Introduced in 1963, the Seiko 5 collection of watches embodies style and utility with good quality at an affordable price.
The first Seiko 5 Sports model, from 1968
The first of the bunch is the new SRPD55K1, by far the most conservative and probably the most popular. It has a standard steel case and steel bracelet with a black dial that’s the standard look for Seiko dive watches. Following on from that is the new SRPD5K1 which shares the same design with silver steel case but a colourful blue dial and bezel arrangement, the classic blue and red bezel returns with the reference SRPD53K1.
The SRPD57K1 is much the same as the ’55 version, except it has contrasting gold colouring applied to it. There’s even a green version. The SRPD63K1 seems to harken back to the Sixties with its colourful dial and bezel in playful green. If you like things tinted then there’s a version of the SRPD55K1 which has a hard coating on the bracelet and case that gives it a dark gunmetal look, the reference for that one is SRPD65K1. These watches are all part of what Seiko calls the ‘Sports Style’ sub-collection.
The next one is called ‘Suits Style’, these watches are the same but on a mesh bracelet or rubber strap with a more pronounced inner bezel. Highlights include the SRPD67K1 with its creamy dial, the SRPD71K1 which features a blue colouration as we saw in the ‘Sports Style’ collection. Then there’s the SRPD73K2, which is the standard black watch like we’ve seen but on a rubber strap that has the mesh weave pattern embossed on it.
The ‘Specialist Style’ includes three watches on rubber straps that are styled to look like leather. The most eye-catching of these is the SRPD76K1, which has a stainless steel case that appears to have a gold colour to it, no mention on how that is applied but it’s most likely PVD.
The ‘Street Style’ watches are supposed to be more in tune with the youths than all the other watches. They feature blacked-out cases with blacked-out dials and deep colours on the lume. Reference SRPD79K1 is all black, while SRPD81K1 has a deep blue lume and SRPD83K1 has a deep red.
The last collection is the ‘Sense Style’ which features two green-themed watches, the SRPD77K1 and the SRPD85K1 which come on green nylon straps and have green textured dials.
All watches have LumiBrite on the dials for some glow in the dark action, and all feature the automatic 4R36 movement which is accurate within +45 to -35 seconds per day and offers a 41-hour power reserve. All of the watches look like professional dive watches but have a 100m water resistance and lack a screw-down crown. Cases measure at 42.5mm in diameter by 13.4mm in thickness.
If you’re wondering why I picked and chose the ones to talk about, it’s because Seiko introduced 27 new Seiko 5 Sports watches in total.
Visit Seiko here.
