SEIKOMen's SKX009K2 Diver's Analog Automatic Stainless Steel Watch

First of all, for those of you that don't know, the Seiko SKX007/009 are essentially the spiritual successor to the Seiko 6xxx diver's watches that were so popular as tool watches in the Vietnam War era. At a glance, it's hard to tell them apart - the main differences being the subtle differences in the case shape and the shape of the indices on the face. The 007 is the current black bezel version, the 009 has the "Pepsi" red/blue bezel for a little added color in your life. It uses a Seiko 7S26 automatic movement which is a decent reliable movement with only a few drawbacks - more on that later. This watch shipped from Amazon's warehouse in Kentucky unlike the comments from some previous reviewers. I've only had this particular watch for a few hours, so I can't speak to the accuracy of this watch in particular, but I've been wearing a Seiko 5 with the same movement for months now and other than it running slightly fast (not unusual for an out of the box mechanical movement that's never been regulated) I can't complain about it at all. So as to this watch - let me tell you all the little, niggling things I *don't* like about it, so you can make an educated purchase. First of all, the 7S26, unlike the Swiss ETA 2824-2 in my other dive watch (which, to be fair, cost about 5x as much) cannot be hand wound, nor does it "hack." What that means is, when you pull the crown out to the time setting position, the seconds hand keeps running, so you cannot synchronize it to the second with a time source such as a top of the hour beep on the radio, an "atomic" clock (really a clock synchronized to WWVB, but that's another discussion) or the NIST web site. Not a huge deal unless you're really need that precision, and if you did, you'd be wearing an "atomic" watch anyway. And the "poor man's hack" works on this movement - set the time, then hold a little back pressure on the crown (turn it in the opposite direction ever so slightly to the direction you'd turn it to advance the hands) and that usually stops the second hand. When your time source catches up, let go, et voila, synchronized watch. Also, the bracelet is to be kind, flimsy - not unusual for Seiko watches. I honestly purchased the bracelet version only because due to the inscrutability that is Amazon it was cheaper than the rubber strap version. I'll be putting this on a Mil-NATO strap I think, but if you like bracelets, there's plenty of aftermarket bracelets out there far nicer than the original Seiko ones - only the high-end Seiko watches get really nice bracelets. Also, the bezel action is a little light, although I haven't worn it enough to see if it ever rotates by itself. This particular watch just showed up at my door today, so I haven't had a chance to see how the lume lasts, but traditionally Seiko lume is about as good as it gets - if you want something more visible at night, you really need to be looking at watches with tritium hands and indices. The bezel insert is printed, not engraved, for what it's worth, and the crystal is "hardlex" (a Seiko proprietary hardened mineral crystal material) which is less scratch resistant than sapphire but actually somewhat more impact resistant. (you win some, you lose some. And I'm not aware of any watch at this price point w/ a real sapphire crystal anyway.)All that said - if you've got as far as reading this review, you probably ought to go ahead and buy this watch. It's damn near an icon in the world of tool watches. It looks good without being a copy of someone else's design (how many Rolex Submariner homages does the world really need?) and at the same time is an evolution of a design that is a classic in its own right. Seiko makes a hell of a movement, I have no reason to doubt the 200m rating, and if you really want near-quartz accuracy from it, just wear it daily for a month or two to let it break in and then take it to your local watchmaker and have him regulate it for you. $150 (I see now it's $145?) for a quality automatic waterproof watch complete with screw down crown is not a bad deal at all.Anyway, above and beyond all that, for more watch-geekery goodness, there's a decent sized aftermarket out there with different bezel inserts, hands, dial faces, etc. for this series of Seiko watches for those that just have to have something completely different.Edit: William Jean sells solid-link bracelets for Seiko watches with solid end links and decent quality clasps. I'm waiting for one to arrive now although the watch is fine on a Mil-NATO strap. After wearing this watch for a while I've found that it only gains a few seconds a day, although more than that isn't unusual for a 7S26.Edit #2: I tried the William Jean "super oyster" bracelet but ended up going back to a Maratac Mil-NATO strap. It just seems to fit the character of this watch better, although the Super Oyster does make for a nice combination with this watch. After having owned this watch for a while I have a few nits to pick regarding it; I still like it but figured I would report on the negatives. 1) the crown does not screw down as nicely at that of my Marathon GSAR. To be fair, the GSAR costs about 5x as much. 2) the auto-winding mechanism is not very efficient. If I wear the watch all day it has lots of power reserve, but I have had a few occasions to wear a watch to bed, not having an alarm clock handy. I find that the GSAR is the choice for that duty; if I pick up the Seiko and it has run down, I apparently do not move enough in my sleep to wind the watch; it will stop running overnight. This is not a problem for either the GSAR (ETA movement) or my Vostok Amphibia, but it is for the Seiko. Unfortunately the Seiko does not handwind, and the Vostok's lume is awful, so the GSAR is really the only choice for that duty. Not a situation that most people will care about but in the interest of full disclosure I thought I should add this to my review.

