Customer Reviews

Seiko Men's SNA411 Flight Alarm Chronograph Watch

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this watch for myself for Christmas 3 years ago and still love it.

At the time I really wanted a Breitling Navitimer Fighter but they were selling for around $3,000, and I knew I wouldn't feel comfortable walking around with thousands of bucks on my wrist.

I happened on this watch on Amazon and was immediately taken with it. Let me say, that the photo does not do this watch justice. When I received the Seiko I was surprised that it had much more sparkle than this photo imparts. And what really impressed me was that the face has great depth to it. The photo on Amazon shows a flat black surface with a mishmash of white lettering all over it, but in reality it looks much more like a mini metal Roman Colliseum with raised sides and a recessed center plain under thick glass. The face is about 3/8" thick. Very substantial and classy looking. Also, there is more contrast between the shiny center of the wrist band next to the flat silver sides than this photo indicates.

I wore it to work one day, and a female coworker remarked,"your watch is gorgeous!" and that she was looking for one like it for her husband. And when I told her the price she couldn't believe it.

The Breitling Navitimer is a beautiful watch, but since owning this Seiko Chronograph I rarely ever think about owning a Breitling. And since Navitimers now sell for over $6000 I feel even better about the $475 Seiko I got for $200.

I bought this watch for the slide rules function on the bezel. It is very handy for me in my profession to be able to do multiplication, division, ratios and conversions on the watch. The only problem is that the numbers are a little small
Over all very well built and durable watch.

I collect watches but am very picky because I am relatively short and have a small wrist. Most of my watches are custom fit for my wrist. I was reluctant to buy this watch because chronographs are notoriously bulky and adjusting them can be a pain.

However, as soon as I received this watch I knew it was the best purchase I'd ever made for a timepiece. Everything from the casing to the way the watch was packaged was perfect. The craftsmanship is unmatched, the watch has more tools on it than you'll ever need, and best of all the diameter was only slightly bigger than some of my other watches (also only slightly taller because of the slide rule). Overall, this is a great deal especially for the price. Similar chronographs cost as much as $3,000.00 USD.

The alarm function is a bit tedious to set up, but I never use a watch as an alarm because I need something more powerful. Small watch alarms simply aren't practical.

Aesthetically, it is one of the most beautiful timepieces I've ever purchased and it is a great addition to my collection of chronographs. I am so happy with this watch that I have to stare at it every 10 minutes because it is such a cool accessory!

I bought one to replace my aging Seiko, and love it. Good ol' Seiko Chronograph in the middle, and the bezel does regular non-flying multiplication and division in addition to the airplane-related calculations, though you wouldn't know it from reading the instructions. Here's how:

Turn the outer ring so that the number you want to multiply is opposite the 10 on the inner ring, and then find the number you're multiplying by on the inner ring and read the product from the outer ring opposite that.

Division is the reverse of multiplication -- line up the dividend on the outside ring with the divisor on the inside, and read the quotient opposite the inner 10.

It's my second Seiko chronograph. The first I've had for nearly 15 years and is still on top condition. I love the Flight Chronograph's black dial and the stainless steel bezel. The bracelet is also SS. I can wear it with a suit our polo shirt. It's accurate which helps keep my appointments on schedule. I only take it off before I go to sleep or shower. A great improvement over the first Chronograph is its pushbuttons screws that keep moister and water out of the machine.

I found this watch to be somewhat functional but very classy. I find it hard to use the slide bezel in flight, the numbers are hard to quickly identify; and solving equasions are better done with a paper E6-B than this product. As a ground unit I found it to be very handy but many features are overkill. This unit is very sharp looking but has some work to do in the handyness department with real world flying.

Fine print on the watch dials, thats about the only headache... Other than that, this piece came in only a week ago... no cuts or bruises on the wrist, and have realised I require reading glasses to read the manual and read what happens inside the watch.
Amazon delivered it within the time frame that I got while ordering the watch, intact. The finish is excellent, the strap is sturdy and watch gets noticed. Will finish the manual, figure out the alarm and the dual time business in a bit. More later.

