Category: FIVE2FIVE

In recent times, we have seen the price increase of some Seiko models, models that were discontinued not so long ago and that today are worth at least double the value, and note that we are not even talking about premium models like its Grand Seiko high line, we are talking about Seiko’s that have been on the radar of many fans for a long time and we understand why because there is no other brand that offers watches so good and well made, with reliable movements, with a range of different options at such a good price. We could be here for hours talking about the qualities of this Japanese brand, but we don’t need to waste time on it, because in fact if you have been in the watchmaking world for some time you know perfectly well what we are talking about, but if you have just arrived in the world of watchmaking, do not worry, as you will quickly learn that Seiko has long won its place in the industry and the respect of other brands.

But what watches are we talking about, let’s start with what seems to be the best known, the Seiko SKX, in particular, the SKX007 and SKX013 variants. The SKX model was first launched in 1996 and soon became a favourite watch among the watchmaking community, it was probably the first mechanical watch for many enthusiasts who embraced this hobby and a watch that for some have long been considered the most popular and accessible alternative to the Rolex Submariner. The SKX operates based on the automatic movement 7S26, which was launched in the same year as the SKX, this movement has been used over time in many Seiko divers as well as in many Seiko 5 and here lies the biggest controversy, among those who consider it a movement reliable and those who consider it an entry-level movement with some weaknesses, two of the main complaints are: it does not allow manual winding and hacking. But let’s make a brief summary about this movement, it is an automatic movement that hits 21,600 vph, with 21 jewels, magnetic resistance of 60 gauss, 41 hours of power reserve, with functions of hours, minutes, seconds and day/date, 27.4mm in diameter and 4.8mm thick. Today we will not be revising Seiko SKX because we have already done it in another article and if you want to know more about it, we leave the link here.

The Seiko SKX for a long time were sold below € 200, a real bargain, I bought my SKX007 in 2018 with a bracelet and paid € 210, and a few months ago I considered buying the SKX013 because it has a smaller case than the SKX007 and it looks better on small wrists and at that time the price was € 300 with a rubber strap and not with a bracelet, and even then it was still a bargain, but since the last few months the prices have skyrocketed, so today we were able to find the SKX007 with prices range from € 489 with the rubber strap option to € 599 for the bracelet option, the same happens with the SKX013, today the only option we find available comes with a bracelet and for the price of € 748. The only option that it is still accessible and for an interesting price is the SKX009 (with Pepsi bezel) which is surprising, for a price that varies between € 299 on the rubber strap and € 365 on the bracelet.

Another two Seiko’s that have at least doubled in value in the last few months are the SARB035 and the SARB017, the latter better known as the Seiko Alpinist. As the Seiko SKX, we will not be doing an analysis on Seiko Alpinist, we already had the opportunity to speak when presenting the new “Seiko Alpinist” where we also had the opportunity to address the differences between the new and the old, so, we leave the link here and if you want you can update the features of this watch. Regarding the SARB035 we never had the opportunity to speak and so we will do a quick review, so the SARB035 is the white variant of the SARB033 best known with a black dial, it is a dress watch that performs very well as a casual or sports watch, it is no accident that for a long time it was seen as an affordable alternative to Rolex Explorer. The SARB033 and the SARB035, are very well made watches with a very elegant appearance, probably the closest model to the Grand Seiko at that time. So, what we can find in SARB033 / 035, they came with a stainless steel case 38 mm in diameter, 11.2 mm thick, with a polished fixed bezel and brushed surface case, a sapphire crystal and a crown signed at 3 o’clock. On the dial, an inner ring with minute scale in the same colour as the dial, applied hour indexes, a date frame window at 3 o’clock combining with applied indexes and with the same background colour as the dial, Seiko logo applied at 12 o’clock and the inscriptions “Automatic” followed by “23 Jewels” painted at 6 o’clock, luminous hour and minute dauphine hands and a central second hand with a diamond-shaped tail. Regarding the internal mechanism, it comes with the 6R15 movement, it is a movement used in many dress watches and also in diver Seiko watches, it is an automatic movement that beats 21,600 vph, with 23 jewels, a 60 gauss magnetic resistance, 50 hours power reserve, with functions of hours, minutes, seconds and date, with 27.4 mm in diameter and 5.25 mm in thickness. Unlike the SKX 7S26 movement mentioned above, it allows manual winding and hacking.

So, at the beginning of 2020 I was thinking about buying a SARB033 I was looking for a nice watch that could alternate with my rectangular omega and at that time I could find for around € 350, interestingly the same price requested by SARB017, two other bargains, that today I regret not buying it, a few weeks ago when I started researching for this article, both were available for around € 650, but today I can’t find any of them already available.

The last Seiko that we decided to leave for the end and that also doubled in value is the most affordable of all, is the Seiko SNK and that exists in four variants SNK803 / 5/7/9 with white, green, blue and black dial, this watch is inspired by Flieger watches, so it comes with two scales on the dial, a large external minute scale and a small internal hour scale in a recreation of type B Flieger watches, it comes with sword hands for hours and minutes and a central seconds hand with a dot tail. On the dial, we can also find a day/date window at 3 o’clock, the Seiko logo followed by the Seiko Five logo applied at 12 o’clock and the inscriptions “Automatic” followed by “21 Jewels” painted at 6 o’clock. The SNK’s come in a stainless steel case with a matte finish, 38 mm in diameter, 11 mm thick and a crown at 4 o’clock. The movements that equip these watches are exactly the same as the SKX, the 7S26 automatic movement.

These watches were available for a long time for a price of around € 75 and it was often even possible to find them at a lower price, today we can only find them for prices around € 150, ok it is still a bargain, but with this value, at the beginning of the year, you could get two of them with the same amount of money.

Final considerations, even though all these watches were cheap, we believe that two reasons are behind the increase in prices, first the reduction of stocks of these watches, although they were mass-produced and had been available for years, it is natural that many people have acquired them and that having been discontinued some time ago, stocks are no longer possible to replenish. The second reason is that for a long time the prices did not reflect the real value of these watches and since the beginning of this year Seiko has decided to change its pricing policy by increasing and valuing its watches more. For whatever reason, our advice is that if you have the opportunity to purchase any of these models at a good price, do so, as it is possible that they will come to appreciate even more as stocks in the rest of the world run out.

Here are two tips, the price increase is still only reflected in Europe, you can still find many of these watches available in the North American and Asian markets at moderate prices and even having to pay taxes ends up getting cheaper. The second tip concerns the SKX009 model that here in Europe it is still possible to buy below the other two SKX models mentioned above, but whose prices will not take much longer to rise.