Of the hundreds and thousands of watch brands out there, Seiko continues to dominate our minds, wrists and search engines. I don’t know whether it’s their impeccable craftsmanship, innovative spirit, diverse range of offerings or impressively affordable price points that keep us interested. Whatever it is, they are doing something right. But because of that, it leaves us inundated with an extraordinary range of Seiko watches to choose from.
Choosing from Seiko’s vast range of designs is no easy feat, trust me. The Japanese watchmaker has several sub-collections, each targeting different tastes, lifestyles or for some of us, just different times of the day. The Seiko Prospex is arguably the brand’s most popular collection, offering up affordable, robust and precise mechanical diving watches. Then you have lines like the Seiko Presage for a dressier finish, the Seiko 5 Sports firmly placed in the retro sports watch genre and the time-zone hopping Seiko Astron with its solar-powered GPS movement. There’s also the newly re-launched King Seiko, a design that brings together the affordability of their other models with the luxury disposition of their high-end Grand Seiko watch.
2023 has been a fantastic year for Seiko. We’ve seen revivals of some of their most iconic models as well as innovative watches that have pushed the boundaries of modern-day design (yes, we’re talking about you Speedtimer 1/100 sec Solar Chronograph). So, as you can imagine, choosing my best Seiko watches of the year has not been an easy job. It’s been a fun one, though. Ultimately, I’ve narrowed it down to five top Seiko watches from 2023 that I feel have hit the sweet spot in terms of pricing, build quality and overall aesthetics. Let’s see if you agree…
Seiko Presage Craftsmanship Series 110th Anniversary Collection
Seiko Presage Craftsmanship Series 110th Anniversary Collection - Credit Seiko
If there’s one thing Seiko knows how to do, it’s celebrate an anniversary. Whether it’s the birthday of a particular reference or a milestone in the brand’s history, Seiko love to release anniversary collections and models. For 2023, the Japanese powerhouse commemorated 110 years since the launch of Seiko’s and Japan’s first ever wristwatch, the Laurel, with the launch of the Seiko Presage Craftsmanship Series 110th Anniversary collection. These watches beautifully embody everything there is to love about the Presage line: they’re traditional, beautiful and versatile and pay homage to a range of traditional Japanese handcraft techniques.
Seiko Presage Craftsmanship Series 110th Anniversary Collection - Credit Seiko
There are four Seiko Presage Craftsmanship Series 110th Anniversary watches in total with each showcasing an exquisite dial crafted by a different master craftsman and his team. Reference SPB393 boasts a crisp white enamel dial while reference SPB395 presents a deep red Urushi lacquer dial. Both these designs offer plenty of functionality including retrograde day and date displays and a power reserve indicator. Meanwhile, reference SPB397 showcases a rare Arita porcelain display with a creamy white finish and the final reference, SPB399, nominates a rich navy Shippo enamel dial with an elegant wave pattern. These dials, combined with the slender 40mm steel cases, dressy leather straps and in-house 45-hour power reserve movements makes them worthy of our top Seiko watches of 2023 list.
King Seiko KSK 6L SJE089 & SJE091 Watches
King Seiko KSK 6L SJE089 & SJE091 Watches - Credit Seiko
I know the revival of the King Seiko isn’t for everyone. During the 1960’s, the King Seiko was in direct competition with the brand’s other luxury model, the Grand Seiko, and the pair battled it out, quite literally, to create the world’s most beautiful and accurate timepiece. As you guessed it, Grand Seiko won and for several years the King Seiko went missing from Seiko’s collection. That was until 2020, when the King Seiko returned, but not quite as we remember it. Instead, it was marketed as a more affordable version of the Grand Seiko, similar in style but with less accurate movements. I might be on my own here, but as someone who has always admired Grand Seiko but never quite had the budget for their watches, the return of the King Seiko was a welcome surprise.
King Seiko KSK 6L SJE089 & SJE091 Watches - Credit Seiko
With that in mind, the King Seiko KSK 6L SJE089 and SJE091 watches are some of my personal favourites in the new series. Why? Because they’re super slim at just 10.7mm tall and offer premium materials like sapphire crystal glass, Zaratsu-like polished stainless steel and seven-link metal bracelets. The dials are clean and simple in silver (SJE089) or black (SJE091) and decorated with sharp hairline finished hands and markers. Yes the movement could be improved; the calibre 6L35 offers a 45 hour power reserve and accuracy of -10/+15 seconds a day, but at £2,900 each, these watches are still well-priced for a luxury style timepiece.
