What has Seiko become?

[buddy13]

From perhaps over 20 years ago, I had always admired the brand's diving watches.

No nonsense approach, classic, simple design & solid quality & reliability track record. Just a few short years ago, it was still like that.

In the last couple of years though, I still can't figure how mainstream/trendy they have become. There are limited/special variations of whichever watch wherever you look. Some of their 're issues' are really good (62MAS/6159), if it wasn't for the fact that it is now in Rolex Sub territory price wise.

I have owned tens of Seiko's. One of my favourite dive watches of all time is the SBBN015 which I (foolishly!!) sold and bought back. I might add a 009 to my 007 while the SKX divers are still here, but I seriously wonder if I'll ever buy another Seiko dive watch again.

[charlies]

i agree that they have become quite mainstream and when you look at some shop windows around big western cities , you see some of the rubbish ( mainly quartz ) models that they churn out .

however if you focus on mainly their JDM models especially their prospex and marinemaster models I beleive they still are the best watches to buy in the £100-1000 region , the skx divers , tunas , sumos , turtles , 62MAS
re-issue , samurai's , monsters etc are still iconic watches in a relatively affordable region of the watch world , some of the re-issues are basically colour variants or upgraded versions of some of their most popular pieces and i still think seiko is
unrivalled in this area.

[200mwaterresistant]

It all comes down to the glass ceiling Grand Seiko has encountered. They're not quite accepted as in the same league as the Swiss (assembled) brands, largely because there is little to no exclusivity in their regular range due to its shear breadth. No matter what they say, Seiko and Grand Seiko will never feel like separate entities or brands. Hence, they have this ongoing strategy where every single release isn't about making a great watch, or a huge success, but it's all a branding exercise to introduce more exclusivity, at higher less-attainable prices, ALL to try and bolster Grand Seiko's position.

[kaiserphoenix]

Never is a strong word and also why shouldn’t GS be priced the same as Rolex? Don’t wanna start this debate and i am in the rolex is still superior to GS in many levels camp but their presence is definiately growing and i can see them on par with many major swiss brands as the year goes on.


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[paskinner]

Seiko has little choice but to chase the 'luxury' watch market, because even at the lowest price level, they will be relentlessly undercut. As for Grand Seiko, we just have to wait and see how much effort, and investment, they will commit. They still need to try harder.....

[seikomatic]

Never is a strong word and also why shouldn’t GS be priced the same as Rolex? Don’t wanna start this debate and i am in the rolex is still superior to GS in many levels camp but their presence is definiately growing and i can see them on par with many major swiss brands as the year goes on.


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your wish granted..it is listed at 15,000 Euro...but please don't send it to me as gift as I don't have place for this ugly piece.

[Tiny]

For the mainstream market, its down to brand promotion. How much cash a company can throw at marketing. Probably 95% of punters don't know or care what the movement is. They go for the looks and the cult following. That probably goes for most on here too, although we wouldn't admit it!

[Parabola]

your wish granted..it is listed at 15,000 Euro...but please don't send it to me as gift as I don't have place for this ugly piece.

I don't know why they are persisting with these ugly ceramic centre links. From talking to people who work for Seiko, they are really struggly to sell the expensive GS chronos with the black ceramic centre links and the reason most give is that the bracelet puts people off. I love the new dials (albeit that blue is a little OTT).

I think people are really struggling the price of the Hi-Beats

Like this dial

[Tiny]

your wish granted..it is listed at 15,000 Euro...but please don't send it to me as gift as I don't have place for this ugly piece.

The photo obviously doesn't do it justice. Probably looks amazing in person. There are many different cultures around the world, and class and age groups from footballers to Arab sheiks. I admire GS for pressing the buttons to see who bites.

[Tiny]

I don't know why they are persisting with these ugly ceramic centre links. From talking to people who work for Seiko, they are really struggly to sell the expensive GS chronos with the black ceramic centre links and the reason most give is that the bracelet puts people off. I love the new dials (albeit that blue is a little OTT).

I like the idea of ceramic on the sides of the watch and also in the bracelet. Presumably it is solid colour all the way through and won't wear off like the various black coatings. Also might reduce bracelet wear since the moving parts are the SS pins through the ceramic, the pins being fixed by interference or screws into the SS outer links. This means that the SS pins would wear in the much harder ceramic and could be replaced without having to sleeve the ceramic centre links. Interesting.

[andy tims]

I love many of their current range & I don't care if they are mainstream.

[kaiserphoenix]

your wish granted..it is listed at 15,000 Euro...but please don't send it to me as gift as I don't have place for this ugly piece.

