What time is it? Watches and horology

Oh really:( I've been looking forward ro trying one on. The only thing I find odd in the video reviews of the limited edition blue version is that the dial is like semi sunburst and the texture makes it look like textured paper. The combination appears odd to me but might just be the lighting.

Ah fair play!

Many recent Seiko divers with sunburst dials have a kind of satin top layer finish to the dial surface. I suspect it’s a legibility thing, to avoid excessive glare - Seiko tends to do things like this on their “proper” divers watches. Eg they don’t tend to use applied markers or logos even on quite expensive models, supposedly to avoid the risk of dial furniture coming loose if the watch takes a knock.

Most of the time you don’t notice the matte finish, but sometimes when the light catches it it’s very obvious.

I'm for zenith lately

Yeah agree with all that. The clasps are always way too bulky as well and really mess with the form and finishing.

Yeah funny you say that as I made the same comment on another forum yesterday as a gent was saying he's not fused on the whole matte and textured dials as of late e.g. BB58 and so on. I said the same thing regarding legibility and that you find the finish on many military watches for the same reason to strip it down to the core essentials, minamise reflection / glare to get the job done e.g. proper tool watch.
Was confused because the grey looks more sunburst but the blue looks more subdued.

It seems Helson declared it at £99 value.

It's mainly just the persistent use of barely-finished stamped and folded metal for the outer clasp and the fold-over security catch. As a diver's watch, a bit of bulk isn't surprising when they're going for strength & durability and have a fold-over extension in there as well. It just kind of lets the rest of the watch down in terms of finishing.

Just get it on, or put it on, a rubber strap and all's fine.

I haven't seen the 6RMAS ones IRL to compare but it's possible that the grey dial one is more of a direct imitation of the glossier 62MAS dial. The SLA017 dial is not matte.

(Edit: put the 017 on today and it actually does have a matte finish to the sunburst. Just much less noticeable due to the effect of the domed glass and polished rehaut.)

There's a 62MAS on eBay right now

Thats dope. I have a similar one, different dial. Where'd you get it?

Fingers crossed, I might get lucky

They’re awesome, the 62MAS is my favourite divers watch design, but I don’t really go for vintage (hence the SLA017). All the 62MASs I’ve seen have quite grotty dials too. They don’t seem to age well.

The new Hydroconquest to me is pretty nice. The one you posted with the busy alu bezel is a proper munter.

Agree - nicer. It’s not causing me the usual Longines anguish. Probably helps that it’s not a terrible render.

Can’t unsee the crown guards though.

@Heldring oooh, what ya got? It came from Japan via eBay but I’ve started fishing on Yahoo Japan with a translator and it’s very dangerous. That seems to be where the Seiko nerds are hoovering up the real bargains.

I tried one on and just it just didn't work for me. It is very wide, the crown dug into my wrist. It also looks wide with the long brand name and the stretched font used for the numbers. Those long lugs also make it feel big too. It feels very lumpy. And then they mate it to a really flimsy feeling bracelet so it's very top heavy and rolling around on the wrist.

Lovely finish to the watch and the colours really pop on the dial, but it was just weirdly unbalanced to wear.

When you compare it this clasp it seems really poor value at £1,100, which I realise is unfair because this is on a £3.5k watch but when you factor in depreciation it kinda makes sense to spend more.

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See, I'd love an easily adjusted clasp on my speedmaster. Should be mandatory on bracelets.

So, this Seiko SPB143J1 is definitely going back and in its place I've just ordered this. Never seen the white dial IRL. Hoping it's as nice as the black dial which I tried on in duty-free a while ago.

Japanese ebay, cool! What's the ref on yours?

Oh! Did you get one? Was looking at this and the gold for ultimate glitz.

Nice. It’s quite a bright white. IMO worth ordering the OEM rubber strap to go with it, it’s very nice.

Definitely an unfair comparison! But compared with others at the same price, and with cheaper Seikos, it still doesn’t look great.

Thanks Dan!

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