The Seiko 'Alpinist' is a 25 Jewel auto wind mechanical watch marketed only in Japan. Apparently
there is a variant without the 'Alpinist' marking - perhaps for wider markets
? The watch which is available with black (actually dark charcoal grey) or off-white dial. A bracelet is supplied. The case diameter is 36mm and 10mm thick and the complete watch and bracelet weighs 110 grams. The construction is all Stainless Steel This example was obtained from Higuchi in Japan. |
The Case is all polished except for the upper surface of the lugs which are brushed. The Crown and Back are screwed and the setting Crown carries the Seiko 'S'. The other Crown is to operate a built in Compass ring to enable wearers to get their bearings. It is not screwed. The stlyle, apart from the Compas Crown is reminiscent of the Rolex Explorer I and the Eterna Matic KonTiki 1958. Across the lugs measures 43mm and the bracelet width is 19mm. |
The back carries an etched pattern and a lightly stamped serial number. The crown is rather heavy to unscrew and the winding mechanism is engaged when setting date. The crown is difficult to re screw due to its rather smooth surface and the heavy winding engagement. |
The watch uses a Seiko 4S15 Diashock 25 Jewel automatic wind movement which has a
hack feature. It has a high beat balance (8 per second). This example has been regulated by the writer and has very tight positional error (0 to +6 secs in 4 positions) and on wrist acheives -2 seconds in 3 days. The Date changes with 12 to 1 o'clock with a little creep. |
The Dial is a dark grey, not black, and is rather cluttered due to the indices between the
seconds/minutes marks. The Compass ring which is inclined adds to this scattering of marks. The hands are the unique statement and it is due to their boldness that the watch is actually quite easy to read the time from. There is also quite a lot of silver 'sparkly' glitter from the Hands and Hour indices. The luminous performance is remarkable and is 'Lumibrite' which last for hours and hours after exposure. Modern Seiko watches I find have all got this attribute. Turning the Compass crown rotates the Compass ring and if the user is inclined to read the instructions a bearing can be obtained. The crystal is mineral glass. |
It is this Compass gadget that I find the main detractor from the watch. Without
it, the watch case would have one less source of water ingress. The
line of the fine case would not be broken by a 'volume' control type knob, which
is easily moved by the shirt cuff. If I was in the mountains I would have
a proper compass and although I would be happy with the time from my 'Alpinist',
I would not trust this silly gadget. This reminds me of the earlier Japanese HiFi amplifiers where they had to fit every 'bell and whistle' knob and button - the designers did not know where to stop when they designed this watch also - what a great pity. |
The Bracelet starts at 19mm wide and tapers to 18mm. The links are solid and all brush finished. The deployment clasp has side catches and no flip over latch. Adjustment is made by pushing out split pins to remove links |
This is a comfortable watch to wear. Despite the cluttered dial it is easy
to read due to the 'cathedral window' hands. It has excellent timekeeping although doing anything with the crown unscrewed takes effort. The main problem with it in this reviewers opinion is the silly Compass gadget - SEIKO, Please bring out a version without this and clean up the dial a bit. Excellent value due to its performance and construction |
Version 4.0 |
