Customer Reviews

Seiko 5 Men's SNK809 Automatic Black Strap Black Dial Watch

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Seiko offers two similar versions of a mechanical "military" watch:

The SNK809 (which is black, but there are other colors). This has a 21 jewel movement (generally the 7S26B, but the earlier models have the 7S26). It has a 36mm case (excluding the crown) and18mm wide band.

The other model is the lager SNZG15 (which is black, but there are other colors). This has a 23 jewel movement (generally the 7S36B, but earlier models have the 7S36). It has a 40mm case (excluding crown) and an 22mm band.

Both of these watches are gray market. You won't see them for sale in US stores.

I've owned my SNK809 for several months and love it. Its very accurate for the price. Mine gains about 5 sec/day. You'll have to spend a lot of money to do better than that in the mechanical watch world.

Two of my friends own the SNZG15, and they seem to gain about 10 sec/day. Note: The fact the SNZG15 has 23 jewels doesn't mean its more accurate than a 21 jewel movement. It's larger, pushes more mass (bigger hands), and thus I speculate is inherently less accurate than the smaller SNK809.

I got my SNK809 on eBay for $45 + $25 shipping (2009). However, it was shipped from Hong Kong. It had to clear customs, shipping takes about three weeks, and has more inherent risk. I'd expect to pay more on Amazon if it was shipped from within the US. Similarly, I've seen the SNG15 for as little as $105 with free shipping, shipped from Singapore.

What I did not appreciate at the time I bought my SNK809 is that its water resistant rating is 30 meters (WR30M). 98 ft. That seems sufficient unless you're a serious scuba diver, right?

Wrong.

Look up water resistant ratings for watches on Wikipedia.

30 meters is the static water pressure for the test conducted in the ratings lab. The working/dynamic pressure rating will be much less. You should not even shower wearing a WR30M watch, let alone swim with it. WR30M is considered splash resistant only. I have splashed my watch, it still runs great, but depending upon your lifestyle, this may or may not be an issue.

The bigger SNZG15 is rated at WR100M, which you can swim and skin dive with. The smallest rating you should swim with (but no skin diving) is WR50M.

The other aspect of the SNK809 you should be aware of is that its smaller than most watches are today. In the 1960's an 18mm band was typical. Today its small, aesthetically, particularly for a person with large wrists.

When I first got my SNK809, I was taken aback by how thin the band looked (and I have smaller than average wrists). I have read the market Seiko is targeting with this model is teenagers in Asia. That market base probably has smaller wrists than the average American male.

But after wearing it for awhile, I noticed I wasn't banging it into things like I do with my larger watch. And it fit under my shirt sleeves better.

Its notable that my friends say the 22mm SNZG15 is a bit bigger than they wish it was.

I've concluded I like the 18mm band. I'm an outdoorsman (when I can be), and do wish the SNK809 was at least WR50M. Other reviewers will say they wish it had a hacking mechanism or a sapphire crystal. Those are not issues for me, and for the price, let's get real.

This is a phenomenal mechanical watch for what you'll pay. I wear mine to work every day. I wear it to meetings and snicker to myself as my second hand moves at six clicks per second, while others sitting at the table suffer the one second lurch of the ubiquitous quartz movement. Yes, I'm a watch geek. Just be aware of the smaller width of the band and WR30M rating. If those aren't big issues for you, you can't beat it.

