Unlike some crossover brands, Seiko gives their quartz watches special attention. More than a mechanism for their practical budget offerings, they’ve gotten creative with this reliable movement, building innovative technologies from it.
We’re going to explore five reasons why Seiko should be your go-to quartz watch brand. Some Seiko 5 and SKX fans may not realize how equally interesting Seiko’s quartz watches can be.
In fact, some might even be thinking, “Wait… Seiko makes quartz watches?”
More interestingly, they employ a variety of quartz-based technologies. A few of these include:
Solar
Solar recharges using light from any source. To achieve this, Seiko Solar watches are built with a solar cell.
This includes GPS Solar, used in their Astron 5X movements. It synchronizes to the GPS satellite’s atomic clock for even greater accuracy.
Another solar quartz movement, the Radio Sync Solar receives calibrations from stations all over the world. This is great if one satellite is more obstructed than another. It also levels up the watch’s reliability factor, offering precision of one second every 100,000 years!
Kinetic
Kinetic, which powers its quartz movement using the movement of the wearer’s wrist. This is achieved using an oscillating weight, similar to an automatic watch. This unique technology first came out in 1988, and was referred to as Seiko AGS, or Automatic Generating System.
Spring-Drive
Spring-Drive, which uses the precise vibrations of its quartz oscillator, but is powered by a mainspring like a mechanical.
Many consider the Spring-Drive its own movement, separate from quartz. This is perfectly fair, but Seiko couldn’t have developed it if they hadn’t mastered both quartz and mechanical movements! It’s definitely a quartz-based innovation.
The 9F movement is unique in the quartz world in that it’s hand-crafted and very complex. Two craftsmen work on each mechanism, one specializing in the movement and the other focusing on the date indicator.
Seiko also grows their quartz crystals in-house, which takes anywhere from two to six months. Each crystal block is hand-inspected for flaws, then the quartz crystal oscillators are tested for frequency regularity over the course of 90 days.
Those suited for the 9F movements, which have an accuracy of ±10 seconds per year, are then chosen to power Grand Seiko quartz watches.
With artisans delicately attaching the hands to dial, these are some of the most refined, well-built, and beautiful timepieces out there!
How Long do Seiko Quartz Watches last?
The watch itself can last you over 30 years! The battery will need replacing every 3-5 years, depending on the caliber. It’s recommended that you always use official Seiko batteries to replace dead ones.
How much is a Seiko Quartz watch?
Basic Seiko quartz watches can cost a little as $150. The Grand Seiko 9F watches are anywhere from $2000 to ~$5000.
So now that we’re caught up…
5 Reasons Why Seiko Should be Your Go-to Quartz Watch
Seiko Offers a Variety of Quartz Movements
Choose any of Seiko’s quartz innovations to suit your needs.
If you’re a world traveler, the radio sync solar movements might be best suited for you. If you don’t want to worry about battery replacement, and don’t get much sun where you are, Seiko Kinetic movements don’t require light power or battery changes.
Seiko’s History and Heritage with Quartz Watches
Seiko takes quartz watches seriously, likely due to their history with it.
They not only introduced the world to the 1969 Astron (the world’s first quartz watch, as mentioned), but it was this watch that sparked the quartz revolution and changed the watch industry forever.
And, as you know now, they’ve continued to innovate on the quartz front!
More Versatile Sizing than Mechanicals
This applies to all quartz watches, but especially with Seiko since they have the widest variety of offerings out there.
Quartz movements are smaller than automatics. This is great for small-wristed gents, or for those seeking a classic dress watch. When worn and fitted properly, evening watches must be slim enough to slip under a dress sleeve.
You Get What you Pay For
With Seiko, you’re never being tricked. Their simple sub-200 quartz watches are no-frills but well-designed, accurate, and long-lasting. Meanwhile, a Grand Seiko watch is truly artisanal (as discussed earlier!), as well as reliable.
