Seiko Quartz Swiss Replica, Vintage Seiko Quartz Watch

Seiko 5 Men's Automatic Watch SNXE99K

Definitely recommend this seller and would buy from again.

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by alain rullan-vidal, From Suisse Morges

Seiko Titanium Chronograph Men's Watch SND451

This may be the ultimate Seiko watch/bangle. It is beautifully scaled, very comfortable, and the artistic detail is spectacular! The brilliant combination of colored crystals make this gorgeous piece very wearable - there is not a color on earth you couldn't pair this with - be it jewel tones, neutrals, brights, pastels - anything!

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by Sabrina Blank, From USA Tucson

Seiko Divers Automatic Orange Sunburst Dial Black Steel Men's Watch SRP311

Thankyou very much

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by Jamie Mashburn, From Australia Rozelle

There are some clear trends in the opinions of our readers and they do not necessarily tally with those of our contributors. One example is the apparent popularity of the Slim d'Hermes collection, which comes out top in three categories in our readers' poll (Artistic Crafts, Petite Aiguille, Calendar). Piaget was also a popular choice, notably coming top in the important Men's and Ladies' categories, with its Altiplano 900P and Limelight Gala models respectively, as well as in the Chronograph category, also with the Altiplano.

Our readers showed more high-end tastes in sports watches than those of our contributors, expressing a preference for the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Tourbillon Chronograph, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe and the Harry Winston Project Z9. This is in stark contrast to our "in-house" preferences for the much more down-to-earth Seiko Prospex Marinemaster 1000M and the Tudor Pelagos.

Opinions converged in the more complicated categories. Our readers concurred with our panel as far as the Mechanical Exception category is concerned, with Jaquet Droz's Charming Bird taking 43% of their votes. Scooping 49% of the readers' votes, A. Lange & Söhne's Zeitwerk Minute Repeater is a clear favourite in the Striking watch category. In the Tourbillon category, the Greubel-Forsey 24 Secondes Vision Tourbillon edged just ahead of our favourite, the Bovet Braveheart® with 27% of our readers' votes against 21%.

In the ladies' categories, our readers' views were aligned with those of our contributors for the Ladies' High Mech category, where the Faberge Lady Compliquee Peacock had a handsome lead with 33% of the votes. The same is true for the Jewellery category, with the Audemars Piguet Diamond Punk winning out over the Extremely Piaget Double Side Cuff but by only the most slender of margins (21% for the former against 19% for the latter). With 19% of our readers preferring the De Grisogono Grappoli the decision in this category was clearly far from easy.

See the results of our readers' poll in detail here (Click on "Predict the winner" to see the results in each category).

Keith W. Strandberg, WorldTempus contributor
I have always gravitated to sports watches, because of their do-it-all nature. The best sports watches are timepieces that can be put under all sorts of stresses and still perform. Remember the old Timex slogan, "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking"? That's what I look for in a sports watch.
This year's GPHG has some great sports watches in the category, but two watches in particular stand out to me.The first is the Seiko Prospex Marinemaster Professional Diver's 1000M Hi-Beat 36000. Seiko has a long history producing sports watches designed for professional use (its first high beat diver's watch was introduced in 1968, water resistant to 300 meters), and this Prospex is no different. Using the Seiko high beat mechanical movement in a diver's watch is a nice touch, and making a watch water resistant to 1,000 meters is no mean feat. The design is also reminiscent of Seiko's early, iconic diver's watches.
My second choice is the Tudor Pelagos. Not only is it water resistant to 500 meters, it has a clean and purposeful design that is very attractive, its blue-on-blue of the bezel and the dial echoing the deep blue sea. In addition, the Pelagos is powered by Tudor's own in-house movement, complete with a power reserve of 70 hours.
Which one do I choose? To go out on the town, I'd wear the Tudor but to go beneath the waves, the Prospex is my choice.

