Seiko’s Done It Again
The *King* of Letdowns
*cue a long, exasperated sigh*
Here we go again.
Back in April, I wrote about Seiko’s revival of the King Seiko line and how the movements really haven’t held up their end of the bargain. The releases have all looked amazing, and are aesthetically the types of watches I’d love to own, but the puffy price point and meh movements have kept me from seriously considering buying one.
Well, King Seiko is back with another impending release, and if I already wasn’t going to buy one of the previous modern releases, I sure as shiitake won’t be doing so now.
This is, sadly, a beautiful watch. I love everything about it; the dial, the hands, the simple indices, the vintage-inspired cushion case, the chunky crown, the dial text, the bracelet, everything. Seiko’s even gone ahead and put the KS badge (albeit not in gold) onto the caseback again; you know, just like old times. The sizing is fantastic too at just under 40mm but with a short lug-to-lug of only 43.6mm. So, if I’m so jazzed about the design of this watch, why am I not keen to own it?
This is the original KS from 1969 that this modern interpretation is recreating. Take a look at this dial; now look at the new one; now back to the original; back to the new; back to the OG.
Notice anything different? Besides the lack of a Daini factory stamp.
The top text of the original reads:
SEIKO
SUPERIOR
CHRONOMETER
OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED
And the top text of the upcoming release reads:
SEIKO
…
And that’s it. No, this is not me wishing for more dial text for the sake of more dial text (what is this, Rolex?). This is me, once again, seeing an incredible watch be completely let down by Seiko’s own movements. I’m talking about the 6L35, which is, by all accounts, and as I’ve said in the past, a perfectly acceptable movement for most watches in the $500-$1000 range. It’s thin, sturdy, hacks and handwinds, and has a date function.
However, accuracy-wise, it leaves a bit to be desired, rolling in at -10 to +15 sec/day.
To be chronometer certified, a watch needs to clock in (no pun intended) at -4 to +6 sec/day.
So this new King Seiko is decidedly not chronometer certified - not even close.
The original KS KCM was engineered to show off the continuing advancements that Seiko had made in their movement development, and more specifically, to show the Swiss that high grade, chronometer certified movements were proudly being created in Japan.
Surely this must mean that the price of the new releases reflect the gap in-
…I can’t even string you all along for that whole sarcastic sentence. The watch will be €3200, or nearly $3500.
Three thousand, five hundred dollars. For a watch whose movement can’t hold even a tiny candle to its vintage relatives.
And let’s be fair; modern movements, even ones with less impressive specs, can often be more reliable than vintage movements due to their more consistent build quality and lack of wear-and-tear.
But that’s not really what this is about.
This new King Seiko SJE series was screaming, crying, begging for a reinterpretation of the original King Seiko chronometer certified movement; the matching four lines of top dial text would have served as a reminder to the broader watch industry that, despite the now frequent criticisms of modern Seiko’s price hikes and movement complacencies, Seiko’s still got it.
Instead, we get another beautiful King Seiko with a not-so-beautiful movement and a straight up ugly price. It’s even more disappointing when the original vintage King Seiko KCM references that inspired this whole new release can still be found and bought at 1/3 the price (or less) of the price that Seiko is commanding for this SJE series. Even if you find a good example that might need a tune up or a service, you’re still going to comfortably come up well under these new prices. For the life of me, I don’t understand how Seiko can continue to take some of the incredible work of their past, slap an average movement on the inside, and pull the pricing up so high that even the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps crowd would look and go, “sheesh, might want to tone it down a bit.”
It’s a shame, really, because again, these are beautiful watches that pay an honest tribute to some of King Seiko’s best designs.
My early prediction is that these will end up selling on the secondary market below retail, but even that will likely not be enough for me to buy one. In honor of my first Father’s Day coming up soon:
I’m not mad…I’m just disappointed.
As always, wherever you are, and wherever you’re going, many thanks for stopping by.
“Instead, we get another beautiful King Seiko with a not-so-beautiful movement and a straight up ugly price.” 👌 AKA, their strategy for optimizing commercial success