Seiko blues
I have a friend who likes the really good watches. He owns several Rolexes, an Omega Speedmaster, an IWC aviator that’s gorgeous, and others I’d never even heard of. He limits himself to eight or ten pieces, rotating one out when a new one strikes his fancy. He says it costs him nothing: interest rates are low, and the watches hold their value. If he’s going to put $10,000 into an asset, it might as well be one he can wear on his wrist.
This game is way out of my league. As much as I would enjoy having, say, a nice Sinn 556 on my wrist, in the same sense I’d “enjoy” a fun night out with Lindsay Lohan, I would not feel right. And in the end, it would be unfair to the watch (and to Linsday), because there’s more to this than superficialities, no matter what my poly-horological friend says.
It’s not you, it’s me.
I suspect some of this is about the norms you grew up around. Where I come from there is respect - deep respect - for things that work well in tough conditions. And while there’s no patience for dainty aesthetics, there is a fondness for a kind of wabi-sabi - things that are a bit worn from use, but in a way that reveals their underlying utility and strength.
Call it Wabi-Sheldon. (source)
If I’m honest (and it’s never too late to start, I suppose), this is the only aesthetic that really holds me. The more a watch is like a Fabergé egg, the less interest I have. The more it is like a Super Cub or Cessna 180, or a a Volvo 142, the more I like it, but with this catch: it still needs to look good.
This is a tough aesthetic to get in the watch world. The modern watch enthusiast is really focused on the decorative. There’s not much different on the mechanicals until you get to the ultra-luxe level — most everything is built on an ETA or Melita works anyway. So you pretty it up with gold and ceramic:
This one sold for $18,000.
But there is a company that gets it, or has watches that get it. I can’t say Seiko got there on purpose. As nearly as I can discern, the company’s strategy is to make all watches with all characteristics, and see what sells. But, hey, it works. Once in a while one breaks through and you have a legitimate working man’s hit: a simple, value-priced watch that has become as much a utilitarian icon as the Volkswagen Beetle.
The SKX007, which used to be available for under $200, now sells for around $300 (although why anyone buys one at that price instead of a Prospex I cannot imagine). A cult has grown up around the 007, people appreciate its great looks, toughness, and value. It’s cheap and good and at least slightly expendable: you probably won’t break it, but if you do you don’t have to sell your car to replace it. If you’re going to do some light handiwork around the house, you don’t have to stop, take it off, and put it on the winder. There is no membership certificate, and it doesn’t have to be sent to Geneva for special servicing every 138 weeks.
Some people even use it for diving (source)
Beyond its most obvious virtues, the fascination with the 007 has gone so far that it now has achieved the ultimate cult honor, a tribe of modders that buy stock watches, modify, upgrade, and re-sell them. If, like me, you don’t much care for the styling of the 007, don’t worry, someone out there has changed out the hands, put on a new bezel, replaced the crystal, and turned it into something rich and strange. This still leaves me a bit cold, though. You can modify a VW Beetle all you want, but it’s still a Beetle. Surely this isn’t the only low-end Seiko dive watch worthy of recognition?
Surely not: after months of patient looking at picture on the Internet, I identified another low-end Seiko that I prefer, the SKX031. Similar in some ways to the 007, the SKX031 is smaller and lighter. It gives up 100 meters to the 007, but I rarely dive below 100 meters in any case, and I much prefer the 031’s dial and bezel. And to my eyes its restrained aesthetic is more gentlemanly, without effete decoration, inviting comparison with the $10,000 Rolex Submariner:
Avoid effete decoration for about $9,800 less than a Rolex (source)
Amidst a sea of model numbers, I’d finally found my Seiko. So, it seemed, all that remained was to buy one. I dashed over to Amazon to put in my order, and oops…out of stock. Oh, they don’t make these any more. No worries, off to E-Bay, where I learn that buying a good used cheap dive watch online - efficient global electronic markets notwithstanding - is not so easy. Michael Stockton at Fratello magazine explains:
When I discovered the Seiko SKX031, I decided I’d try to track one down. What I quickly realized was that, for a watch made for over 10 years, it wasn’t so simple. Watches were often modified, in bad condition, only in the Philippines, or wildly priced.
So, the hunt has not ended, it is only beginning. It is often the way. But if I am patient, perhaps I will find a piece that is not quite mint, slightly worn, revealing its underlying utility and strength, at a very affordable price.
Could take a while.