Seiko Chronograph Big Date 42mm

I have a guilty pleasure that I must confess to you all. I have a soft spot for big, central, double-date windows.
The main reason for that is obviously the fact that A. Lange & Söhne uses this beautiful design feature on their Lange 1s, with which I am deeply in love. But even if I separate my love for Lange watches, I still feel like the big ol’ double date is my favourite feature in the world of watches.

This Seiko, that I’m supposed to write about (and I must remind myself often, otherwise I’ll just engage in an uncontrollable ramble), is a beautiful and rare specimen from the double-date gang, and it is a watch that you must buy whenever you get the chance (and you won’t get it often).

The watch houses a Seiko quartz movement, the reference number of which I’ve forgotten, but it is a quartz chronograph with the date (duh, obviously), a 24-hour subdial, and a small seconds subdial.
The dial is breathtaking, and that fact is not at all clearly visible from looking at images or even videos of the watch.

If you’re familiar with the way Seiko’s Presage Cocktail Time lineup looks regarding the dials, then you can get the picture of how this one looks:
A beautifully elegant and modest texture that turns into a lively, vivid light show whenever the sun hits it just right.
The wonderfully polished applied indices and logo, combined with the mirror-polished Grand Seiko–style sword hands, give this watch a very luxurious feel. It is just a pleasure to look at.

One thing you must know, however, before purchasing is that the great looks are only visible to the wearer of the watch. The simple stainless steel case and the domed Hardlex-hidden black dial won’t elevate your look—not really. You can’t tell from afar that this watch is indeed a beautiful creature, on par with any Swiss luxury dress watches.

The size of the case is 42 mm, and everything else—thickness and lug-to-lug—are sized accordingly. It is very proportional, and due to Seiko’s superior ergonomics, the watch wears very comfortably.

There are, of course, many negatives with this one, but that shouldn’t be surprising—this is a Seiko after all.
The Hardlex crystal is beautiful and has a great bit of distortion, but it’s Hardlex. No anti-reflective coating on it either, so taking nice wrist shots of this one will be very challenging. I couldn’t make any good photos either, so I just used the seller’s images for my ChronoShot.

The bracelet is not very good. It is light and rattly, has hollow end links, a pressed clasp, and—on my watch at least—the pins securing the links together came out way too easily, just with a gentle push of the tool. So I wasn’t confident wearing this one on the bracelet.

The finishing of the bracelet is nice, however, but unfortunately the same cannot be said about the case finishing, because the polishing and brushing on this one are very scarce—too modest, to be honest. You won’t find any nicely chamfered edges, clean and smooth lines—none of that. Very, very basic, rudimentary finishing, which is a shame, because this one has the potential to be one of Seiko’s best dress watches.

It’s also a shame they discontinued it—but what can you do?

The chrono pushers are very soft and squishy, with no reassuring tactile click when you start the chrono, but the chronograph hand sweeps at least with a very clean and smooth movement—even though this is not a mecha-quartz watch.

To conclude: This Seiko is a very rare piece. You can’t really find them anywhere, but because there is no demand for them, the prices are low and sweet. If you are the sort of person that enjoys a touch of exclusivity and rarity, also some modest, calm luxury, and you just generally like Seiko for their awesome brand heritage, history, and the rest of it—this one is definitely for you!