Paul O'Neil, editor-in-chief, WorldTempus
No discussion needed here for me, since one of my top three watches from Basel this year has been preselected in this category. I may come under fire for choosing a non-Swiss brand, but Seiko already scooped a prize at the GPHG last year, and rightly so. As a non-diving diver's watch fan I love the robust appeal of the Seiko Prospex Marinemaster Professional 1000m, with its imposing 48.2mm case and its offset crown. The high-frequency Hi-Beat movement, which beats at 36,000 vibrations per hour, is an extra bonus. It's just a shame that only 700 of these watches will be available worldwide, only a handful of which will make it to Europe, because it's been on your editor-in-chief's wish list since April.

Timmy Tan, editor-in-chief, Timewerke
There are more than 20 reasons why Seiko's Prospex Marinemaster Professional Diver's 1000m Hi-Beat 36,000 SBEX001 deserves to be named the best sports watch. The SBEX001 comes with pedigree; this SBEX001 Marinemaster is a descendant of Seiko's first Professional Diver's 600m, launched in 1975, that secured 23 world firsts and was granted 20 patents.
To begin with, that 1975 original was the world's first diver's watch to have a case made of titanium. What made it very special was that it had a two-layer case construction and though it was made for deep dives, having the water-resistance of 600 metres, Seiko did not include a helium-escape valve feature as the case was made to be impermeable to helium. The outer case not only protects the watch from hard knocks, it also keeps the bezel in place. Like the original, the 2015 Prospex Marinemaster Professional Diver's 1000m can be used for saturation diving. New features include the Lumibrite where the lifespan of the luminescence is 60% longer than existing models and the Calibre 8L35 is adjusted for extreme depths.
Seiko tested the SBEX01 in the ocean and the movement only seized up after going down to 4,299 metres, which is more than quadruple its claimed water-resistance. This means that the SBEX001 is more than a sports watch; it is also a professional instrument.

Mention the brand "Seiko" to any watch collector and they'll probably have at least a watch or two in mind produced by this Japanese company. After all, Seiko is one Japanese watch brand with a b international audience.

What many will probably not know is that Seiko is a billion-dollar behemoth brand name and that revenue from its watch business accounted for only around 11% of the entire Group's business (based on its 2013 financial results). The entire Seiko Group has a combined turnover of more than US$10 billion and its overall staff strength is in the region of 87,000. The diverse Seiko Group of companies have business activities in the design, manufacture and sale of electronic devices, watches and clocks, jewellery, computer peripherals, semiconductors, ophthalmic lenses and golf clubs, information technology-related equipment including the provision of sensing and industrial solutions.
Two of the Group's companies, Seiko Holdings Corporation and Seiko Epson, are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and both are components of the Nikkei indexes. What's more, visitors to the main shopping district in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan will not miss an iconic landmark - the Ginza Wako department store which retails luxury goods. This famous store is also part of the Seiko Group.

Founded in 1881 by Kintaro Hattori (1860 to 1934), Seiko's origins come from clocks. After arming himself with watch repair experience, the 18-year old Hattori began his clock repair service in 1877. It was in 1881 that he established "K. Hattori" to perform simple repairs and to sell clocks. K. Hattori is the predecessor of today's Seiko Holdings Corporation. This was the company that made Japan's first pocket watch with the "Time Keeper" brand on its dial in 1895 and Japan's first wristwatch, the "Laurel" in 1913 which used components made in-house. The "Seiko" brand name was only imprinted on the dial of their wristwatches in 1924.

Perhaps the best-known Seiko watch in its history is the "Astron" of 1969 as it was the world's first quartz wristwatch.

Even though Chinese watch manufacturers have made much progress over the past decade, Shinji Hattori, President and CEO, Seiko Holdings Corporation who is also the President and CEO of Seiko Watch Corporation, doesn't believe they will pose a threat to Seiko. "We have a long history and we are backed by our in-house technology. We have a solid heritage. We have achieved many world firsts and these are the result of our innovations," explains Shinji Hattori.

While Seiko watches are generally in the entry- to mid-priced segment, its Grand Seiko and Credor belong to the high watchmaking category and actually make good alternatives to Swiss-made watches, even to some of the best Swiss watch brands. This, in our opinion, is a result of the high quality standards of their wristwatches.