A friend of mine got me all excited about mechanical watches and I always kind of wanted a nice Seiko anyway - my search quickly led me to this one: The Seiko "Pepsi Diver" (Seiko doesn't name their watches, but the names the enthusiasts come up with tend to stick).I have a dive computer that I use for my actual scuba diving, but this might make a nice backup. It's got a rotating bezel that you can twist to point at the minute hand - and then you can easily glance at it and see how many minutes it's been since you set the bezel (it only rotates counter-clockwise. I guess that's so that bumping it accidentally during a dive might make it look like you've been down longer than you have - but it can't make it look like you've been down less time, so it errs on the side of diver safety)Here's a crash course in the things I've learned about mechanical watches and this watch in particular:1) This is an "automatic" watch - which means self-winding. There is a small weight inside the watch that swivels around as you move during the day and keeps the watch wound for you.2) If you take it off and leave it for too long, it will run down and you'll have to rock it back and forth a bit to get it going again. I haven't let mine run down yet so I don't know how long it takes. It will certainly stay running overnight if you take it off when you go to bed.3) The guts of mechanical watches are called the "movement". This is a Japanese movement, model number 7S26. Seiko has been using this movement for a long time and it works very well.4) You'll see mechanical watches talk about how many "jewels" they have. These aren't for bling - they aren't even visible unless you get a watch where you can see the insides. I's referring to the small industrial rubies that are used as low friction bearings in the movement. I think 19 is pretty standard, plus a couple extra that are used in the self-winding stuff - this is a 21 jewel movement.5) Some people complain that the watch isn't as blue as they expected. The face of it is more like a dark bluish gray - but the bezel is a nice blue, and between the two of them it's blue enough for me6) I bought the SKX009K2 model. As far as I can tell from internet research, it is exactly the same as the SKX175 model - the 175 is just intended for the American market and is a bit more expensive for some reason.7) It has day/date wheels on it - so it will show THU 16, FRI 17 etc. The day/date wheels appear to be white plastic. The text is all black except for SAT, which is blue, and SUN, which is red. The day wheel is also bilingual, with abbreviations for spanish days of the week on it as well. They alternate with each other - so the wheel has "MON LUN TUE MAR WED MIE THU JUE FRI VIE SAT SAB SUN DOM" on it. When you set it, you just pick whichever language you prefer. Then when it changes at midnight it moves two clicks to get to the next day in the language you selected. It doesn't move those two clicks instantly, though. The day of the month starts changing before midnight. The day of the week starts changing sometime after midnight, then it changes to the spanish version of the day, and then sometime around 3am it finishes changing to the english version of the correct day8) The face of the watch (officially called the "crystal") is made from Seiko's brand of hardened glass called hardlex9) Mechanical watches don't tend to be as accurate as quartz watches, though if you think about how little time it gains or loses in a day while you're walking around banging it into doorframes it's really an incredibly precise machine. Mine is currently gaining about 2 seconds per day when worn 24/7. It gains time faster if I take it off - partially because watches run fastest when they're on their face or back as they are when you set them down. I think it also has something to do with temperpature stability. When you're wearing it, it's pretty much always at your skin temperature. I think they tend to run faster when they are new and they wear in and slow down a bit after a couple months.10) The movement is supposed to move 21600 times per hour on this watch, which is 6 times per second. You can see the second hand moving multiple times per second, but it looks like it only moves 5 times per second to me - so I'm not sure about that part of it.11) Watches come with extra links in the band - so you won't be able to take it out of the box and put it on unless you have really big wrists. You need a tiny little punch to drive out the link pins - I just took it to a watch store and they fitted it for me for ten bucks12) Seiko is apparently known for really bright "lume" (glow in the dark). If this is in the sun for a minute or so and you take it inside it glows like crazy. It doesn't stay that way for long, but that's pretty normal. If you wake up in the middle of the night and look at it the hands are very dim, but are sill visible.Anyway, overall this is a really cool watch with some significant Seiko Diver history behind it and some amazing mechanical stuff in there. I'm very happy I bought it. The price and shipping from the Amazon partner company were excellent. It did come with a warranty card and was new-in-box.