Seiko Quartz Watches Collection, Replica Seiko Quartz Watch

Seiko Automatic Silver Dial Stainless Steel Men's Watch SRP549

THANKS VERY MUCH!!!

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

Review by ALISON MCFADYEN, From Germany Offenbach

Seiko Solar Black Dial Stainless Steel Men's Watch SNE277P2

I have MORE expensive watches; but this one has become my favorite. I've received dozens of compliments in the few days I've worn it. OUTSTANDING value for the money......HIGHLY recommend it!

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

Review by LIDA ALEKSANYAN, From Iceland Mosfellsbaer

Seiko Sport Chronograph Brown Dial Brown Leather Men's Watch SNAF52

ship fast, is a nice gift

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

Review by Andrew Ridenour, From Florida Pompano Beach

Let me get one thing out in the open, I have a lot of admiration for the Seiko brand. I have visited their facilities in Japan twice, and have been blown away by their attention to detail, their manufacturing and assembly processes, the quality and the company's breadth of product. I think Seiko watches are incredibly designed and well-realized timepieces.
Despite all this, when I received the latest Seiko Astron to test, I was skeptical about it.

The Astron is billed as the world's first GPS Solar watch, a watch that will update the time using the GPS network, and powered by solar energy. Even though I highly respect Seiko, I have tried many "ground-breaking" watches like this and have found them to be buggy, hard to use and not very revolutionary.
I was dead wrong about the Astron.

The watch performed flawlessly, connecting with the GPS network to update the time in every place I went.

The Trip
I live in Switzerland, and recently made a trip to Macau for an event. I wore the Astron 8X GPS Solar Chronograph, which is thinner than the original Astron and incorporates a chronograph, one of the most useful complications.
The first step was setting the Astron for Swiss time (GMT/UTC +2 with summer time), which only involved pushing and holding a button. The watch connected to the GPS network, telling me the strength of the signal and how many satellites it was connected to (not that I needed to know, but it was cool to watch). In less than a minute, the watch was set to Swiss time and I was ready to board my flight.

The first city on my itinerary was Helsinki, which is one hour different from Swiss time (GMT/UTC +3). When I got off the plane, the first thing I did was look for Finnish meatballs, then I synched the Astron, and it flawlessly displayed Helsinki time.
After a quick layover in Helsinki, I was off to Hong Kong. 11 hours later, we landed at Hong Kong International Airport and I took the Airport Express train to Kowloon for some meetings. Before I got on the train, I pushed and held the button to sync the Astron and, sure enough, it quickly found the satellites and moved the hands to display Hong Kong time (GMT/UTC +8). I was ready to go.

After my meeting in Kowloon's Tsim Sha Tsui, I caught the jetfoil ferry to Macau. I didn't know if the time differed in Macau (it's only an hour from Hong Kong, but you never know), so when I got off the ferry, I pushed the button on the Astron again and the watch confirmed that Macau time is the same as Hong Kong time.
My Astron was performing splendidly, and I was enjoying using it.

The Design
The design of the Seiko Astron 8X GPS Solar Chronograph is clean, clear and very attractive. I love chronographs in general and I think the Astron chronograph looks great. The hands are white and bold, covered with Seiko's Lumibrite and the watch sits comfortably on the wrist. This new version of the Astron is 30% smaller than the original Astron, launched in 2013, thanks to Seiko's efforts to reduce the size of the GPS antenna.

Final Thoughts
The new Astron is a technological marvel, able to link up with GPS satellites to make sure you have the right time all the time, no matter where you are.
The watch is so well designed, it looks like any other chronograph, but packs so much more into such a small, attractive package.

I was sad to give up my Astron 8X GPS Solar Chronograph at the end of the trip. I miss pushing a button and having the watch automatically sync up and provide the exact right time.
Congratulations, Seiko, on the fruits of all your hard work and I can't wait to see what's next in the Astron family.

Japan is a land of contrasts. The stunning beauty of the countryside and the urban sprawl of Tokyo and other major cities. The incredibly overcrowded subway stations and the peaceful, serene temples. Traditional Japanese cultural activities, like the tea ceremony, martial arts and mountain hot springs and the Westernized shopping district of Ginza.

One additional contrast is the success of Seiko as a quartz watch manufacturer and their incredible competence in mechanical watchmaking. This isn't something immediately apparent, but after visiting the Seiko facilities in Japan, I came away with a new appreciation of Seiko's ability and an understanding of where the company is going in the future.

Mechanical History
Seiko has been making mechanical timepieces since the time it was established in 1881. Even when it was developing the quartz technology that rocked the watchmaking world and almost ended Swiss mechanical watchmaking, Seiko continued to feature and concentrate on mechanical movements.