This is a nice little entry level automatic watch. Upon opening the box it came in the first thing I noticed was the size of the watch itself and the band. The watch itself is somewhat small but not too bad. its slightly larger than a quarter. The band however is much smaller than I expected. I have tiny wrists so It doesn't bother me too much but someone with a larger wrist may find it odd looking; it's really just preference and shouldn't make or break the deal as the band can easily be swapped out. The watch has a nice heavy weight to it and doesn't feel cheap like some other larger automatics I have. One strange thing I noticed right away when I picked up my watch was that the weight that spins the mainspring slides against the interior of the watch as I move it. So I can feel the weight as it moves around. This doesn't bother me but I hope its normal and doesn't mean I got a faulty watch. Everything is working fine at the moment (I've only been wearing it for a day) and I see no other problems or peeves about the watch. I'll break down the pros and cons here:

(PROS)
+ Overall nice looking watch. As most watches; the picture online just doesn't do it justice.
+ Watch has a nice weight to it.
+ It's an automatic for under $100; thats a bargain, especially for a Seiko.
+ The luminous hands are pretty good and last for a good 20 minutes. (Not as good as a Seiko Monster but what do you expect)
+ Comes with a 3 year warranty (although the retailer warranty card I received was not filled out by Amazon, not sure if this matters)

(Cons)
- Both the watch's body and strap were smaller than I expected.
- Hardlex glass is not exactly the best material, it suffices but Mineral would've been better. Sapphire is good too but thats a little too much to ask for in a watch of this caliber.
- Grindy mainspring weight.
- Malaysian movement. Although it says this watch has a Japanese movement in the specs; There is a Malaysian movement in them. I believe these are designed in Japan and built or assembled in Malaysia; either way the movement is definitely not made & assembled in Japan. If this was already common knowledge I apologize.
- Water resistance is sub-par. This watch should at least have the ability to withstand swimming and not just be resistant to minor splashes.

All in all it seems like a nice watch. As long as that weight isn't defective and its normal everything should be fine. I'll post an update eventually to let you know how its held up over time.

*** Update
I've been wearing the watch almost everyday for a few weeks now. It's kept time perfectly only gaining a couple seconds a day. It's by far the most accurate automatic I own; even more than some of my Swiss ETA movements. As far as the quality of the watch it seems almost perfect. I love the size and look of it. The Hardlex has held up and I still have no scratches on the dial or caseback (More time will tell how well it really holds up) The only problem I have with this watch is that it seems theres still some friction between the weight and the inside of the watch body. This has been causing it to sometimes keep the weight stationary at some points rather than spin around as it should. It still spins with enough force but some normal hand movements have not been enough to keep the weight moving. That being said it hasn't been a big enough problem to cause the watch to stop on me. It still keeps ticking long after ive put it down. After some research I realized this watch uses the same movement as the famous Seiko Monster & is a bit of a workhorse for seiko.

I've had this watch for a few years. As others have noted, it runs a little fast -- seems like a few minutes every week or so. Probably not bad at this price point, but it kind of defeats my purpose in getting an automatic watch, which was to not have to worry about the watch -- no winding, no battery, it just works. Instead, I have to constantly correct it.

The other negative for me is the feeling of vibration when it gets moved around -- maybe it is some kind of internal suspension to provide shock resistance, but it feels and sounds a little cheap. It's a kind of buzzy clack, especially when the watch is moved perpendicular to the face.

On the plus side, it looks nice, I enjoy having the day and date, the glass back is cool, and it way exceeded its advertised water resistance for me: I forgot to take it off when I went diving to 45 feet, and it has worked perfectly with no fogging or other signs of trouble since then. As far as I know it is unrated at any given depth, so that was impressive.

If you are sure you want an automatic watch, this is a good and inexpensive way to get there. For me, I kind of wish I had either gone with a similar watch in quartz for a thinner case and better accuracy, or just gone upmarket.

I bought one of these a couple years ago in Singapore. I love it. It is my staple everyday watch. They are tough and withstand a fair bit of abuse. I wore mine while training and flying aerobatics up to 6Gs. Still works. The movement does tend to be fast, some say by 5 to 15 sec per day. My experience is that I notice it is running fast by a few minutes every little while and then I correct it. Not an issue especially since it is an automatic watch. If I go more than a day without wearing or shaking it, it stops anyway, so who needs longterm accuracy?

I love it. I'm buying a second one in dark green. ...May start a collection.