Interestingly, the Grand Seiko collection has mini complications like the power reserve,  second time zone indications and even integrated chronographs but high complications like tourbillons and perpetual calendars are not featured. In 2015 for example, the key novelties for Grand Seiko are inspired by a 1967 model known as the 62GS: a highly similar re-edition model (examples being the SBGR094 in 18K rose gold and the SBGR95 in steel) and two modern interpretation versions: one housing a hi-beat calibre and the other the Spring Drive movement. The only mini-complication is the power reserve display found on the Grand Seiko Spring Drive model.

Can collectors therefore expect more sophisticated and higher complications in the Grand Seiko collection? "Grand Seiko is a unique collection and is unlike Swiss-branded timepieces. We are more focused on the essential functions of a watch; this refers to precision, legibility and beauty. Complications are not the direction the Grand Seiko will be in. "In terms of precision, we are aggressively increasing our hi-beat movements and we will continue to improve and expand our collection. Total sales are in the double-digits for Grand Seiko," says Shinji Hattori.

While the diverse Seiko Group has the in-house technology and financial muscle to produce silicium components, there are currently no plans to use this material for their watch escapements. From what we understand and were told, silicon is not used because it is fragile and the movement is incapacitated if it (silicon) is broken.

As to the future, Seiko is focusing and building on its core products and these include collections like the Astron GPS watch and its Prospex Marinemaster line. "The success we have will continue into the future. Seiko is building its own unique place ," adds Hattori, who was sporting a Seiko watch named after himself. Known as the "Shinji Hattori Limited Edition" to commemorate Seiko's 100 years of watchmaking , it features a two-tone blue dial which depicts the sea and the horizon. Powered by the ultra-thin Calibre 6898 typically housed in Credor watches, this model is limited to only 39 pieces and was offered only to very important and special clients. No prizes for correctly guessing the individual who was wearing serial number 39 of 39.

The classics
A world time watch displays the time in any of the world's time 24 zones at a glance. Usually, the cities representing each of these time zones feature in some form or another, either abbreviated or in full, on the dial or the bezel of the watch. In the case of De Witt's New Academia Hora Mundi, however, the emphasis is on understatement. The black dial with its sunray pattern is dissected by a sleek applied element along the 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock axis, allowing for the date and a second time zone reading, which remains constantly visible as the seconds beaten out by the DW2021 self-winding calibre relentlessly march on.

Girard-Perregaux offers the most classic representation of a world time watch in its Traveller ww.tc collection, which has been enhanced this year with a new model with a DLC-coated titanium case. The cities of the 24 time zones are written out in full on two levels on a ring around the circumference of the dial. Another ring immediately below this is inscribed with the 24 hour numerals, subdivided into black on white for daytime hours and white on black for night-time hours. The correct time in any of the world's 24 time zones can thus be read at a glance. The GP 03300 self-winding calibre, which has a 46-hour power reserve, drives this function and in addition offers a chronograph. The understated black look is completed by a rubber strap coated with black rubberized alligator and a ceramic folding buckle with PVD-coated titanium blades.

Look, no hands!
Louis Vuitton's Escale World Time model offers a colourful approach to world time indication and dispenses with watch hands altogether, replacing them with three separate mobile discs whose indications are read off against a fixed yellow pointer in the 12 o'clock position. Radiating out from the centre of the watch are the scales for minutes, then hours (divided into daytime and night-time hours on the 24-hour scale) and finally the 24 time zones, arranged on the two layers of the outermost disc. This outer disc can be rotated to set the reference time above the yellow pointer, allowing the time in any of the time zones to be read at a glance.

The technical prowess of this unique display comes from the LV 106 calibre self-winding movement developed and assembled by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton manufacture, as do the vivid colours of the world time scale, which are hand-painted on the dial - a process that can take 50 hours for each dial in the workshop and which alludes to the possibility of hand-painted customisation offered to purchasers of the legendary Louis Vuitton trunks.

40 time zones
Seiko harnesses the power of the GPS satellite network to offer a world time function not just for the 24 principal time zones but for a total of 40 different time zones, including all those time zones where there is less than a full hour offset from GMT. What's more, the Astron GPS Solar Chronograph performs this task almost instantaneously at the touch of a button using light as its only power source, offering in addition a chronograph function and a perpetual calendar.

