price, the difference in quality is colosal.

Case back

The screwed full case back has an embossed image of the sea wave in the center, and base information about the watch is engraved around it. The case back is completely polished, which, like the bezel, gives the impression of painted plastic. As a result, the whole looks very kitschy and cheap.

Bracelet

The original Jubilee bracelet sold with this watch is the worst bracelet I have seen on the watch for over 1000 PLN. The outer links (larger) are full and the inner (small) links are empty and are mounted on pins, but the empty Endlinks bend easily, which means that with time between them and the case, looseness and ugly gaps are created. A big hole blows between the endlink and the first link because of too much distance between these elements. The clasp is a thin plate that is easy to scratch and doesn’t give the impression of solid, but it has micro-regulation that improves the wearing comfort due to better fit of the bracelet. In general, the entire bracelet after grabbing her hand seems too light and poorly made, which gives it a vintage character. Nevertheless, it is very comfortable, which is probably due to the large looseness it has and its very Jubilee design.

Summary

If we only consider the quality of workmanship and materials used, the Seiko SKX007 is the weakest of all the watches I described in reviews. I get the impression that the only thing we really pay for in this watch is water resistance at 200m confirmed by ISO certificate. For me, the strongest point of the watch is its case, and basically the shape and dimensions that suit me very much. Probably because of its “inborn” flaws, this watch has an amazing number of modifying parts available on the market, such as bezel inserts, bezels, glasses, dedicated bracelets and even cases that can make this model look similar to other watches; only that the modified Seiko skx still becomes Seik SKX and the replacement of virtually all parts of the watch will cost us so much that for this amount we can easily buy a watch with a sapphire, ceramic bezel, dial with applied indices, better movement and quality of workmanship. The whole watch seems to be a watch from a bygone era, it already has something of vintage. This can also be the reason why the old SKX is retiring and being replaced by models with a newer mechanism and a modernized look.

However, it cannot be hidden that we don’t buy watches only because of the quality of workmanship and materials used; some watches are becoming cult despite the fact that it don’t stand out in any way above average in quality, and this is the case with the Seiko SKX007, which will certainly be at the forefront of the most-seen wristwatches in the world for a long time, and which despite its flaws e for some reason I liked it very much. It’s probably due to the fact that the watch, despite the fact that it was still produced until recently, has a vintage breeze that works on me so much.

Konrad

4 Comments

  1. Brian May does not wear an SKX, his is a 7548-7010 Seiko Quartz bought during Queens 1984 tour of Japan. It’s seen an a number of concerts in the 80’s onwards, before the SKX even existed.

    S B
  2. Brian May does not wear an SKX, his is a 7548-7010 Seiko Quartz bought during Queens 1984 tour of Japan. It’s seen an a number of concerts in the 80’s onwards, before the SKX even existed.

    Simon Bowden
  3. Mate your review of this is a joke. The watch is entry level and your reviewing it like its a high end watch. Get a grip. It costs next to nothing and if you took the time to understand it’s value proposition your review would be totally different. How bout understanding the target market and end user first. Your review would be totally different. You sound like a watch snob. I own many low end and high end watches and the SKX007 give them all a good run for their money. Best value Automatic watch on the market. Timeless style and durability. You Sir need to pull your head in #watchsnob

    steve
    1. Thank you for your feedback. Most of the watches we describe on the blog are entry level, and I understand what the target of this watch is. Each watch is described as it is, regardless of its price, it is up to the reader to decide whether the watch’s imperfections are acceptable in this price or not, for some this watch is cheap for other expensive (seriously there are people for whom such a purchase is a big expense). These are my impressions and my feelings in contact with this watch, it is obvious to me that everyone can have different but mine are so, I don’t think that this is a reason to insult me and call a snob 🙂

      And no, no matter how you offend or convince me, my opinion will not be different, because mine is like that, but I will repeat … everyone has the right to have their own, but the whole point is to express them about the watch without offending people and their own views.

      2gwatchblog

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