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Seiko Watches | Home » » Seiko 5 #SNK809 Men's Fabric Strap Self Winding Automatic Watch | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | SEIKO 5 - the meaning of the "5" A great marketer had the idea in the 70ies: to be a SEIKO 5, the watch has to have the following 5 (five) attributes (thus the name SEIKO 5): 1. Automatic, 2. Water resistant, 3. Shock resistant, 4. Date, 5. Day. Please note that some SEIKO 5's are in fact SEIKO 4's, if the "Day" function is omitted, then the Caliber 7S25 is used. The only difference to the normally found 7S26 is the omission of the day wheel. Also re-issues of SEIKO 5 Sports often use the 7S36 caliber. Again the 7S36 is similar to the most popular 7S26, yet it features 23 Jewels as opposed to the 21 Jewels in the 7S26. Please note that all these movements beat at a rate of 21'600 bph (beats per hour) or 6 bps (beats per second). As a comparison, an ETA 2824-2 beats at 28'800 bph or 8 bps. A Miyota 82xx beats at 21'600 bph. Why do I mention these three movements? Because they are found in probably 80% of all inexpensive automatic wrist watches. A market share that is huge, yet challenged these days (2006) by an increasing share of inexpensive China Made automatic movements An automatic watch (also called a self-winding watch) is a mechanical watch, typically with a balance wheel escapement, whose mainspring is wound by the motion of the wearer's arm, instead of having to be wound manually every day. Whereas a quartz watch is powered by electricity, a mechanical watch is powered by a mainspring which must be rewound for the watch to keep time. | | | Features: | |
• Japan 21 Jewel Automatic Self Winding Movement (Calibre 7S26)
• Stainless Steel Case with Black Nylon Strap
• Day/Date Display with Spanish Option, Luminous Hands and Markers, Hardlex Crystal for Durability
• Case Size: 37mm Diameter, 11mm Thickness
• Water Resistant - 30M, Transparent Screw Down Caseback
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 3.9 inches | | Product Width:
| 3.4 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.9 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.13 pounds | | Package Length:
| 3.9 inches | | Package Width:
| 3.4 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.9 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.35 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 155 reviews |
| | | Watch Information: | | | Crystal Material:
| hardlex | | Clasp:
| Buckle | | Case Diameter:
| 37 unknown-units | | Case Thickness:
| 13 unknown-units | | Case Material:
| stainless-steel | | Band Material:
| canvas | | Bezel Material:
| stainless-steel | | Dial Color:
| black | | Movement:
| japanese-automatic | | Calendar:
| day-and-date | | Water Resistance Depth:
| 30 meters |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 155 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
198 of 207 found the following review helpful:
 Great watch, but the WR30M could be an issue for some ...Mar 15, 2010
By Lonchodomas
Seiko offers two similar versions of a mechanical "military" watch:
The SNK809 (which is black, but there are other colors). This has a 21 jewel movement (generally the 7S26B, but the earlier models have the 7S26). It has a 36mm case (excluding the crown) and18mm wide band.
The other model is the lager SNZG15 (which is black, but there are other colors). This has a 23 jewel movement (generally the 7S36B, but earlier models have the 7S36). It has a 40mm case (excluding crown) and an 22mm band.
Both of these watches are gray market. You won't see them for sale in US stores.
I've owned my SNK809 for several months and love it. Its very accurate for the price. Mine gains about 5 sec/day. You'll have to spend a lot of money to do better than that in the mechanical watch world.
Two of my friends own the SNZG15, and they seem to gain about 10 sec/day. Note: The fact the SNZG15 has 23 jewels doesn't mean its more accurate than a 21 jewel movement. It's larger, pushes more mass (bigger hands), and thus I speculate is inherently less accurate than the smaller SNK809.
I got my SNK809 on eBay for $45 + $25 shipping (2009). However, it was shipped from Hong Kong. It had to clear customs, shipping takes about three weeks, and has more inherent risk. I'd expect to pay more on Amazon if it was shipped from within the US. Similarly, I've seen the SNG15 for as little as $105 with free shipping, shipped from Singapore.
What I did not appreciate at the time I bought my SNK809 is that its water resistant rating is 30 meters (WR30M). 98 ft. That seems sufficient unless you're a serious scuba diver, right?
Wrong.
Look up water resistant ratings for watches on Wikipedia.
30 meters is the static water pressure for the test conducted in the ratings lab. The working/dynamic pressure rating will be much less. You should not even shower wearing a WR30M watch, let alone swim with it. WR30M is considered splash resistant only. I have splashed my watch, it still runs great, but depending upon your lifestyle, this may or may not be an issue.
The bigger SNZG15 is rated at WR100M, which you can swim and skin dive with. The smallest rating you should swim with (but no skin diving) is WR50M.
The other aspect of the SNK809 you should be aware of is that its smaller than most watches are today. In the 1960's an 18mm band was typical. Today its small, aesthetically, particularly for a person with large wrists.
When I first got my SNK809, I was taken aback by how thin the band looked (and I have smaller than average wrists). I have read the market Seiko is targeting with this model is teenagers in Asia. That market base probably has smaller wrists than the average American male.
But after wearing it for awhile, I noticed I wasn't banging it into things like I do with my larger watch. And it fit under my shirt sleeves better.
Its notable that my friends say the 22mm SNZG15 is a bit bigger than they wish it was.
I've concluded I like the 18mm band. I'm an outdoorsman (when I can be), and do wish the SNK809 was at least WR50M. Other reviewers will say they wish it had a hacking mechanism or a sapphire crystal. Those are not issues for me, and for the price, let's get real.