Compared with its predecessor, the 2014 Seiko Astron GPS Solar Chronograph has a 30% smaller case (made possible by new energy-saving technology that allows a smaller GPS antenna to be used) and new blue and white dial versions. The latter may appear mundane, but for the Seiko Astron, the light penetration allowed by the dial is crucial to its operation, so even a simple change in colour requires careful calibration.

Whether for the sophisticated business traveller or the independent globetrotter, this selection proves that there is a world time watch to suit all kinds of personalities and tastes. 

The 49er Class renewed its reputation as the most exciting class in the Olympic regatta with over 130 boats competing for the 18th European title in a final day of theater-style racing that drew big crowds to the Helsinki shore.

In the lead up to the event, attention was focussed on the rivalry between the leading Australian crew of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen and the New Zealand team of Pete Burling and Blair Tuke who, between them, had won the last five World Championships and whose rivalry will be renewed in the next America's Cup.
These two crews were in first and second place going into the final three races. The New Zealand crew raced perfectly all day, while disaster struck for the Australians in the form of a broken wire and a capsize that pushed them back down to fourth place behind the leading European crew from Germany (Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel) and the British team of Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign.

In the 49erFX Class, the Danish team of Ida Marie Nielsen and Marie Olsen went into the three Grand Final races just a point behind the New Zealanders Alex Maloney and Molly Meech.

The next stop for the Kiwis and many of the other top teams in the 49er and 49erFX classes is Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic test regatta next month, followed by the World Championships in Santander in September.

Seiko has been the Class Sponsor of the 49er Association since 2007 and to presented Velatura watches to all the medalists. After the award ceremony, the Class President Marcus Spillane said, "With Seiko as our long term class partner, we are able to push sailing forward in ways not possible without their support. Working with Seiko gives us the profile and ambition to take skiff sailing to new heights, including our live broadcasting packages and format innovations. They are truly a wonderful partner."

The new solar-powered chronograph calibre in Djokovic's Astron model was launched at Baselworld earlier this year and can adjust to every time zone on earth at the touch of a button. Seiko has even estimated at 60 the number of times Novak Djokovic would have to adjust the time zone on his watch, based on his 2014 travel schedule, so a watch that does this automatically has a considerable practical use for the tennis star.

Other features that the 8X82 calibre movement offers are a 6-hour chronograph accurate to 1/5^th of a second, a perpetual calendar programmed up to the year 2100 and water resistance to 10 bar.

To coincide with this year's Wimbledon tournament, Seiko has announced a new limited Novak Djokovic edition of the Astron GPS Solar Chronograph that will be available in stores from November this year. The new model has a rose-gold toned steel case with a black ceramic bezel and a case back engraved with the tennis star's signature and name. It is a limited edition of 2,500.

They are called Big Bang, Reverso, Altiplano, Carrera, Tank or Royal Oak and are known to all watch enthusiasts but also to novices who recognize their name. They are at the origin of more or less old collections - the Reverso was born in 1931, the Daytona in 1963, and the Nautilus in 1976 -, that have evolved over the years and grown rich of new models. The Speedmaster was the first watch worn by an astronaut walking on the moon and the Carrera is inevitably associated with Steve McQueen and motor racing. They are part of the history, as true icons.

Our selection:

- Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak
- Cartier, Tank
- Chanel, J12
- Chopard, Happy Sport
- Hermes, Arceau
- Hublot, Big Bang
- IWC, Portugaise
- Jaeger-LeCoultre, Reverso
- Louis Vuitton, Tambour
- Montblanc, Nicolas Rieussec
- Omega, Speedmaster
- Patek Philippe, Nautilus
- Piaget, Altiplano
- Ralph Lauren, Stirrup
- Rolex, Daytona
- Seiko, Diver
- TAG, Carrera
- Vacheron Constantin, Patrimony Traditionnelle