This watch is self-winding only while being worn around the clock. If I wear it all day and take it off at night, it usually stops by 5:00 AM and needs to be reset in the morning, The watch has even stopped during the day when I have a day of leisure.

This watch comes in 4 models, SNK 803 with a beige strap and dial, SNK 805 with a green strap and dial, SNK 807 with a blue strap and dial, and SNK 809 with a black strap and dial. What I like most is the red tip on the seconds hand that sweeps continuously across the dial and not in steps for every second like in most analog watches. Also cool is the untraditional numbering of the hour markings, where the 5-minutes are more protruding than the hours. The strap looks better in the photos than in reality, but it's still very nice and tough-looking, although it is narrower than you think when you see it on the guy's arm in the pictures above. The see-through case is a gimmick I could do without, but anyway, nice to watch the watch work. Buy all four and you have one to go with every occasion and dress colour/code. This item sells on eBay for 30-40 dollars.

I own 6 seiko watches (both automatics and quartz), and had a very good experience with all of them, until I purchased this one. I did not think much about puchasing the watch with a movement from Malaysia (big mistake!), because it is supossed to be built to Seiko quality standards.

Well, date mechanism does not work (both day of the week and day of the month), which is very annoying. Contacted the seller (Imperial Watches), and all I got as response was a recommendation to send it to Seiko for service. It is a logical solution, but 1) should have expected some more service (I had another issue with a watch in the past, and got far better service from another of Amazon's sellers) and 2) I am not supossed to have this problem in the first place!!!!

If you are interested in this product, think twice about these Malaysia movements and Imperial Watches.

Hope this helps you make a good buying decision.

This watch had been on my radar for about two years and I finally purchased it when the price began to drop. For the money, this is an excellent automatic timepiece. I've had this watch for just over a week and it is gaining about 15 seconds per day. This compares with other Seiko 5s that I own, which also employ the 7S26 movement.

What I like:
Classic field watch styling
Pilot-type dial is easy to read
Brushed case and strap hardware
Finish details are well done for the price point
Day and date
Accurate timekeeping

What I dislike:
Strap is not quite wide enough to cover the edges of the springbars
"Seiko 5" logo is reflective while all other dial printing is matte
Case is polished between the lugs

At approximately 38mm, this watch is a bit small by today's standards. I consider this a positive attribute. I have 6.5" wrists and this watch is a perfect fit. I'm ready and willing to buck the trend of nutty oversized watches (> 48mm). This watch will never go out of style.

I actually like the strap. It was comfortable from the start. If you decide to replace it with a leather strap you may want to find one with a brushed buckle. The typical polished buckle straps may look awkward against the watch's brushed case.

If you want a classic-sized automatic field/pilot watch, look no further. You will not find a better bargain. You'll get an accurate, attractive watch that can be worn with almost any attire.

I'm not a watch geek, so I'm not even going to begin to address the technical points that other reviewers have covered. I was looking for a watch that was somewhere between casual and dressy and this watch filled the bill. If you are looking for a watch that is stylishly large (a grandfather clock on your wrist), then this is not a watch for you. I like a watch that slides easily under the cuff of a dress shirt and is not so large that it screams "look at me, look at me!". I am not a small person (6'1" and 215 pounds) and I find the size of this watch just about ideal. It is also dressier looking than I expected, and I have worn it with a suit and tie and have felt very comfortable. I have no problem with its accuracy - it seems to be as accurate as my Citizen Eco-Drives. As far as the clear back goes, I don't really care because it's against my wrist, and no one sees it. I am very satisfied with this purchase and will probably buy another one in a different color.

I bought the black and blue versions of this fine watch. They serve as my day-to-day watch. As noted in other reviews, a self-winding watch is more accurate than a mechanical watch but far less accurate than a quartz watch. Quartz watches are off by about 2-3 seconds/month, compared to atomic clocks. Self-winding watches are off by about 7 minutes/month. I've found the difference to be negative not positive. Sieko says about 5 minutes/month.

