It's nice to see that Seiko is continuing their tradition of misalignment. When you reset the stopwatch, that big yellow seconds hand did not go straight up to the 12 position. It's slightly off and for a watch that sells in excess of three thousand dollars, this is impressive indeed. GREAT JOB Seiko! It's nice to know that some things never change. :)))
@@NickShabazz it's the hand that's misaligned, not the dial itself. Either a faulty movement (where it doesn't reset properly) or just a sloppy job attaching the hands
I'm curious whether you have any experience with the Parker Jotter fountain pen and if so, what are your thoughts? As much as you seem to like the ball point version I'm surprised you haven't mentioned the fountain pen
Nick calls everything big. He has tiny hands and wrists but doesn't realize he has a massive bias, almost everything he calls big is just average sized, they're not made for little goblin men
These watches are incredible, they aren't too big. They are same size as mm300, and as Seiko magic is and as the mm300; they look phenomenal on smaller/regular to large size wrists! Don't be afraid to go try one on. I'm trying to say, you'll hear people with smaller wrists rave about how amazing the Seiko mm300 wears. These are the same width/height/tall (whichever you'd like to call it) as the mm300 and its because they are mechanical chronographs with 100m water resistance after all! 😊
Nick, I'd love a video talking about how one might insure, protect, and otherwise safeguard our expensive gear, but that doesn't involve just EXTREMELY HARDCORE TACTICAL KNIFE STAB SELF DEFENSE PROTECTION. (And of course that keeps your own specific solutions obscure.)
I can't argue with any of the points raised and yet...I love this watch. I was given the white-dial variant last year for Christmas and it's on my relatively skinny wrists a lot. The only criticism I find myself pushing back on is the thickness and price-and that's not to say it isn't thick or that $3k isn't a lot of money, but it's size and price are right in line with the automatic mechanical chronographs sold by Longines, Hamilton, and other Swiss brands. It's not until you hit the 5-figure mark that you get anything below 14mm thick in that category.
Really? Last week I got myself a Hamilton, American Classic Intra-Matic Automatic Chronograph H38416160 to be more specific. It's 40mm and 14mm thick. Regular price is around 2.300, got it at a discount for 1.800 €. On top of that, it's on a mesh band so has nearly unlimited micro adjusts.
@@Cohen.the.Worrier Great watch-such a classic design. The thickness is within .5mm of the Seiko-which could even be chalked up to the dome of the Seiko's crystal-so very much in the same place in term of its dimensions and proportions. There's that $700 difference in price, which is a lot, and comes down to the movement (in-house column-wheel/vertical clutch chrono) and the heavy bracelet vs mesh strap, both of which being things that may or may not be important (or even preferable) enough to justify the difference depending on what you want, but they do add to cost. Not arguing one is better than the other, just that the Seiko doesn't seem overpriced or oversized considering the space it lives in.
The movement of the minutes sundial of the chronograph is also terrible. It doesn't move for the first 15 seconds, then moves to almost half position for another 30 seconds before it moves to the next minute at the end. A chronograph should have a better movement, especially at that price.
Quick look at the thumbnail, and I thought Nick must be reviewing the 39mm mecha-quartz Seiko for $650 or so. Figured that was something in the Shabazz sweet spot. This? Yeah...tough to fall in love with. I have a ST-1901 based Hemel, which is only 13.5mm thick, and costs something around $500. Do I NEED a mechanical chrono? Probably not. But I enjoy it...and have a few grand to throw around for other things.
I started out questioning some of the detail in your review but in fairness you've got this one nailed apart from that this watch is designed and built from the 1960s original which is why it's perhaps a bit off by today's standards. What I didn't realise is that the Oregon case back crap (sorry I'm being a bit blunt here as I know this is an edition watch) but I thought that was a sticker and seeing that I was all set to buy this model I thought I could simply rip that off and as you say appreciate the movement. However the showstopper for me and... WTF is that the second hand doesn't align with the 00 (12) mark. So considering all the hype here this watch gives a 10th of a second head start 😮 Perhaps this is just this one example that you have but now I'm looking elsewhere!!! Great review and lots of relevant detail here.
i like the way it looks, i knew youd hate the large chrono pushers but i oddly like them. i just love chronos, theyre so cool. i get that mechanical chronographs have short timers because the chrono really eats the power reserve, but only 30 minutes? its a bit of a thicc boi, and the display case back is ruined, and that seconds hand alignment is unacceptable. and way too expensive for what it is.