Seiko 5 Sports SKX Series ‘Midi’ Collection
Seiko 5 Sports SKX Series ‘Midi’ Collection - Credit Seiko
One thing many watch enthusiasts have been looking for lately, not just from Seiko but from any watch brand, is more compact case sizes. The industry is heavily saturated with cases from 40mm upwards, but it’s hard to find much below that in the men’s category. This is one of the main reasons why the Seiko 5 Sports SKX Series ‘Midi’ collection has made our list. As its name suggests, these watches deliver their SKX-inspired sports watch with a mid-sized 38mm case. To top that off, the bezels and dials are adorned in some funky colours.
Seiko 5 Sports SKX Series ‘Midi’ Collection - Credit Seiko
There are four Seiko 5 Sports SKX Series ‘Midi’ watches: reference SRPK29 with a classic black dial, SRPK31 with a champagne dial, SRPK33 with an orange dial and SRPK35 with a turquoise dial. The specs are still basically the same as their larger brothers and sisters; they have stainless steel housing with solid three-row link bracelets, metallic unidirectional rotating bezels with 60 minute scales and the automatic winding calibre 4R36 beating at 3Hz with a 41 hour of power reserve. The main change is the case, now sitting at 38mm wide and 12.1mm tall. It’s a brilliantly compact size and will happily appease wrists of every gender. To top it off, each Seiko 5 Sports SKX Series ‘Midi’ watch retails at only £300 which is frankly a bargain for an automatic watch of this quality.
Seiko 5 Sports 55th Anniversary SRPK17 Limited Edition
Seiko 5 Sports 55th Anniversary SRPK17 Limited Edition - Credit Seiko
Yes, another Seiko 5 Sports watch has made our list but the Seiko 5 Sports 55th Anniversary SRPK17 Limited Edition is nothing like those above. In fact, it’s not really like anything in Seiko’s current collections. The watch is designed to replicate a Seiko 5 watch from 1968, and lo and behold, it actually does what it promises and replicates the original almost down to a T. The case is virtually the same; it has the iconic cushion shape with shrouded lugs and a black and white printed bi-directional bezel. Dimensions lie at 39.5mm wide and 12.5mm tall.
Seiko 5 Sports 55th Anniversary SRPK17 Limited Edition - Credit Seiko
The dial also appears identical, finished in black with large Lumibrite coating on the silver minutes track and faceted hour and minute hands. The bright red lollipop seconds hand makes an appearance alongside the day and date window and blue lettering at 6 o’clock for ‘Sports’. Of course, material and movement quality has improved, but it’s nothing you notice visually. The glass is now Hardlex crystal and pairs with a screw in crown for a 100 metre water resistance, and from within, the modern-day calibre 4R36 provides a frequency of 21,600vph and a power reserve of 41 hours. To finish it off, Seiko have even gone as far as recreating the flat link bracelet for the Seiko 5 Sports 55th Anniversary SRPK17 watch. The limited edition of 15,555 pieces is definitely worthy of applause.
Seiko Prospex 1965 Diver’s Re-creation SJE093 Limited Edition
Seiko Prospex 1965 Diver’s Re-creation SJE093 Limited Edition - Credit Seiko
Seiko has launched several “recreations” of their first dive watch, the legendary reference 62MAS, but they’ve never quite properly embodied the original. The watches have been smart, robust and precise but Seiko collectors have been eagerly anticipating an accurate interpretation for quite some time. Then arrived the Seiko Prospex 1965 Diver’s Re-Creation SJE093J1 watch, ticking all these boxes with the exact dimensions, dial and bezel as the original. The stainless steel case has the same angular profile with integrated lugs, a screw in 3 o’clock crown and dimensions at 38mm wide and 12.5mm tall. The case back is also engraved with the same dolphin emblem present on the 62MAS.
Seiko Prospex 1965 Diver’s Re-creation SJE093 Limited Edition - Credit Seiko
For the dial, the Seiko Prospex 1965 Diver’s Re-Creation SJE093J1 watch opts for a familiar dark grey, sunray-brushed finish backdrop with beige-toned Lumibrite to mock the colour of lume used on the original. There are a couple of modern improvements as you’d expect, including sapphire crystal glass instead of plexiglass, an increased water resistance to 200 metres, and the bezel is now unidirectional, rather than bi-directional, but still fitted a black metallic 60-minute scale insert. These are all changes we can forgive, since they only enhance the functionality of the watch but don’t change its appearance. Finally, working inside is the calibre 6L37 with a 45 hour power reserve and a frequency of 28,800vph.
So that concludes my best Seiko watches of 2023 feature. Do you agree with my choices, or would you have chosen a different model for your number one spot? Let us know in the comments below!