Press releaseLast evening at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve 2010, the SEIKO Spring Drive Spacewalk Commemorative Edition was named the Sports Watch of the Year.This accolade is the most prestigious yet awarded to SEIKO's unique and world-leading Spring Drive technology and SEIKO is greatly honored to be the recipient of the award. In accepting the award on behalf of Mr. Shinji Hattori, the President & CEO of SEIKO WATCH CORPORATION, Shu Yoshino, SEIKO's General Manager of the Public Relations & Advertising Dept described the watch:"This is the only watch in the world designed from scratch to be worn during a spacewalk. It is a watch that brings mankind a step closer to the stars as its hands glide across the dial, plotting time with no 'tick', in perfect harmony with the eternal motion of the planets. I thank you sincerely for this award which will be the pride of the entire SEIKO family."Along with the winners in all the other categories, the SEIKO Spring Drive Spacewalk watch will be displayed to the public at the Salon Belles Montres from November 26 to 28 in Paris.This is the second occasion on which SEIKO has had the honor to win the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve. In 2006, SEIKO's first generation of E-Ink watch won the prize as the Electronic Watch of the Year.  Full details of all the awards

The 2010 49er European Championships, sponsored by SEIKO, and held in Gdynia, Poland in July, attracted more participants and spectators than ever before, proving once again that the 49er is the rising star in the Olympic fleet.
The races took place in Gdansk Bay, just a few hundred meters from the beach where, on each of the six days of competition, crowds of between 3,000 and 5,000 spectators enjoyed the racing. For the first time, the mainsails displayed the national flags of each team so the spectators could follow the unfolding drama of the intense competition more easily than ever before.
Over the first few days of the Championships, 16 races were held in a wide range of wind speeds varying from just 7 knots on Day 5 to over 20 knots on Day 3. This variation of conditions provided the perfect test for the 88 crews, from over 30 nations.

Coming into the final Medal Race, crews from France, Austria and Italy were all in contention, with the British team of Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh holding a six-point lead over the rest. At the start of this deciding race, they took a risky line, away from the rest of the fleet, and were well behind at the first mark. However, they climbed steadily up the field to finish third in the race, thus securing the overall Championships. The Medal Race itself was won by the Sibello brothers from Italy but the French crew of Manu Dyer and Stephane Christidis had enough points from previous races to secure the overall silver while past World Champions Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes from the UK secured the bronze medal.
All the medallists were presented with SEIKO Velatura watches, as were the winners of the Silver and Bronze fleet finals. In addition, SEIKO sponsored a coaching clinic, held just before the Championship began, aimed at encouraging new teams into the 49er Class. Sailors from Holland, Malta, Russia and Bermuda attended the Clinic which was run by the very experienced 49er coach, Richard Parslow.
SEIKO has been the main sponsor of the International 49er Class since 2006, and supports the Class with both finance and equipment. SEIKO also supports the International 29erXX Class.

The quartz watch, developed in 1969, revolutionized the conventional concept of watches. This is a watch that has a crystal oscillator at its core for accuracy. The crystalline body of a crystal cut to a fixed shape has a characteristic to generate steady vibration if voltage is applied to it. Through the ages, the idea has existed that this crystal-specific electrical property is used for a crystal oscillator to be the standard of timekeeping accuracy of watches. However, to take advantage of quartz crystal, whose excellence had been demonstrated in terms of accuracy, in a small world "watch," there were many barriers that had to be overcome.
In 1969, SEIKO succeeded in resolving all these issues and made available to the world for the first time a commercially viable quartz watch. It was a long ten years since the start of development plan of crystal oscillation watch at Suwa Seikosha. To develop a quartz watch for practical use, unique technologies only available by SEIKO were created. For example, adoption of a crystal oscillator cut in the shape of a tuning-fork and development of an IC and step motor to properly operate signals from a crystal oscillator had to be created. Additionally, with a passion to change the future of watches, SEIKO did not pursue monopolization on patent rights of those unique technologies and opened them to the world. Later on, many technologies provided by SEIKO became world standards and have contributed to development of present day quartz watches.
Creating artificial crystals to be a source of a crystal oscillator.

• The world's first quartz watch on the market

Released on December 25, 1969, this watch revolutionized the world of time. It was the "SEIKO Quartz ASTRON." The quartz frequency at that time was 8192 Hz, one-fourth the frequency today. One of the major features of the watch was its step motion second by mounting an open step motor, which became the symbol of quartz watches later on.