Ok, Nick, I can tell you who that watch is for: Someone who loves really high end mechanical chronographs, wants to wear one all day every day, and has a relatively limited budget. If you love high end mechanical chronos, that thing is a tour de force for at a little over 3 grand. You have a column wheel, and you can basically wear it all day every day because it's automatic, has a date display, good lume, and 100 meters of water resistance. Sure, it's huge and unweildy, but so are a lot of mechanical chronos, especially if they are column wheel designs, and more especially if they are automatic column wheel designs with good water resistance and cost less than a new car. Sure its Chrono function is impractical, but a practical Chrono you wear on your wrist band in the 2020's is a g-shock or a smart watch, the person who would even consider a mechanical Chrono would not care about that. They may still care about the 2 register layout or that the second dial only goes up to 30 minutes, that I don't know. But to the person who is looking at say a Speedmaster or a Breitling Navitimer, not because they are fancy Swiss watches, but because they are "high end chronographs" (which both cost way more and are cam designs) that might be the most exciting watch ever. Is this almost as fanciful as the giant human constantly timing events of 30 min or less who wants a really fancy wristwatch? Yeah. Because I'm not a mechanical Chrono person either (just someone who finds it fascinating that people will pay huge $$ for certain mechanical complications). But then again, why do you love Monta watches so much when you already had a $500 Casio Oceanus? Why do I have a quartz Seiko Marinemaster when I could have spent 1/10 as much on a really good G-shock? It's basically a more extreme sect of the cult of "mechanical watches are cool" which is a more extreme sect of the cult of "nice watches are cool" (of which you and I are both also membersl), that has prevented Casio from putting every other watchmaker in the world out if business 25 years ago. Notice the one other commenter on here who bought a mechanical Chrono, the Hamilton. Great looking watch, and it's considered a really good value. Retail is about $2200 with a cam Chrono movement. It's still quite thick (14.3mm mannual and 14.6mm for the auto). This is basically just what people spend and put up with if they are into mechanical chronos.
Nice watch and a cheaper alternative to the Omega 57 Speedmaster. But that 12 o'clock lume pip is not aligned with the 12 o'clock marker. For a $3000 watch the QC is unacceptable.
It's as if they designed the case to accentuate the thickness, rather than hide it (which they do reasonably successfully with several of their divers)... When most people's reaction when seeing it from the side is ...laughter, you know it's ridiculous.
Seiko could have hit the ball out of the park....and instead made a gimmick automatic chronograph.......the Hamilton intramatic Chrono is what this watch should be
Too big, too expensive. Last week I got myself a Hamilton, American Classic Intra-Matic Automatic Chronograph H38416160 to be more specific. It's 40mm and 14mm thick. Regular price is around 2.300, got it at a discount for 1.800 €. On top of that, it's on a mesh band so has nearly unlimited micro adjusts.
Mate, you cannot compare the outdated vintage Valjoux 7750 movement with this... I had a Longines Conquest Sport few years ago so it had even fancier/more unique movement with a column wheel but this is another league this is 34 Jewels.
@@NickShabazz no screws to strip or deface. seiko has been known to use pins with collars. i hate those and i think everyone does. i prefer a simple collet pin. easy to press in or out.
That chronograph seconds hand not lining up at 12 is absolutely ugly, especially on a $3k+ watch. Also, the pushers should have been in the ugly category. Unless you have developed a thick callus on the back of your hand, those pushers will cause one. I'm a total Seiko/Grand Seiko fanboy and have watches from both in my collection, but that watch is pathetic entry into their collection.
It's nice to see that Seiko is continuing their tradition of misalignment. When you reset the stopwatch, that big yellow seconds hand did not go straight up to the 12 position. It's slightly off and for a watch that sells in excess of three thousand dollars, this is impressive indeed. GREAT JOB Seiko! It's nice to know that some things never change. :)))
that chapter ring...
Yeah, it's even more odd because the watch has subdials, making it hard to 'misalign' the dial itself.
I'd be sending that back. In fact I would not take it out the shop. Awful alignment.
@@davidwatson3035 But how you'd be sure it's a _genuine_ Seiko otherwise?
@@NickShabazz it's the hand that's misaligned, not the dial itself. Either a faulty movement (where it doesn't reset properly) or just a sloppy job attaching the hands
Good to see you’re still putting out reviews, Nick. Hope the schedule eases off a bit in 2023 so we can see more reviews.
I'm curious whether you have any experience with the Parker Jotter fountain pen and if so, what are your thoughts? As much as you seem to like the ball point version I'm surprised you haven't mentioned the fountain pen
Omg Nick is Batman I knew it!
Also, I love Seiko watches in general so I was pumped to see you review one.
Nice Vid Nick, would love to see the watch on your wrist though, especially when you say the watch is big.
