SeikoSeiko Herren-Uhr Kinetik Edelstahl mit Lederband

I chose this watch to replace a failing Boccia all-titanium model, which I have had for some years. After much research, I came across Seiko’s “Kinetic” range, which they have now mostly discontinued. It has largely been replaced by (Grand) Seiko with their “Spring Drive”, which are very expensive. The kinetics use movement from the wearer to recharge the internal cell, so the watch should never require opening, although eventually the cell will fail. A brilliant idea, sometimes called auto-quartz, which seems to be out of fashion these days. This may be because the watch needs wearing regularly to stay charged, although when full should keep going for 5-6 months. It is also possible to use a toothbrush charger to induce current in the watch circuitry and so top it up that way - I have tried it and it works well with this model.Great dial face, very clear hands, excellent legibility in daylight. The lume allows visibility with night adapted vision without destroying it, which is great. Although rather heavier than I am used to (titanium being my watch material of choice), when on the wrist there is no sense of weight and it is easy to forget you are wearing it. I did change the strap, though, for a matching green real alligator-skin one.Some people complain about the noise when kinetic charging - it is not excessive and reminds me very much of my first self-winding automatic, a Tissot SeaStar from the 70s. The ‘tick’ on this watch is wonderful: almost like a grandfather clock!So, quartz accuracy with mechanical winding thrown in: what’s not to like? Get one now, before the supply dries up. If you like watches, you won’t be sorry.Special thanks to time-lounge, who sorted out delivery when the watch was bouncing around the UK for over a week in the back of a FedEx van!Update summary, June 2024. Fabulous watch, looks like new, gains just over half a second per day. Using with the original strap, which has proved to be excellent (although I did dress it first). A keeper. Alas, the price has gone up, but still worth it, IMO.

My review is somewhat limited, as the watch only arrived a few hours ago, as such this is very much a 'first impressions' review.This is a very striking watch to look at. I've tried to capture the lustre of the green dial indoors and in natural light, and the green goes from a rather understated deep hue to a vivid sunburst colour. The gold hands and chapters compliment the dial with a lovely contrast (without being gaudy). Build quality is reassuring, and the second-hand strikes the seconds markers (on my watch at least). The watch is fitted with an exhibition-caseback, however the inner-workings of a kinetic watch are somewhat dull to look at, when compared to a conventional automatic watch.The watch is fairly large on the wrist. My wrist is 6.5" in diameter, and as you can see from the photograph it is about as large as can be sensibly worn. The watch has a nice reassuring weight to it. The rotor/oscillating-weight is noisier than found on automatic watches, but not unbearably so. This model boasts a power reserve of up to 4 months, which is far superior, and more accurate, when compared to a conventional automatic watch. The power reserve can be checked with by pressing the single chrome 'pusher' situated above the crown-wheel, with a 30 second sweep indicating full charge. Just a few minutes shaking out of the box, and it indicating a full charge. Impressive!CONS:These are subjective, just my opinion:1. I find the date complication to be rather small. It would have greatly benefited from either being bigger, the addition of a cyclops-lens on the crystal.2. I immediately changed the straps for higher-quality Italian leather (see photographs). This only cost £15 to do, but adds a dramatic difference in terms of quality and comfort.3. The crystal is Seiko's proprietary 'hardlex'. Not as robust as sapphire, and my worry is that this is a large face with no protection from the bezel (it sits slightly proud). But.... Time will tell. It might be absolutely fine!All in all, I'm very happy with the watch. This is my first foray into 'kinetic' watches, but so far so good. The watch actually looks far more expensive than it was to buy. The size is a bit daunting, but I'm getting used to it. First impressions are good!

Verified PurchaseAs with all Seiko watches the workmanship and quality are superb. This is indeed a gorgeous watch to look at. I was initially interested in the green dial version of this model but the came across the image used by Amazon of this one. I looked at the two images Amazon use, then I Googled it to see pictures and finally asked how the real thing compared with the pictures on Amazon.In the meantime as there were only two left I sent for one.Answers began coming in, all but one indicating that the watch was a light cream and not a dark beige as is imaged. I was hoping they were wrong as I already have a cream dial on another watch I own, albeit a Timex.The watch arrived today and it is almost exactly the same colour as my Timex Expedition face, just a bit richer (darker). However the Seiko is metallic looking so shines a lot more and it has a racertack between the indeces which is brushed so it stands out. Add to that the angled dial ring and it is a striking watch indeed.Strap is beautiful calf leather of quality. The see-through back is always a nice touch.It does make a slight noise when moving it 2 times a second to charge it. Not a bad noise but it is obvious, at least when this is done whilst not on the wrist. I am not sure if it is supposed to do that.In the end I decided that although beautiful that I would return it and maybe pay a little more to have the green dial version instead. But I must tell you that this had nothing at all to do with the watch itself or any part thereof. It was based simply on the fact that had I kept it I'd have had two 40/42mm watches of almost the same face colour.This is a gorgeous watch at an amazing price and unless you are extremely particular like myself.