There’s a Seiko Quartz Watch for Everyone
In fact, let’s take a quick look at five models we love…
This fan-favorite puts all of the classic elements of a traditional dress watch in one beautiful timepiece. The Datejust-esque pie-pan bezel and Jubilee bracelet provide enough surfaces for light to hit, giving you that extra sparkle. Meanwhile, the brushed dial and baton indices add a classy simplicity to balance out the fancy all-gold construction.
A special edition diver developed in partnership with The Professional Association of Diving Instructors, this high-functioning, 47mm tool watch also has a bonus GMT hand! It runs on Seiko’s Kinetic technology, so you’ll charge up its quartz movement simply by wearing it around town.
This diver features a radiant multi-layered blue face, which beautifully contrasts the hard-coating of the case. As a Prospex, it boasts a professional 200m of water resistance. And with its solar quartz movement, you can count on accurate time, and never having to change the battery.
The SPL060 is a whimsical yet refined timepiece featuring a sunray-finished dial, a delightful map pattern subdial, and an alarm function. The textured calfskin strap and the cities-of-the-world inner bezel give this watch an air of distinction.
This unique chronograph’s subdials boast vibrant blue highlights against an authoritative looking black-ion case. It runs on Seiko’s Radio Sync Solar, which receives radio signals from atomic clocks in the US, Europe, China, and Japan, resulting in laser-accurate timekeeping.
If any brand can turn doubters on to quartz watches, it’s definitely Seiko. This reliable and accurate movement can be a lot more interesting than just the practical budget option.
Even just within their quartz offerings, Seiko offers a gamut of creative technologies and designs!
First released in 1993, Grand Seiko's 9F caliber remains one of the most advanced quartz movements ever made. Thermo-compensated, accurate to within ten seconds a year and sealed so that, apart from battery changes, the watch doesn't need service for 50 years.
Are Seiko 5 watches any good? Seiko 5 watches are great. They offer tremendous value for money. They look good, they feature rock-solid movements, and they're from one of the world's most highly regarded brand in horology.
The most common reason why quartz watches stop working is that the battery is dead. Not all fine watches use batteries, but when they do, they should last for at least 2 years. However, just like cars or any other piece of machinery, there are a few factors that affect your watch battery life.
"Grand Seiko" is a luxury brand that offers timepieces made by master craftsmen in Seiko's two exclusive watchmaking studios, using exclusive movements and the highest grade materials. Each Grand Seiko watch is instantly recognizable because of its simplicity of form and its understated elegance.
All watches should be serviced periodically. Most quartz watches need to be checked for any servicing needs and battery replacement every one or two years. And they should be completely serviced every five years. Servicing may include testing for water resistance, cleaning and lubrication.
At least one manufacturer of low-priced quartz watches specifies their accuracy as ±15 seconds per month, suggesting an accumulated error of just a few minutes per year. This type of accuracy is sufficient for most people, who are generally happy if their watch remains within a minute or two of the correct time.
Spring Drive is Seiko's mechanism that achieves high precision with an unprecedented accuracy of one second per day by controlling it with precise signals from the quartz oscillator.
Orient. Mostly regarded as a notch below Seiko in terms of its enthusiast appeal, Orient, a Japanese brand dating back to 1950, offers as much or more when you consider its wide breadth of entry-level mechanical watches.
How Long Will a Seiko 5 Last? A Seiko 5 watch can last anywhere from five years to over 25 years. The wide range is due to a variety of wildcards. For example, dust build-up can eventually cause a break in an old Seiko 5's 7S26B movement.
What is Seiko 5? According to Seiko's press release, Seiko 5 is a line of entry level watches that possess these five attributes: an automatic movement, day-date display, water resistance, recessed crown at 4 o'clock and a durable case and bracelet.
One of the things that make the Seiko 5 so popular is its design. The watch features a simple and classic look that is both timeless and versatile. The watch comes in various styles, including both automatic and manual winding models, and features a range of dial and band options.
Quartz watches accuracy - how accurate is quartz watch? A non-certified modern quartz watch has an accuracy of about 99.9998%. A certified one is 99.9999% accurate. To put this into perspective, a non-certified quartz watch will lose only around a second per day while a certified one generally won't lose any.