Nick calls everything big. He has tiny hands and wrists but doesn't realize he has a massive bias, almost everything he calls big is just average sized, they're not made for little goblin men
These watches are incredible, they aren't too big. They are same size as mm300, and as Seiko magic is and as the mm300; they look phenomenal on smaller/regular to large size wrists! Don't be afraid to go try one on. I'm trying to say, you'll hear people with smaller wrists rave about how amazing the Seiko mm300 wears. These are the same width/height/tall (whichever you'd like to call it) as the mm300 and its because they are mechanical chronographs with 100m water resistance after all! 😊
Nick, I'd love a video talking about how one might insure, protect, and otherwise safeguard our expensive gear, but that doesn't involve just EXTREMELY HARDCORE TACTICAL KNIFE STAB SELF DEFENSE PROTECTION. (And of course that keeps your own specific solutions obscure.)
Insurance for the win!
We know it's genuine due to the misaligned dial😉
Thank you for this review, hope you do more watches.
I love mine. It's staying to within two seconds per day. Doesn't get much better 😎
I can't argue with any of the points raised and yet...I love this watch. I was given the white-dial variant last year for Christmas and it's on my relatively skinny wrists a lot. The only criticism I find myself pushing back on is the thickness and price-and that's not to say it isn't thick or that $3k isn't a lot of money, but it's size and price are right in line with the automatic mechanical chronographs sold by Longines, Hamilton, and other Swiss brands. It's not until you hit the 5-figure mark that you get anything below 14mm thick in that category.
Really? Last week I got myself a Hamilton, American Classic Intra-Matic Automatic Chronograph H38416160 to be more specific. It's 40mm and 14mm thick. Regular price is around 2.300, got it at a discount for 1.800 €. On top of that, it's on a mesh band so has nearly unlimited micro adjusts.
@@Cohen.the.Worrier Great watch-such a classic design. The thickness is within .5mm of the Seiko-which could even be chalked up to the dome of the Seiko's crystal-so very much in the same place in term of its dimensions and proportions. There's that $700 difference in price, which is a lot, and comes down to the movement (in-house column-wheel/vertical clutch chrono) and the heavy bracelet vs mesh strap, both of which being things that may or may not be important (or even preferable) enough to justify the difference depending on what you want, but they do add to cost. Not arguing one is better than the other, just that the Seiko doesn't seem overpriced or oversized considering the space it lives in.
This is beautful. Perhaps its just me but Seikos chronos are black dial and yellow seconds hand in my mind
The movement of the minutes sundial of the chronograph is also terrible. It doesn't move for the first 15 seconds, then moves to almost half position for another 30 seconds before it moves to the next minute at the end. A chronograph should have a better movement, especially at that price.
I'd love to see Nick do a review on the Casio "Marlin" dive watch; very affordable, accurate, and a good everyday diver with enough style to boot!
Quick look at the thumbnail, and I thought Nick must be reviewing the 39mm mecha-quartz Seiko for $650 or so. Figured that was something in the Shabazz sweet spot. This? Yeah...tough to fall in love with.
I have a ST-1901 based Hemel, which is only 13.5mm thick, and costs something around $500. Do I NEED a mechanical chrono? Probably not. But I enjoy it...and have a few grand to throw around for other things.
Seiko needs to sort their crap out, that misalignment on the chrono seconds hand shouldn't fly at all.
If its aligned correctly it isnt a Seiko.
I luv alarm clocks on me wrist!! Does look nice
I started out questioning some of the detail in your review but in fairness you've got this one nailed apart from that this watch is designed and built from the 1960s original which is why it's perhaps a bit off by today's standards. What I didn't realise is that the Oregon case back crap (sorry I'm being a bit blunt here as I know this is an edition watch) but I thought that was a sticker and seeing that I was all set to buy this model I thought I could simply rip that off and as you say appreciate the movement. However the showstopper for me and... WTF is that the second hand doesn't align with the 00 (12) mark. So considering all the hype here this watch gives a 10th of a second head start 😮 Perhaps this is just this one example that you have but now I'm looking elsewhere!!! Great review and lots of relevant detail here.
i like the way it looks, i knew youd hate the large chrono pushers but i oddly like them. i just love chronos, theyre so cool. i get that mechanical chronographs have short timers because the chrono really eats the power reserve, but only 30 minutes? its a bit of a thicc boi, and the display case back is ruined, and that seconds hand alignment is unacceptable. and way too expensive for what it is.
Bothers me the yellow hand is not aligned on 60 . For the price ??? It must be a Seiko thing .
Nick, have you played Elden Ring?
I really wish they would’ve done a Pogue or at least very close especially the case shape.