Back when Seiko was first making clocks and watches, everything was mechanical. Seiko quickly earned a reputation for reliable, precise timekeeping. Due to the fact that there is no tradition of small watchmaking ateliers in Japan, Seiko couldn't rely on a network like the Swiss have to supply specialized parts. Therefore, Seiko had to do it all themselves, in-house.

As a result, Seiko is one of the few vertically integrated companies in the worldwide watch industry. Seiko makes virtually every part that goes into its mechanical watches.
"We do everything in-house for our watches," Seiko Watch Corporation's president and CEO Shinji Hattori says. "We make our own hairsprings, our own mainsprings, all the small parts -- we even make the lubricating oil for the watches."

The Seiko facilities are impressive, with all the latest and greatest machines to make the myriad of precision parts needed. The watchmaking workshops are equally as impressive, with row upon row of watchmakers assembling and regulating the watches.

Grand Seiko
Seiko's luxury watch brand is Grand Seiko, now available internationally. Assembled by hand in the Grand Seiko workshop, the watches are very traditionally styled, and great attention to detail is paid to finishing and to precision.
The Grand Seiko collection of timepieces is a success in Japan, going up against the best Swiss brands. Outside of Japan, it's a bigger challenge, but the Japanese tradition of watchmaking is taking hold.

Spring Drive
Introduced in 1998 after an astonishing 28 years in development, what makes the Spring Drive movement unique is the complete absence of an escapement. Spring Drive combines a high quality mechanical movement with an electromagnetic regulator, called the Tri-Synchro Regulator, that controls the unwinding of the mainspring, taking the precision of quartz and marrying it to the magic of mechanical watches. As a result of the lack of an escapement, the second hand of a Spring Drive movement sweeps smoothly around the dial.
Seiko has done a variety of Spring Drive watches, including a Sonnerie in the Credor range.

Credor
Credor is the highest range of Seiko products, and so far it is chiefly available in Japan. This is where the company gets to show off its ability, making chiming watches and other high complications. I visited with one of the watchmakers about his work, and his approach was no different from any of the watchmakers at the highest level in Swiss companies. In fact, his little workshop felt it could have been in Switzerland, with handmade tools for different operations, a Swiss-style watchmaking bench and the peace and quiet necessary for total concentration.
The Future
Seiko is a phenomenally successful company that doesn't get its due on the international scene. The company has a long tradition of watchmaking and the product they produce has an incredibly high quality standard.
Seiko is doing things the right way, focusing on quality and traditional watchmaking.

It is doubtless worth recalling that, although Seiko invented the quartz watch as we now know it, the firm has always been a manufacturer of mechanical watches - and impeccably crafted ones at that. The 2013 launches at Baselworld exemplify the two-fold vocation of the Japanese brand. On the one hand, it continues to cultivate its high-end quartz watch collections; and on the other, it produces mechanical calibres and the watches that house them to characteristically rigorous Japanese standards. Alongside a number of new additions to the range, Seiko is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Kinetic. This system involving mechanically recharging a dedicated storage unit to power a quartz watch was the first to make the most of the advantages of an electronic watch and combine them with wear on the wrist, that is a virtually inexhaustible source of energy. This base movement drives a number of horological complications, including a perpetual calendar.

1960s
But the project for which Seiko nurtures the highest ambitions is called Grand Seiko. The high-end brand is a concentrated blend of the finest expertise cultivated within the workshops in Morioka, in northern Japan. It is there that the hand-wound Calibre 9S64 is produced. Thin, modern and extremely understated, it stems from a functionalistic approach that results in COSC-worthy precision and a 72-hour power reserve. It drives the new Grand Seiko SBGW047. Its aesthetic is the archetype of the Grand Seiko watch, in this instance the 44GS model that laid the foundations of the brand style in 1967. Its case is distinguished by its discreet angularity that ensures a smooth but never rigid finish. The interplay of satin-brushed polishing displays a rigorous geometry that is only noticeable at close hand. This 38 mm-diameter model is available in the three gold colours and in steel, all issued in limited series.

17th century

Midway between these two worlds, Ananta is the flagship line embodying the origins and identity of Seiko. However, this affirmation of an unmistakable Japanese style does not involve using ostensibly folklore-inspired motifs or techniques form the Land of the Rising Sun. Instead, Ananta draws inspiration from Japanese sabres and distils a few classic Seiko touches. The case profile resembles a reinterpreted blade, and the dial of the new automatic SRQ017 chronograph is an historical reference. To celebrate Seiko's 100th anniversary, the brand draws upon its country's cultural heritage. The lacquered moon crescent occupying the side of this dial is a reproduction of an ornamental element on the helmet of Masamune Date, a 17th century warlord and diplomat. It is traced against a natural lacquered background and crafted in a midnight blue shade by an artisan exercising his craft in accordance with Japanese traditions. Nonetheless, this aspect, like the many other sophisticated features of Seiko's high-end approach, is not immediately apparent if one is not especially observant. It is an approach based at once on high standards and discretion.