This is a fantastic slide-rule watch for the price you're paying for it. The build quality is rock solid and the pushbuttons screw down firmly. And it has an alarm and the accuracy of quartz. The manual is a good practical introduction to using the slide rule functions.

However, it is not a Breitling Navitimer. My main gripe about the SNA411 is the design of the bezel and face. It's just too busy! It has many different scales: a compass scale, a bezel log scale, a dial log scale, a conversion scale, a tachymeter scale, and a time scale. It's difficult to make out the numbers on each scale without squinting.

Also, the 10 on the dial log scale and the bezel log scale aren't highlighted in any special color, making it hard to make out when doing multiplication/division.

But don't get me wrong: for the price (a couple hundred dollars - cheaper on eBay), this is a great watch and a fantastic deal. Frustration, sometimes, but no regrets.

I will have to follow this up with a more extensive VIDEO review, but for now here are the highlights.

1) It arrived on time with free holiday shipping from amazon.com. I count this as a PLUS.

2) It arrived without protective plastic covering the crystal, case back, crown and pushers, or bracelet. This is a MINUS.

3) It also arrived with a slight scratch on one of the link-segments on the band. Since it was the polished portion of the link segment, it was very noticeable. ** BIG MINUS ** , but I remedied this by choosing this link segment as the links I would remove when I was sizing the bracelet, so no harm, no foul.

4) The bracelet measures just over 21mm consistently all the way around (no tapering), is solid stainless steel, and has solid end links. The bracelet was erroneously reported by some fellow reviewers as being a 3-link band (two brushed links on the outside and one polished link in the center with a vertical crease). In sizing the bracelet and moving the links, I quickly learned that it is actually a 4-link bracelet since the polished center is actually made up of TWO links side by side, each with a brushed link on either end (brushed link +polished link+ polished link+ brushed link...per link segment).

5) Diameter of case/bezel is listed as 42mm (w/o the crown), but it seems to be closer to 40mm.

6) Dial - The dial is protected by a domed Hardlex mineral crystal that does a magnificent job magnifying the fine writing of the EB6 rule, Telemeter, and Tachometer, and all other info including he date on the face/dial.

The domed crystal also does an excellent job reflecting a lot of LIGHT and shimmer towards onlookers, so it tends to get a lot of WOW responses.

7) The bezel is non-ratcheting and bidirectional, has a highly polished coined edge, and is very solid and smooth in its movement.

8) The weight and balance is just right. It is slightly lighter than the Seiko "Monster" divers, about the same weight as my Omega 40mm (heavier than a Chase Durer Pilot Commander Alarm chronograph).

9) The alarm (located at the 6 o'clock position) can be used as a GMT to track a secondary time zone. It has its own fully independent minute and hour hands, so this is quite nice.

10) The chronograph second hand (the BIG second hand) and chronograph hour hand (in the small sub-dial nearest to the 12 o'clock position) are in bright yellow. All other hands are in stainless steel with or without lumabrite (luminescent paint for glowing in the dark). The chronograph sub-dials at 12 and 9 o'clock are outlined in white paint, but the alarm sub-dial a 6 o'clock is nicely outlined with a stainless steel circle/ring.


11) The crown and pushers are all screw down and the threads are well engineered. This allows not only for the true 200 meter depth water resistance rating, but also keeps dust and moisture out of the watch. Dust and moisture are the biggest enemies of any watch, regardless of the price-point.

12) ALL the chronograph hands and sub-dials can be manually reset to "zero" or manually aligned with the hatch marks on the dial or sub-dials using the pushers, if ever needed. I will say that my Seiko SNA411 arrived with all the hands PERFECTLY aligned with the markers, so no adjustment is yet necessary.