Official timer @ athletics event: I ran the 100 meters in 10 seconds.... -ish 🤣
Ok, Nick, I can tell you who that watch is for:
Someone who loves really high end mechanical chronographs, wants to wear one all day every day, and has a relatively limited budget.
If you love high end mechanical chronos, that thing is a tour de force for at a little over 3 grand. You have a column wheel, and you can basically wear it all day every day because it's automatic, has a date display, good lume, and 100 meters of water resistance.
Sure, it's huge and unweildy, but so are a lot of mechanical chronos, especially if they are column wheel designs, and more especially if they are automatic column wheel designs with good water resistance and cost less than a new car. Sure its Chrono function is impractical, but a practical Chrono you wear on your wrist band in the 2020's is a g-shock or a smart watch, the person who would even consider a mechanical Chrono would not care about that. They may still care about the 2 register layout or that the second dial only goes up to 30 minutes, that I don't know. But to the person who is looking at say a Speedmaster or a Breitling Navitimer, not because they are fancy Swiss watches, but because they are "high end chronographs" (which both cost way more and are cam designs) that might be the most exciting watch ever.
Is this almost as fanciful as the giant human constantly timing events of 30 min or less who wants a really fancy wristwatch?
Yeah. Because I'm not a mechanical Chrono person either (just someone who finds it fascinating that people will pay huge $$ for certain mechanical complications). But then again, why do you love Monta watches so much when you already had a $500 Casio Oceanus? Why do I have a quartz Seiko Marinemaster when I could have spent 1/10 as much on a really good G-shock?
It's basically a more extreme sect of the cult of "mechanical watches are cool" which is a more extreme sect of the cult of "nice watches are cool" (of which you and I are both also membersl), that has prevented Casio from putting every other watchmaker in the world out if business 25 years ago.
Notice the one other commenter on here who bought a mechanical Chrono, the Hamilton. Great looking watch, and it's considered a really good value. Retail is about $2200 with a cam Chrono movement. It's still quite thick (14.3mm mannual and 14.6mm for the auto). This is basically just what people spend and put up with if they are into mechanical chronos.
If I was going for a watch this size it would be the seiko prospex SUN Kinetic gmt which is also considerably cheaper.
Only The Nick and Luis Buñuel think about fractions of eyes.
That's a reference if I've ever heard one. Nicely done.
God lord $3400 and they couldn’t even align the chapter ring with the dial.
Nice watch and a cheaper alternative to the Omega 57 Speedmaster. But that 12 o'clock lume pip is not aligned with the 12 o'clock marker. For a $3000 watch the QC is unacceptable.
So, Dr Shabazz, you are a smart guy. So I guess it is OK if you make up a new words such as troubleMatic. Kind of a cool word actually. 👍
Why is this guy wearing a batman mask while doing this review?? :D
this or Hamilton Intra-Matic? 🤔
It's as if they designed the case to accentuate the thickness, rather than hide it (which they do reasonably successfully with several of their divers)...
When most people's reaction when seeing it from the side is ...laughter, you know it's ridiculous.
15 is too thick for me unless I’m in short sleeves, I guess.
Hey TOYOTA kicks ass in NASCAR.. 🏎️
GO BLUE
Seiko could have hit the ball out of the park....and instead made a gimmick automatic chronograph.......the Hamilton intramatic Chrono is what this watch should be
Too big, too expensive.
Last week I got myself a Hamilton, American Classic Intra-Matic Automatic Chronograph H38416160 to be more specific. It's 40mm and 14mm thick. Regular price is around 2.300, got it at a discount for 1.800 €. On top of that, it's on a mesh band so has nearly unlimited micro adjusts.
Mate, you cannot compare the outdated vintage Valjoux 7750 movement with this... I had a Longines Conquest Sport few years ago so it had even fancier/more unique movement with a column wheel but this is another league this is 34 Jewels.
i prefer pins to screws
I'm curious, why?
@@NickShabazz no screws to strip or deface. seiko has been known to use pins with collars. i hate those and i think everyone does. i prefer a simple collet pin. easy to press in or out.
Profile looks like a Pog slammer (yeah I’m old) with that thiccness
Hockey puck.
Thick!!!
That chronograph seconds hand not lining up at 12 is absolutely ugly, especially on a $3k+ watch. Also, the pushers should have been in the ugly category. Unless you have developed a thick callus on the back of your hand, those pushers will cause one. I'm a total Seiko/Grand Seiko fanboy and have watches from both in my collection, but that watch is pathetic entry into their collection.
Hamilton Intramatic Chronograph is better value over this model.
Why is that crown so loose? Every time Nick so much as gently laid a finger on it, it turned. Not good.