But, here's one advantage: you won't have to wind it, just wear it. That makes it the best watch available in the future ahead. It's getting harder to get my battery replaced on quartz watches and it will likely become impossible in future.

It only takes about 39 hours for the battery to run down so it helps to rotate it (to wind) about 2-3 minutes a day. I can usually wind it in a commercial break.

The drawbacks with the black model:

* harder to keep clean;

* the day and date diasl are harder to read because the face is black and so are the letters.

All in all, it's a great watch.

If this review was helpful, please add your vote.
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My review of the blue watch:

Xbar 107 seconds/week (runs fast) (7 min./month compared to 2-4 sec./month quart watch)
St DEV 27 sec.
N = 7
95% CI 2.447 using Student's t
m+ = 136 seconds/week
m- = 78 seconds/week



Summary:

Good points:
* Beautiful with dark blue face, white symbols, functional medium blue nylon band;
* Easy to read, even in the dark;
* Easy to use with uncomplicated settings similar to other watches;
* Compact design;
* Measurement consistency is excellent compared to quartz mechanism.

Bad points:
* Difficult to set time (see instruction below);
* Gains 10 seconds a day (consistency); and
* Does not have a manual wind stem.

Discussion
This watch looks great. Unlike other self-winding or kinetic watches, this one is compact. In the best tradition of Japanese product development they thought hard on how this watch should function and say about the wearer. The hands are easy to reading, even for those of use with failing eyesight. The second sweep hand has a red tip allowing easy setting of the time.

Unlike some Japanese product, they provided a short, simple instruction on winding the watch. Here, I am comparing them to Citizen's ecco-drive watch, which I also own. Just gently work your arm back and forth for three minutes and the self-wind watch will charge; or, you could wear it for a day.

Okay, now for the negatives. First, this is not your quartz watch. The original self-winding mechanism was invented, according to Wikipedia, by a Swiss watchmaker in 1770. Since then it has gone through several improvements but is not as accurate as the quartz mechanism popularized starting in the 1970's. Sieko warns that this watch could be off by as much as 10 seconds a day. One days use indicates that my watch runs about 10 seconds fast.

The great watchmaker Harrison, who invented the first chronometer accurate enough to track longitude, said that consistency is more important than accuracy. (A poor copy of one of Harrison's chronometers was carried by Captain Cook on his circumnavigation of the globe. He had nothing but good things to say about it.) I have another self-winding watch, an Armitron, which runs consistently 15 seconds fast on days that I wear it.

From my measurements of quartz watches, their accuracy, while dazzling when compared to old hand-wound watches, are less accurate than my old German pendulum clock. So I am told, the longer the arm, the more stable the swing and the more accurate the timepiece. I compare everything to atomic time. And, because the quartz mechanism is battery-driven, it seems to suffer from inconsistency. I carefully measured my collection of six quartz watches over a 2 year period. While the battery was new, the error was consistent. As the battery burned out, the error became difficult to predict. Sometimes a positive error (adding time) would become a negative error (losing time) as the battery died. This dying period was also hard to predict.

The accuracy of the quartz mechanism is not as good as my pendulum clock. They all lost or gained approximately 2-3 seconds, on average, per month.

Based on a week of measurements with the Armitron, I would say that it is shockingly inaccurate but consistently so. Assuming that the Sieko error continues to be consistently 10 seconds fast this will mean that I will have to reset it every week. This is a small price to pay for an otherwise beautifully crafted and honestly-priced handiwork.

Setting time
The date and day are fairly easy. I suggest turning the watch arms until the click past a day so you won't be twelve hours off.

Setting the time is another matter. What works best is to set the hour and minute hands, then gently hold the second hand. It should pulse a little as it tries to force itself forward. Once the seconds are accurate, release and the second hand should be accurate. It takes a little practice at first and don't set the time until you pump the watch 3 minutes to charge the spring.

Time to unwind
It takes about 39 hours (1 test) to unwind.