Conclusion: This is a dressy watch. The picture really does not do it justice. I purchased both this watch, as well as the Chase Durer Pilot Commander Alarm chronograph. This one for dressier, more formal attire while the Chase Durer for more casual occasions. Both watches have Japanese quartz movements and respective of style, quality, and function, they are easily on par with or better than most if not all of the other watches in my collection, including several well-known swiss automatics costing $3200 to $4000 each.

The only thing I would change about the Seiko SNA411 is the crystal. This is my first time owning a watch with a Hardlex crystal, and besides my Casio beater watch, all the other watches in my collection have sapphire anti-reflective crystals, which I have never scratched, shattered, or fractured (and I'm pretty hard on my watches...and have occasionally clumsily banged them into walls, door frames, brick walls, etc...). So I'm anxious to see just how the Seiko's Hardlex crystal holds up, especially given it's domed and slightly protruding form.

BTW - for all those considering automatics, consider this...what I've found out in extensively researching before making my recent purchases:

1) Automatics MUST be cleaned/lubricated/"maintained" every 2-3 years, which runs anywhere from $150 to $399 for EACH automatic watch....depending on the brand and complication of the movement (basically, the more you paid for the watch the more the jeweler will charge you)

2) Automatics are not even remotely close to as accurate as quartz watches. Quartz are usually accurate within +/- 5 to 15 seconds a month, whereas automatics are usually +/- 5 to 15 seconds a day (for there best swiss movements).

3) Seiko invented the world's first quartz wristwatch - the 35SQ Astron Watch - in Tokyo on Christmas day, 1969.

4) Quartz movements only require a quick and relatively inexpensive battery change every 2-3 years, some even every 10 years, and if the movements ever get so bad that an overhaul is needed (I've never heard of this happening, but anything is possible), you can buy an entire new movement wholesale from between $30 - $80 and find a friendly jeweler to install it for you. With one of my better known swiss automatics, before I invested in a watch-winder ($199) to keep it constantly in motion to keep the internal 37-jeweled parts lubricated, it cost me $750 for a complete overhaul when the movement went bad after 4 years. AND that was DISCOUNTED!!!

It's nice owning swiss automatics (prestige, hype, exclusivity), but not that nice. After buying one of them, I always have a bad taste in my mouth...like I know I just got ripped off...no matter how much "swiss watch-masters hand-made craftsmanship" the sales person touted about). With my two purchases of the Seiko SNA411 and the Chase Durer Pilot Commander, I've never felt so good about a luxury watch purchase.

I'll take a high-quality quartz watch (swiss or japan movement) any day over ANY of my swiss automatics now that I know better. So go out, find a watch that suits you...enjoy it :-) I know I will be enjoying BOTH of my latest additions :-)

***** THE 1-MONTH UPDATE******

THE CRYSTAL: So far no scratches on the Seiko's SNA411 Hardlex crystal, and that's IMPRESSIVE since I do wear it daily and have banged it into a few things.

THE BAND: Like I said, I'm pretty hard on my watches. The morning after wearing the Seiko SNA411 during a night on the town (dinner & drinks with friends), I noticed a minor scratch on the stainless steel bracelet. This is a truly beautiful bracelet, and a GENUINE Seiko replacement bracelet of the exact same make and design runs about $65-$100 (depending on which online retailer you purchase it from), so to prevent further wear and tear on the bracelet during my daily wearing of this watch, AND in an effort to dress it DOWN a bit, I purchased a beautiful 22mm rubber watch band with stainless steel buckle/clasp. The watch is now a thing of elegance + sporty! I LOVE IT and the number of compliments and gazes have been countless!

Earlier this year, I purchased the gold-finished edition (Seiko SNA414)and was so impressed that I ordered the stainless steel, Seiko SNA 411. Both watches are amoung the best looking and working time-pieces available at any price. The readability of the markings on the slide rule are better on the stainless version. White letters on black background are easier to decipher than gold on black. I must admit that all the markings are too fine for my 56-year-old eyes to use on a regular basis, even with my reading glasses on. However, the Seiko satisfies my hunger for the charisma of a Breitling and keeps better time, too.