My Watch Collection

	This was my first serious watch, bought on 14/2/2002. I bought it as a gift to myself for achieving amazing goals. Brings back good memories. This is a heavy stainless steel, quartz watch, with a solid bracelet. The size of the bezel is 37mm, so it's not a big watch. The distance between the lugs is 20mm. The calibre of the movement is V145, which is also available in higher end Seiko divers. Sometimes I put on a black rubber strap, to give it a sporty look. It's solar powered, and once fully charged, the battery last for 6 months. The bezel is uni-directional, so only turns counter-clockwise, and has solid resistance and clicking sound when turning. Only serious diving watches have uni-directional bezels, because if it accidently turned the other way(which has happened on my other Seiko dive watch), the diver would have the wrong information about how much time is left before his air ran out. That could be fatal. It has a depth rating of 200m, which is what I consider to be minimum for a serious diving watch. If worn only during the day, it gains about 7 seconds a month, which is good for a quartz watch . If worn 24/7, it gains 2 seconds a month, which is exceptionally accurate. The lume is very strong, typical of Seiko diving watches, highly visible throughout the night. This watch has taken a beating through the years, including mountain biking. Still ticking strong. I don't really wear it much these days, because my interest now is in mechanical watches. However, I do wear it now and then, when I get the urge for bling, or just like the feel of heavy metal.
Seiko SNE001	Seiko Dive Watch Index

	This watch is the second diver that I bought. It has the basic 7S26 mechanical movement found on most low-mid end Seiko divers, and practically all Seiko 5 watches. The movement is an automatic, which means that the watch is wound by wrist movement. It's got a depth rating of 100m, and a power reserve of about 30 hours, which means it will stop running if it is not wound up. The distance between the lugs is 20mm, the diameter of the bezel is 37mm, which makes it a small watch. It came with a thin, cheap and nasty steel bracelet. I initially replaced the bracelet with a black rubber strap, which made it look sporty, but I've recently put on the croc strap. Now it looks classy. The bezel is bi-directional, which means it can turn clockwise and counter-clockwise. This makes it unsuitable for scuba diving, because it can give the wrong information about the time remaining before the air runs out. When it turns, it doesn't have a uniform resistance or clicking sound, and it turns a bit too easily. Initially, it was gaining 5 seconds a day for the first 2 weeks, then ended up gaining about 25 s/day. I've recently opened up the caseback and regulated it, and now it gains about 10 s/day. This is considered good accuracy for a mechanical watch. I'll regulate it until I can get it down to about 6 seconds a day. For the price, this watch can be considered good value. It has a good finish, and a clean dial, and the reliability and workmanship of Seiko. This is my equal favourite watch in my collection, along with the diving watch above.
Seiko SKX025K	Seiko Dive Watch Index

	This was my first mechanical watch. This watch is just one of the hundreds of variants of the Seiko 5 series. This is the "Military" version, and came with a black nylon strap, which I replaced with a leather one. This model also comes with a stainless steel bracelet, but that is rare, and was probably installed by the seller. Has the same 7S26 automatic movement as the Seiko SKX025K diver above, and is the same size in diameter too. However, the distance between lugs is 18mm, not 20mm like the dive watch above. This watch has an automatic, which means that the main spring is wound by the motion of the wearer's wrist. This watch started off by gaining 39 seconds/day, which is very bad for a mechanical. After I opened up the caseback and regulated it, it now gains less than 1 second/day. That's exceptional accuracy. The best feature of the Seiko 5 series of watches is their see-through caseback. This gives the wearer a fantastic view of the mechanism, including the springs and gears. A very affordable, quality timepiece from Seiko. Alot of people buy a Seiko 5 as their first mechanical watch.
Seiko SNK809	All images and content © DMP 2007