Since 2000, the magazine now known as 00/24 WatchWorld has organized a Watch of the Year competition. Readers of the magazine, visitors to its website and a distinguished panel of 8 horological experts all have a voice in the selection of the watches that win the six coveted 'Watch of the Year' awards.
 
The 2012 competition attracted over 100 entries. In the category of watches from £2,500 to £8,500 the winner was the Grand Seiko Hi-beat 36000. The judges' verdict was revealing.
"If any category demonstrated just how much variety there can be in watch design then this was it, and every piece staked a b claim. Indeed, this was the closest fought category, with each watch having its advocates among the judges. The voting swung one way and then another, but eventually victory went to Grand Seiko's Hi-Beat 36,000 - a perfectly conceived and executed, high-frequency demonstration of Grand Seiko's impeccable craft and technical excellence".
The awards were presented on October 2 at the first ever European Watch of the Year Gala in London, a ceremony attended by over 100 representatives of the nominated brands and other guests.
This new award adds to the already glittering trophy cabinet of Grand Seiko, and Seiko is very proud to have been selected as a winner. 00/24 Watchworld is widely read in the UK, N'lands and Scandinavia and its website is followed by watch lovers worldwide.

December, 1960. Grand Seiko was born. The goal that inspired its creators was hardly a modest one. They were determined to create nothing less than the best luxury watch in the world.
Before the watch came the standard it had to attain. The "Grand Seiko Standard" of precision and reliability was set at a level higher than any yet achieved by Seiko and higher than all the international chronometer standards. The challenge was substantial, as new skills and technologies were required in order to meet and exceed the new Grand Seiko standard.
Today, just as fifty years ago, Grand Seiko is focused on the pure essentials of watch-making. Grand Seiko strives to provide lovers of fine watches with the ultimate, functional watch. Each and every Grand Seiko is as accurate, as reliable, as legible and as comfortable to wear as can be achieved. Grand Seiko is everything a luxury watch should be, with no unnecessary elaboration or undue decoration. Just pure, simple and basic watchmaking raised to the level of an art form.
For fifty years, the story of Grand Seiko has been the story of a team's dedication to perfecting the deceptively simple idea of creating the "ideal watch". Watch lovers in Japan have long enjoyed the pleasure and satisfaction of owning Grand Seiko. Now, the Grand Seiko world is open to all.
Though times change and Seiko's watchmaking technology has evolved rapidly, the spirit and essence of Grand Seiko remained the same. For fifty years, Grand Seiko has stood for the same simple yet exacting ideals. And so it will be for the next fifty years. And beyond.

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Ananta is a Sanskrit word that means 'the infinite'. When the SEIKO design team embarked on this creation, they were told that there were no boundaries. They were given infinite scope to build a watch that embodied the SEIKO dream of "the most technologically advanced craftsmanship in the world". They could explore any design direction and seek new inspiration wherever they chose. Ananta is the result: a collection that expresses SEIKO's dedication to infinite perfection.

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Spring Drive is the only watch whose hands' motion reflects the true nature of time.
Spring Drive is the summit of watchmaking mechatronics achieved by SEIKO's technology and heritage, and hand assembly is done by our most skilled craftsmen in Japan.

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Sportura is SEIKO's leading sports watch collection. Inspired by high-performance motor sport, each Sportura watch is presented in a high-grade stainless steel case, with 10 bar water resistance and a sapphire crystal, so that it is durable, practical and legible, even at high speed. Quartz, Kinetic or Automatic, for men or for women, Sportura is engineered for the new road ahead.

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The SEIKO Premier collection combines classically refined inspiration with subtly modern expression. Premier has established itself as SEIKO's leading dress watch collection.
The Premier design is inspired by the eternal beauty of neo-classical architecture. Each Premier case has the solidity and grace of a Palladian villa and each dial has a depth of sculpted detailing that draws its inspiration from the architraves of a Greek temple. However, these classical features are also expressed with a modern flair. Premier is classical yet modern, reverential yet bold, restrained yet eye-catching.

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SEIKO Velatura is a collection of high performance marine watches for men and women, each of which combines innovation of function with refinement in design. At the heart of the collection are two entirely new calibers, Kinetic Direct Drive and a Yachting Timer, both designed expressly for Velatura and for the needs of professional and recreational sailors alike.

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Since 1997, Arctura has been the signature design for SEIKO's Kinetic technology. Arctura stands for b, solid build quality and aerodynamic design inspired by the arc of nature; in rainbows or in the curvature of the earth, the arc is central to nature's plan and Arctura draws its strength from the eternal beauty of this shape.