Seiko Champion

There are many models of Seiko 5 available, some sold globally, some just in Japan, and others for specific geographical markets. The 5’s have been Seiko’s largest group of mechanical watches for decades now. The line-up ranges from cheaper “dress watch for younger guy who doesn’t know better” models, through better quality dress watches, sport divers, Seiko Superior, and others. Most of today’s 5’s use use the workhorse 7S26 movement.

Among the ones manufactured today is a group of “military style” watches, which are the ones I will talk about in this post.

“Military style” refers to the simple and very legible dial layout, reminiscent of military spec watches.

This watch style is available in 5 dial colors – tan (803), khaki (805), blue (807), black (809) and Lumibrite (811 – lume on the dial rather than the hands, so an off-white look). All have a Hardlex crystal, and a display back.

All of these are available with a stainless strap, which matches well with a sandblasted, almost pewter-like finish on their cases. Mine on stainless makes a nice low-end dress watch, especially with ablack face, perfect for banging around at work.

But … each of the first 4 colors are available instead with a matching, double layer nylon “flieger” strap with pewter colored hardware. And to me this turns these watches into something special for a low-end purchase.

With the fabric bands, the various part of these watches just mesh well – the pewter finish of the case and matching buckle &strap hardware, the dial color similar but not exactly the same as those of the strap and the reinforcement strip – it creates a bit of an air of adventure to them, especially the khaki (military) and the tan (desert).

I found these watches among the most comfortable to wear of any I own. The straps are fairly long and can fit a large range of wrist sizes. The nylons trap makes it a light watch to wear, but not so much to feel insubstantial. A friend of mine with a much larger watch collection and budget than I just purchased his first Patek Phillipe, but still chose to wear his khaki Seiko to a recent trip to Singapore, because of the comfort factor.

My opinion? These watches are a good value, well-made for the price, with some good looking design features, and they succeed in pulling off an “adventuring” look that’s different from most of the lower-end mechanicals on the market for you. In my opinion these are perfect “business casual” beaters -at this price, get one of each color and you now have everyday watches to match your mood and clothes!

I would recommend either PremierWorld or Pokemonyu on eBay as a reputable source for these watches. Pokemonyu is currently offering them as “Buy Now” for $44.50 each. See what I mean by good value!

And yes, I took my own opinion … following are my SNK803-K2, SNK805-K2, SNK807-K2, and SNK809-J1 (note – color is a bit washed out in these pics compared to the real thing, still playing with the camera).