Haha ok i’ll give you this instead:




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[JasonM]

I can see your point, but most of the manufacturers have upped their game with diversity in recent years, including Rolex, like you say, Seiko divers were all about function, recently they are chasing, for want of a better word, fashion buyers ( dare I say it, so are Rolex )

[Omegamanic]

Haha ok i’ll give you this instead:




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I know a few girls who would love that though.

[Parabola]

I know a few girls who would love that though.

Yeah but girls also (usually) like men too. What do they know?!

[tabascokid]

I’ve just spent a couple of days at Baselworld and I was disheartened to see the seiko stand, I’m afraid. It’s clearly a personal thing but I’ve never been a diver fan and am currently not into dress watches so that left... nothing really. I know companies move on but I was wearing my pogue on my wrist with my panda at home and nothing i saw interested me in the slightest. If a complaint against the company is that they produce a flood of designs with no feel of exclusivity, why are they all in two genres of watch, and nothing “different”. Different doesn’t have to be vulgar, like 70% of the watches I saw, and I always liked seiko for having that history.


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[200mwaterresistant]

From talking to people who work for Seiko, they are really struggly to sell the expensive GS chronos with the black ceramic centre links and the reason most give is that the bracelet puts people off.

Heard about the round of layoffs going on within Seiko UK? The Grand Seiko folly seems to have taken its toll on sales here as they take the focus off their bread-and-butter.

I've said it a few times, but they need to reduce the street price on the SKX and get it sold in places like Argos and on the wrist of every young person they can, build a future customer base who have a connection to the brand. This strategy of trying to wine and dine a disinterested high-end client to buy 1 GS instead of a Rolex, rather than sell tens of thousands of the entry-level models to the masses is a mistake. Get them hooked young, let them explore the product range as they grow, then they'll be ready for GS once they're in their 30s-40s.

Territorial distribution is obsolete, Seiko UK aren't competitive compared to the breadth of range and price level absolutely anybody who can use Google can find, fuss-free - and as WIS type people, buying multiple watches typically of ever-increasing value, that's where *we* shop. They need to concentrate on markets they can control and consumers who just buy what they like the look of - i.e. the high street, and then leverage that bit of brand loyalty over time.

As with any of these complacent companies who've coasted off the exclusivity of distribution in their territories, they are making themselves obsolete because they refuse to accept what has happened and change.

/rant

[buddy13]

Haha ok i’ll give you this instead:




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Mods pls delete this obscenity :D

[buddy13]

I can see your point, but most of the manufacturers have upped their game with diversity in recent years, including Rolex, like you say, Seiko divers were all about function, recently they are chasing, for want of a better word, fashion buyers ( dare I say it, so are Rolex )

Seems a bit like 'let us shoot out volumes of the stuff and see what we can sell!'. Really irritates me!

[PJ S]

The photo obviously doesn't do it justice. Probably looks amazing in person. There are many different cultures around the world, and class and age groups from footballers to Arab sheiks. I admire GS for pressing the buttons to see who bites.

I like the idea of ceramic on the sides of the watch and also in the bracelet. Presumably it is solid colour all the way through and won't wear off like the various black coatings. Also might reduce bracelet wear since the moving parts are the SS pins through the ceramic, the pins being fixed by interference or screws into the SS outer links. This means that the SS pins would wear in the much harder ceramic and could be replaced without having to sleeve the ceramic centre links. Interesting.

From The PuristS thread – http://www.watchprosite.com/seiko/ba...89386.9569911/

Unlike the SS SBGH267, which does look its £6K price, this model just can’t be taken seriously at it €15K. They’ve somehow managed to make it look cheap, tacky, and plasticky… and I love ceramic, even allowing for its inherent brittleness.
It didn’t work on the chronographs, and it certainly isn’t working on that Hi-Beat GMT.

[davidj54]

From The PuristS thread – http://www.watchprosite.com/seiko/ba...89386.9569911/

Unlike the SS SBGH267, which does look its £6K price, this model just can’t be taken seriously at it €15K. They’ve somehow managed to make it look cheap, tacky, and plasticky… and I love ceramic, even allowing for its inherent brittleness.
It didn’t work on the chronographs, and it certainly isn’t working on that Hi-Beat GMT.

It looks bloody enormous, what size is it?

[PJ S]

46.5mm, and about 15mm thick, I think.
Specs should be in the linked thread there – Ken did a brilliant job in his report threads.

[Brodofaggins]

I really wish they’d reissue the 6138/6139 chronos, in sensible sizes!


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[davidj54]

46.5mm, and about 15mm thick, I think.
Specs should be in the linked thread there – Ken did a brilliant job in his report threads.

That's ridiculously big. Hulk Hogan would have reservations about wearing a watch that big.