This is a phenomenal mechanical watch for what you'll pay. I wear mine to work every day. I wear it to meetings and snicker to myself as my second hand moves at six clicks per second, while others sitting at the table suffer the one second lurch of the ubiquitous quartz movement. Yes, I'm a watch geek. Just be aware of the smaller width of the band and WR30M rating. If those aren't big issues for you, you can't beat it.
58 of 61 found the following review helpful:
Decent Entry Level AutomaticJul 14, 2010
By JT
This is a nice little entry level automatic watch. Upon opening the box it came in the first thing I noticed was the size of the watch itself and the band. The watch itself is somewhat small but not too bad. its slightly larger than a quarter. The band however is much smaller than I expected. I have tiny wrists so It doesn't bother me too much but someone with a larger wrist may find it odd looking; it's really just preference and shouldn't make or break the deal as the band can easily be swapped out. The watch has a nice heavy weight to it and doesn't feel cheap like some other larger automatics I have. One strange thing I noticed right away when I picked up my watch was that the weight that spins the mainspring slides against the interior of the watch as I move it. So I can feel the weight as it moves around. This doesn't bother me but I hope its normal and doesn't mean I got a faulty watch. Everything is working fine at the moment (I've only been wearing it for a day) and I see no other problems or peeves about the watch. I'll break down the pros and cons here:
(PROS)
+ Overall nice looking watch. As most watches; the picture online just doesn't do it justice.
+ Watch has a nice weight to it.
+ It's an automatic for under $100; thats a bargain, especially for a Seiko.
+ The luminous hands are pretty good and last for a good 20 minutes. (Not as good as a Seiko Monster but what do you expect)
+ Comes with a 3 year warranty (although the retailer warranty card I received was not filled out by Amazon, not sure if this matters)
(Cons)
- Both the watch's body and strap were smaller than I expected.
- Hardlex glass is not exactly the best material, it suffices but Mineral would've been better. Sapphire is good too but thats a little too much to ask for in a watch of this caliber.
- Grindy mainspring weight.
- Malaysian movement. Although it says this watch has a Japanese movement in the specs; There is a Malaysian movement in them. I believe these are designed in Japan and built or assembled in Malaysia; either way the movement is definitely not made & assembled in Japan. If this was already common knowledge I apologize.
- Water resistance is sub-par. This watch should at least have the ability to withstand swimming and not just be resistant to minor splashes.
All in all it seems like a nice watch. As long as that weight isn't defective and its normal everything should be fine. I'll post an update eventually to let you know how its held up over time.
*** Update
I've been wearing the watch almost everyday for a few weeks now. It's kept time perfectly only gaining a couple seconds a day. It's by far the most accurate automatic I own; even more than some of my Swiss ETA movements. As far as the quality of the watch it seems almost perfect. I love the size and look of it. The Hardlex has held up and I still have no scratches on the dial or caseback (More time will tell how well it really holds up) The only problem I have with this watch is that it seems theres still some friction between the weight and the inside of the watch body. This has been causing it to sometimes keep the weight stationary at some points rather than spin around as it should. It still spins with enough force but some normal hand movements have not been enough to keep the weight moving. That being said it hasn't been a big enough problem to cause the watch to stop on me. It still keeps ticking long after ive put it down. After some research I realized this watch uses the same movement as the famous Seiko Monster & is a bit of a workhorse for seiko.
30 of 31 found the following review helpful:
 Decent value and featuresFeb 27, 2010
By Jonathan Gala
I've had this watch for a few years. As others have noted, it runs a little fast -- seems like a few minutes every week or so. Probably not bad at this price point, but it kind of defeats my purpose in getting an automatic watch, which was to not have to worry about the watch -- no winding, no battery, it just works. Instead, I have to constantly correct it.
The other negative for me is the feeling of vibration when it gets moved around -- maybe it is some kind of internal suspension to provide shock resistance, but it feels and sounds a little cheap. It's a kind of buzzy clack, especially when the watch is moved perpendicular to the face.
On the plus side, it looks nice, I enjoy having the day and date, the glass back is cool, and it way exceeded its advertised water resistance for me: I forgot to take it off when I went diving to 45 feet, and it has worked perfectly with no fogging or other signs of trouble since then. As far as I know it is unrated at any given depth, so that was impressive.
If you are sure you want an automatic watch, this is a good and inexpensive way to get there. For me, I kind of wish I had either gone with a similar watch in quartz for a thinner case and better accuracy, or just gone upmarket.
21 of 22 found the following review helpful:
Great simple watchJul 17, 2007
By Christopher G. Ludwig
I bought one of these a couple years ago in Singapore. I love it. It is my staple everyday watch. They are tough and withstand a fair bit of abuse. I wore mine while training and flying aerobatics up to 6Gs. Still works. The movement does tend to be fast, some say by 5 to 15 sec per day. My experience is that I notice it is running fast by a few minutes every little while and then I correct it. Not an issue especially since it is an automatic watch. If I go more than a day without wearing or shaking it, it stops anyway, so who needs longterm accuracy?
I love it. I'm buying a second one in dark green. ...May start a collection.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Really like this watch!Sep 05, 2010
By P David
I'm not a watch geek, so I'm not even going to begin to address the technical points that other reviewers have covered. I was looking for a watch that was somewhere between casual and dressy and this watch filled the bill. If you are looking for a watch that is stylishly large (a grandfather clock on your wrist), then this is not a watch for you. I like a watch that slides easily under the cuff of a dress shirt and is not so large that it screams "look at me, look at me!". I am not a small person (6'1" and 215 pounds) and I find the size of this watch just about ideal. It is also dressier looking than I expected, and I have worn it with a suit and tie and have felt very comfortable. I have no problem with its accuracy - it seems to be as accurate as my Citizen Eco-Drives. As far as the clear back goes, I don't really care because it's against my wrist, and no one sees it. I am very satisfied with this purchase and will probably buy another one in a different color.
See all 155 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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