Well dressed Samurai
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It’s no secret that I love my Samurai dive watch. At such good value and eye catching design, it really grabbed me with its unique angles. That case design is really all over the place but somehow works. It’s still in my collection, unlike my other two Seikos that went to a better home. The Presage in particular, such a beautiful dial but I must admit, I got a bit bored with it. It was just a bit too shiny and it never seemed to fit my wrist perfectly.
One thing that also bothered me was that ‘Presage’ logo on the dial. To me, that logo just so different from the rest of the watch when it comes to typeface and prominence. I complained about it in my review but I thought I got over it. I was wrong. That blue dial continued to dazzle me but I decided to re-home it and move on. I thought that was the end of my Seiko dress watch adventures but a certain youtuber by the name of Teddy Baldassare caught my eye with his Seiko JDM (Japan domestic market) SARX045. |
As I watched that video, the familiar warning bell started ringing in the back of my mind (It sounds a bit like a mix of a foghorn and my wife saying ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS SH….), hmmm…this looked like something that needed to be pursued. That beautiful clean dial, the size, angles and even that unusual onyx, signed crown. Yep, initiate research mode.
First, going back a step. I recently found out that my Grandma sold my Grandfathers old watch back in the day, most likely a 1950’s Omega Seamaster. This made me quite sad since I was very close to him and I would have done everything to stop this. Owning that watch, with the heritage, would have been extremely special to me. That said, I could always go and buy one of these old watches myself but it doesn’t interest me particularly without the history. The SARX has similar clean dials and is even better looking in my opinion, so – time to create my own history with this watch and perhaps my own grandkids (if I’m lucky) will inherit this and think of me. |
My impressions after a few months of owning & wearing the watch
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Firstly, sourcing the watch. This is not easy. You could say it’s not easy to source any slightly out of the ordinary watch living in Australia, but there’s an extra complication here.
It’s a JDM (Japan Domestic Market) watch so they are only sold in Japan or chosen dealers outside of Japan. Luckily for me, Gnomon in Singapore was one of these and I did not have to engage one of the many Japan import companies. Delivery was fast and they gave me a small discount after asking for a price match. |
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But, back to first impressions. For the first time, it’s not a boring white Seiko box with 0 personality. No, here we get a greyish brown and beige box, like we’ve gone from boring white warehouse to slightly less boring brown warehouse. Yep, it’s not very exciting (nor worth photographing) but it’s definitely an improvement.
I tend to often receive a watch and go, hmm..is that it? Did I make a mistake here? It just takes some time to start appreciating any watch, and unfortunately, some watches that looked so good in all videos, reviews and the manufacturer’s website, you simply get bored with after a little while. I've had a few lessons here and some watches have been sold fairly quickly, so quite keen to avoid this once again. Again, we don’t have the ability to try these on being geographically challenged. |
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So let’s break it down.
As Teddy mentions in his two excellent reviews, it’s a funny watch in a way. It’s not really a dress watch size wise and it’s not super sporty either, so what exactly is it? Perfect, that’s what it is. My wrist is on the upper side of average and this watch just fits it so well. It actually felt a bit small initially since my daily wear at the moment is my Hamilton Khaki which is rather large (but flat).
The SARX045 comes fitted with a metal bracelet, the nemesis of all Seiko watches. So often, they are tinny and/or too shiny, but this H link bracelet is great. One thing though, Seiko QA often comes up these days and whilst there were no issues with either the bracelet or the watch, the bracelet was installed back to front! In other words, the fold inwards required to close the clasp was reversed and the logo on the clasp was upside down. It’s not particularly difficult to change it over I guess, but since the lugs here aren’t drilled and we’ve got fitted end links, it’s certainly annoyingly fiddly. If I didn’t have all the tools to change this myself, it would also have cost money so not a great first impression. It’s hard to imagine how this could happen since surely if you attach several of these every day, there’d be a system in place? |
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I wore the watch on the bracelet for a few weeks and it’s very comfortable, feels solid with its milled clasps and very attractive surfaces. All that said, for some reason I just don’t love wearing my watches on bracelets. Particularly on a watch like this with its dramatic, angular lugs, I feel like those details are lost. Also, the end links aren’t flush to the lugs, it just didn’t sit right with me. So when I finally received another excellent custom leather strap from ES Handcrafted, I fitted it immediately and it was like ‘the scales fell from my eyes’. Wow, the watch just came alive. To me, this watch just looks so unbelievably attractive on a dark leather strap.
