Introducing the New Seiko 5 Sports Watches in Singapore
The Daniel Wellington Collection of Seiko, in its own flavour .
Patek Philippe educated us that watches should be kept for the next generation. However, not many of us can afford a Patek, let alone allow it to last for a generation without pawning it away during times of need. Nevertheless, I saw many old dudes wearing their Seiko 5 watches and it lasted a long time, at least when they were young and until they had kids. It sort of like lasted until the next generation in its own way and it doesn’t have the Patek price tag.
The Seiko 5s have always been an affordable automatic collection within Seiko watches. In 1963, the Seiko 5 line was introduced. The watches were geared towards younger buyers who wanted value and style – and Seiko 5 caught on in a big way. There were 5 traits every Seiko 5 had: an automatic movement, a day/date window, significant water resistance for sporting activities, a crown at 4 o'clock, and durable case and bracelet(or rubber, or leather or Nato strap). They were dubbed as the G Shocks of the Seiko brand and presented durability and style at an affordable price. The Seiko 5 watches were designed with purpose and accessibility in mind; the communication materials and strategy appealed directly to an audience that needed a watch like the Seiko 5: the youth of the past and now the present.
Today the legendary Seiko 5 Sports line returns, positioned in very much the same fashion as it was when it was first introduced. The 5 logo is newly designed and more fashionable than before, with a strong twist, purposeful and forcefully striking. The new sports series in the Seiko 5 collection has 27 SKUs. Yes not 1, not 3, not 5 but 27. That is why I call it the Daniel Wellington series of the Seiko Collection. All the same but in different colors and executions.
It remains with its classic look of a dive watch with powerful markers, a strong lume, a good case size. The only visible downside to me within the first few moments of holding the watch is the 100 meters water resistance. However, if you really wanted a dive watch, don’t be a stingy ass, click over to our Seiko Prospex series and buy a professional dive watch for God’s sake. This is meant to be a fashion diver wrist watch suitable for just rugged daily wear. I can say with certainty that 100m is enough to stand up to the sort of aquatic or harsh water environment the majority of new Seiko 5 customers will encounter. Most of you guys just do desk diving anyway. The closest many of my friends went with their dive watch was really just on the mahjong table or munching on meat at the hotpot restaurant so 100m should be enough for the general public. Another point to note is that they do not offer a screw down crown. This might be a problem if you forgot to push back your crown after adjusting the time, but it shouldn’t happen that often as well.
Back to the delineation of the product line I mentioned earlier. The new Seiko 5 line-up is broken down into 5 categories: Sports, Suits, Specialist, Street, and Sense. Each category represents a different thematic approach to the Singular Seiko 5 model. The Sports line will be quite familiar to longtime fans of the brand. Each model can be traced back to another popular watch from Seiko’s history. It’s like a quiz for the Seiko Buff, and if you lose, you have to buy drinks for everyone in the bar. No, but seriously they make this look like a high-class bar game of Knock Knock.
The marine master, the full black styles, you know if you connect all the dots, you will know that they are homages of their ancestors. The more I look at them, the more I get the feeling of deja-vu, it makes my eyes go crazy just scrolling through the SKUs.
The other end of the new Seiko 5 spectrum is also equally exciting and it does still follow one guiding principle of the Seiko 5 mantra: It’s clearly designed for a young audience. At first glance, the Sense collection seems atypical for Seiko. There’s a rock-like texture present on the dial that feels totally weird, like the phrase, when the rubber means the road. However, there is actually a cool story behind it, but due to time constraint (as I’m not paid for this blog post), I will talk about that story in another time.
The street collection also features the iconic Nato straps, which many Seiko buffs are switching out their original straps for anyway. So this is quite refreshing for the brand as its shows that they are doing their homework and listening to their customers. 
Seiko has been moving up in pricing in recent years and Casio Edifice and Citizen has been really ripping up their market share on the lower end spectrum. This Seiko 5 series is going to do the brand some justice again and hopefully take away market share from the much hated non-watchmaking brand of Daniel Wellington, reinventing what it means to be cool to be wearing a real watch from a real watch brand.
The new Seiko 5 Sports models: cases in stainless steel, or stainless steel with rose PVD or black hard-coating. Silcone rubber or calfskin straps, or steel bracelets. Case dimensions, 42.5 x 13.4mm, with Hardlex crystal and display back. Water resistance 10 bar/100 meters. Movement, Seiko in-house caliber 4R36, beating at 21,600 vph; 41 hour power reserve.
They are available for purchase on our official website www.h2hub.com.sg