Typical quartz watches run for one to two years before needing a battery change. However, if a lithium battery powers it, the lifespan jumps to five or six years. You'll know it's time to change the quartz battery when the watch display dims, and the digital display disappears with the appearance of an alarm function.
If you don't mind quartz watches and the extra accuracy the tech brings, Citizen watches might be your best bet. Alternatively, if you prefer the tradition of mechanical watches, with a cost-friendly price, then Seiko watches should be your choice! Either way, it'll be a win.
Collectors will find plenty of modest and high-end options, but Seiko is a solid option overall for the casual watch-wearer looking for extreme quality at surprisingly approachable price points.
Lighter fluid to clean watch movments. To clean a quartz watch you just take the movement out of the case, dip it in a small bowl with lighter fluid and move it a bit left and right to allow for the flow of lighter fluid through the movement.
The Seiko Twin Quartz Superior range brings this down to +/- 5 seconds per year! By comparison a modern quartz watch will typically be around +/- 15 seconds per month. At the high-end of the modern quartz market, the Grand Seiko 9F achieves +/- 10 seconds per year and the Citizen Caliber 0100 +/- 1 second per year.
Cheap quartz movements are bound to have a higher deviation than the so-called High Accuracy Quartz movements. Examples of those are of course the Grand Seiko 9F, Breitling's Super Quartz and Longines VHP (Very High Precision) quartz movements. The more expensive quartz movements use thermo-compensation, for example.
To improve the accuracy of a mechanical watch, it is recommended that you wind up the mainspring every day, at a fixed time, even if the watch is a self-winding type.
Seiko are known for its extremely high quality timepieces. Many collectors opt for watches that use the finest materials for the promise of longevity and robustness. The brand often use PVD plating on the watches to give them an aesthetically pleasing and scratch resistant finish.
Japan is well-known for advances in technology, and Seiko has been at the forefront of this for watchmaking. With Seiko's advances in watch technology, the Diashock in 1956 and the “Magic Lever” in 1959 Seiko watches made their mark as chronological masterpieces in the mod 20th century.
This year Grand Seiko has secured its place in the top 10 brands across all men's price bands above $2,000. According to retail analyst NPD, its watches are now ranked number three in the $5,000 to $7,000 price range, up from number six last year.
Seiko Watches are very durable and long-lasting. They have a great value for the price you pay. The quality of their watches is exceptional. Their customer service is outstanding.
The date changes around 12 o'clock midnight. If AM/PM is not properly set, the date will change at 12 o'clock noon. Do not set the date between 9:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.
Frequency of such work depends on the climate and the owner's individual care of the watch, but in general, we recommend having your watch serviced about every three years at an Authorized Seiko Service Center. Worn out movement parts and aged oil inside the movement may cause a watch to lose time or stop.
Movements for Seiko 5 sports watches are also built in-house. Not just that; the manufacture of Seiko 5 movements is almost completely mechanized, resulting in more cost savings.
Vintage Grand Seiko and King Seiko watches are much appreciated by collectors. King Seiko pieces, in particular, can often be found at very affordable prices.
The first ever Seiko 5 watch, Seiko Sportmatic 5, was born in 1963. It was Seiko's and Japan's first ever automatic day-date watch. ''5'' represented the promise that every Seiko 5 watch would have five key attributes.
Seiko become one of the most popular watch brands in the world. As they were the first brand to launch a battery powered quartz watch, Seiko have had a longer amount of time to perfect their movements than any other brand. Today Seiko's quartz watches are some of the best on the market.
It is likely because you're not wearing or winding the watch enough. Automatic watches gain power from manually winding it, or from the automatic winding that occurs from your motion while you are active while wearing it. So simply put, if you're not wearing it, your power reserve will run out.
These step motors are extremely small and may easily be affected by magnetism, which may impact the rotor. As a result, watches may stop or fail to keep correct time. But magnetism remaining inside of the watch does not affect its accuracy, so keep it away from magnetic sources and correct the time.