So on that note, the watch case is absolutely stunning. There are a few lines here that reflect the light beautifully and those angular lugs…how I love thee. The watch looks as good on your wrist as it does on the nightstand and even my beloved agreed that this is an attractive watch (well she said verbatim, ‘if I say it’s nice will you go away?’). The mix of polished and brushed surfaces just works beautifully. One small thing, it is an absolute fingerprint magnet, as was the bracelet. So stop playing with it then I hear you say. Ok, point taken. |
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What about the dial then. As mentioned, the lack of any extra irritating logos or model numbers, is just ideal to me. All we’ve got here is one metal applied logo, Seiko, and Automatic in applied steel. Just spot on. This is part of the Presage line but a wise person left that to the wearer’s imagination. Also, for once, the framed date window just fits perfectly (despite being white) since the dial is so neat and clean with no numbers, just applied steel indices. To me, this is a very balanced and attractive dial.
Like all Seiko watches, this one has a nickname and it’s the ‘Tuxedo’. This apparently came about from the blue pin stripes that are visible on the dial, depending on the angle. The colour of the dial often looks dark and it’s only in the right light that you get a rich blue colour shine through. The SARX also comes in other models, a greenish blue, white and black, but this version manages to look both deep blue and black, depending on the light. I still think it has quite a bit in common with both the Samurai watch and also the angles on Japanese swords so I’m going to stick with ‘well dressed Samurai’ myself. |
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Lastly on the dial, the indices and hands are all thin and polished but extremely legible. There is no lume at all on this watch, but even in very faint light, legibility is not an issue. This is absolutely down to the polishing with all the many angles that catch any little light that happens to bounce around. It’s really quite interesting to see what a difference this makes in low light scenarios. Would I have preferred lume on the hands? That would have added thickness and I can see why this was not entertained, I’m ok without lume.
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Since this watch is one step up from the basic dress watches that Seiko makes, we have a sapphire glass on the dial and Seiko’s hardlex on the back display case. I’m happy to see this since it took me approximately 3.5 seconds to scratch the hardlex on my 'Cocktail time' so thanks for that!
Before we turn the watch around, a word on the crown. So many of Seiko’s watches of varying pricing levels have no signed crown, this is so odd, surely that’s not a huge expense for a massive watchmaker such as Seiko? Well here we have a round Onyx stone on the generously sized crown and some subtle crown guards. It’s definitely something different and I like it. Does it fit the watch in my opinion? I’m undecided.There are no other black details here so I think it’s a little unusual, but it certainly looks and feels nice. |
Movement
Strap & Bracelet
The watch is delivered on a Seiko H link strap.
Some photos have the ES Handcrafted leather strap which you can order from here.
Case
miscellaneous
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Flipping the watch over, we’ve got a display case that shows off the rather utilitarian looking 6R15 movement. We’ve got some polishing on the rotor and the Seiko logo, as well as the usual stuff about model numbers etc and of course the ‘made in Japan’.
Not tons to look at here but if you ever get sick of watching any mechanical movement tick away on its own, then perhaps you need a new hobby. The specs are pretty good on this movement and a 50 hour power reserve is always handy. |
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Final Words
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Again, a good quality leather strap enhances this watch by a huge amount and the many polished surfaces just look so good in any light. I think this is close to a flawless design, particularly after a quick polish to get rid of finger prints…again.
Why is this SARX045 a JDM only? I both like this (exclusivity) and scratch my head (time to wash?). Surely if this was widely available it’d be a massive seller? Perhaps it is the fact that it it’s neither a dress watch or a sporty watch, but rather something in between? Or the fact that there are only so many watches that Seiko want to send out in the big wide world? Either way, this is one awesome looking and feeling watch and I’m really happy I came across it. I highly recommend it and I wouldn’t delay a purchase. Since it is a Japan only watch, this might be for a reason, and perhaps this iteration is not long for this world. Cheers, Esbjorn |
19 cm wrist
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