Seiko 5 SNKF51K

Having purchased a few Japan domestic Seiko’s such as the Alpinist, Samurai’s, and Sumo, I turned my attention to the local market. There are a couple of new Seiko 5’s out in the market that I simply could not ignore. One particular model caught my eye but before I go on and talk about it, I want to highlight that there seems to be a change in the lug width specifications of the Seiko 5’s. I mentioned in an earlier post that the new Seiko 5 Sports now comes with 22mm lug width instead of the usual 20mm. The new Seiko 5 ‘non-sports’ model that I bought comes with 20mm lug width instead of 18mm that is prevalent in the previous models. I am not sure if this will be a permanent change but I see 20mm as today’s standard lug width for any dress watch with 37mm diameter and I am glad the Seiko 5’s are keeping up with the times.

 

Here’s the new Seiko 5’s that I bought. Model number is SNKF51K. There are also other color variants in this series.

 

Please click on the thumb to see a larger image

 

There are a few things I like about this series. Firstly, the do not have integrated bracelet which means I can wear them on any 20mm leather straps that I like. Secondly, each of them comes with a sporty bezel that makes them more interesting than the conventional Seiko 5’s. Last but not least, they are powered by the newer 7S26B movement. And let me repeat again, they come with 20mm lug width.

 

The SNKF51K that I bought is the type of simple mechanical I like to wear. It is very GS-like. The sword hands and rectangular hour markers makes it look like a poor man’s GS. The black dial and bezel makes it look like the SD GSGMT. A mini version.

 

Another interesting characteristic of this watch is the textured dial. At a glance, it looks like a carbon fiber dial but I’m sure it isn’t. A carbon fiber dial has a 3D effect that looks like a hologram. This one does not have that effect. It’s just a textured black dial with checker patterns.    

 

Besides the textured dial, I like the rectangular hour markers. This type of markers seem to be Seiko’s trademark. I see them in the GS line and many vintage Seiko’s. Each of these markers has a corresponding lume dot. They are round shaped and very nicely applied. Together with the framed day/date window, sword hands and red second hand, this is the kind of dial combo I am looking for a Seiko 5. Needless to say, I will be spending a lot of time staring and smiling at it.

Collecting Seiko has just become more interesting.