To add some context to our first statement, a mechanical watch will lose between 5 and 10 seconds per day, while a quartz watch will lose around 4 seconds per month.
Quartz vs automatic: Reliability, accuracy and performance
Both quartz and automatic watches are widely considered to be accurate. However, some watch experts argue that quartz watches are more reliable because they are accurate to within half a second while automatic watches can be off by a few seconds.
As quartz watch movements are battery powered, quartz watches generally stop working due to the following reasons: The most common reason – dirt becomes embedded in the movement. Oxidation and corrosion forms around the battery. Mechanical problem – motor becomes stuck.
Universal fluidic synthetic oil especially developed for the lubrication of polymers. This lubricant is applicable for rapid wheels which are subjected from low to moderate pressures.
Quartz movements stop working when the battery dies, and you'll just need a new one. The price of watch battery replacement ranges from as low as $10 to upwards of $45-$60 to reseal and pressure test a water resistant timepiece.
Suffice to say they have to withstand a fair amount of strain. At the very least, having your quartz watch serviced every two years is highly recommended.
This, coupled with wear throughout the year, has meant I've never come to them to find they have died. But of course, a battery, even a rechargeable one, does have a finite life span, and Seiko says this is around ten years. So ten years of worry-free accurate timekeeping is what you can expect from these movements.
The answer is YES! As quartz watches are a type of watch movement, created by watch brand Seiko in 1959, quartz watches overtook the dominant mechanical watches due to being cheaper but highly accurate.
If you wear your quartz watch every day, it's important to take care of them like any other keepsake. After six years or more, a thorough overhaul can help keep these delicate timepieces running smoothly and efficiently! Quartz watches need to be oiled and cleaned periodically in order to keep them running efficiently.
A Grand Seiko quartz is the way to go. Start with this: Grand Seiko makes better watches than Rolex. Cases, movements and bracelets. What's more (for less), Grand Seiko Spring Drive and mechanical timepieces haven't been subject to Rolexian price inflation.
Do Seiko Watches Hold Their Value. In general, Seiko watches do not hold their value well. There are only a few limited edition models that will occasionally increase in value over time but for the most part value retention is not what Seiko watches are known for.
In reality, there are a few Seiko timepieces that have appalling resale values. But, every watchmaker, even down to the likes of Rolex and Patek Philippe, have a few products that end up not ageing too well. Whether or not Seiko timepieces offer an excellent return on investment, the short answer is yes, they do.
You can rest easy, though, since vintage Seiko's aren't currently that valuable on the seller's market. Most vintage Seiko watches that're selling on eBay are selling for under $100.
Frequency of such work depends on the climate and the owner's individual care of the watch, but in general, we recommend having your watch serviced about every three years at an Authorized Seiko Service Center. Worn out movement parts and aged oil inside the movement may cause a watch to lose time or stop.
Some of the things that you will need to do involves taking the watch apart, re-oiling it and cleaning it when necessary. You should also ensure your watchmaker will thoroughly check the movement for any sign of damages and replace the parts as required.
From a collector's standpoint, there are only a few quartz watches fit to be appreciated for their value. Needless to say, most do not have it to become a collectible. But some quartz watches have managed to become collectibles.
In some instances, both Seiko watch models are made from stainless steel. The difference is that the Grand Seiko watch is made from a higher-quality stainless steel material. In other cases (such as in the creation of custom pieces) higher-quality materials – such as titanium and platinum- are used.
Indeed, the two brands are priced differently depending on their buyers' various value propositions. The Rolex vintage models have a higher demand compared to the Grand Seiko vintage models. This has caused the Rolex vintage models to have very high prices, both new and pre-owned, unlike their Japanese counterparts.
Many watch enthusiasts feel that the quality is superior to other watch makers. Seiko's high-end models are on par with Swiss brands such as Swatch. Overall, the company offers good quality, stylish and reliable watches. Regardless of how much you spend, your watch will be tough and durable.
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