Seiko's Best Automatic Dive Watch Under $1000 & My Journey From SKX007 To A Perfect Willard & Beyond

I love the smell of a vanilla waffle strap in the morning. And nature here is violent. It's a land that God, if he exists, has created in anger. Okay. Hi guys, and welcome to the show. I am smiling looking at my wristwatch check because the Willard is back. I've had it modded very slightly. I'll share with you in a moment what I've had done today. I want to discuss my journey with Seiko divers and why it's come to an end with this particular version, what I've done to perfect it, where I started, how I came to love this and all the rest of it. Now, if you're expecting specs and a technical comparison, it's not about that. I want to go a little bit deeper, the profound meaning and what this watch means to me and why I love it. Don't forget to like this video. Best way to support the channel, especially if you want to see more free and truly independent content like this. Hit that like button. Did you hear that like button? I'm not, I'm not leaving until you've hit that. Oh, okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right, let's get into it. Like many watch enthusiasts, well over a decade ago, I started my journey into Seiko mechanical divers with the humble, lovably dated, but still somehow ISO 6425 qualifying SKX-009 with the Pepsi configuration. After that, it was the 007, then modded versions of each, and finally the more petite 38mm, but still professionally capable 013. But as my explorer engraving so perfectly surmises, i tempi cambiano. And upon discontinuation of the SKX in 2019, Seiko repositioned their entire entry level by essentially bifurcating the SKX's professional capabilities upwards into the prospect line, and with the other half, the fun horological gateway drug aspect, into a revamped, hipstified Seiko 5 line. It was logical, profitable, and clever if you think about it. Well, from Seiko's perspective, that is. But to us fans, a reminder that it's all about the Benjamins at the end of the day. But for a few years there, the SKX made me feel like a part of a special club, free of luxury delusions of grandeur, just a good honest watch to do the job that we can all enjoy, no matter if you were a seasoned addict or just getting hooked. But it's not just Seiko's fault. With the better value to quality ratio via the rise of the microbrands, the oversaturation of the Aliexpress clommage scam brands, shilled by endless affiliate scheme funded overnight influencers, along with the never-ending hordes of Skynet subservient smartwatches, and then on top of that, the complete collapse of watch journalism by those who traded in the integrity left in exchange for becoming perfidious watch dealers. So the watch world itself has also irrevocably changed. Now I could have gone back to the SKX, but I feel after the Willard, once you go Willard, there's no going back to the SKX. The SKX's success was because it was a distillation of everything that came before the Seiko divers, but at the same time, it was simplified more for mainstream. It's closer to a Submariner than it is a Willard, I think, or it's somewhere in the middle. To be mainstream, you do have to be a little bit less a Marmite-inducing effect watch, right? They've brought back, let me get this right, this is the SPRL85. And if you look at the dial, it's very much inspired by the 1996, the 7002, which was a quartz kind of predecessor of the SKX. SoCalWatchReviews, he did an outstanding video comparing it to his own SKX. I'll leave a link, you'll see clips of it in this video. He's done an amazing job at kind of surmising and comparing the SKX and still arguing the case that the SKX, you know, you can still pick them up for a great deal, but I can't go back to the SKX after this. So do check out that video. Shout out to Miguel, mio fratello lì. I hope you're well, my friend. Just imagine there's going to be a whole generation out there that won't know the Seiko shuffle of the 7S26 that you can't manually wind, you know, or hack for that matter. I was caught with my horological collecting pants down at the time and was stupidly flipping my then modded SKX thinking I could get back on the train anytime I wanted with an affordable ticket. But the train has certainly left the station. However, I was then spurred on by newfound appreciation for unusual case shapes and a deep admiration for both Conrad's Heart of Darkness, along with the work of Francis Ford Coppola. In an unexpected turn of my own metaphorical river, I fell in love with the Seiko Willard, or more specifically the reference SPB237, a.k.a. The Grey Birch. We're not like the others, man, really. Get in. A modern reinterpretation of the 6105 from 1968, featured so memorably in the 1979 Capo Lavoro Apocalypse Now. This occurred sometime during the pandemic when I borrowed one to review and subsequently purchased it from trusted Seiko AD, Meyer Fine Jewelers. While certainly amazing, it's still, like any Seiko, not without its negatives. A few corners cut and aesthetic decisions I wanted to change. So about halfway through a jog, testing out the old Willard. The total cost, if I spent just under 800 when I originally bought it, and then a few hundred more for the modding. I guess moral of the story is, if you want the perfect Seiko diver, get the one you like the most, and then spend a little bit extra having modded, perfect it, because you know Seiko cut corners. Even on the one you're going to see later, that cost a couple of grand. Ridiculous. Ridiculous. So the first thing I had changed is I went with a newer bezel. The silver markings are more legible, and I feel actually if you look at, for example, this vintage 6306 here, the bezels don't tend to age as quick as the dials. So I think this actually looks more believable. Then I had a signed crown added, but primarily for this wide knurling there, I think it's a little bit more evocative of the originals. It just finishes off, just adds an extra little bit of refinement, because I think the crown without cheapened the whole proceedings in my opinion. I decided to keep the original crystal. I kept the original movement. The 6R35 is fantastic. Hacking, many wind, I think it makes sense. Also I wanted to keep it within budget. So this is the final thing I had changed. Let me just zoom in there. So I had the Urban Gentry line engraved. Beautifully done. And my family motto added, which is, esto quod esse videres, which means basically be what you seem to be, or in modern vernacular, keep it real. Certainly a code I live by. And that was it. Not really, you know, not drastic stuff, but it was already a great watch. You know, that's why I bought it in the first place. And shout out to Watchmakers4 who did this amazing work. He really is the maestro when it comes to modding. It was pressure tested, accuracy tested. Since modding this, I've fallen in love. And as you can see, I got the Tropic strap. This is from Holben's. Shout out to Holben's. I've become so besotted with these Italian vulcanized straps that I've put them on my Panerai. The white, just, oh, actually it's kind of like a beige-y color. The quality is just, I'm actually tempted to take the black, because this is 20 millimeters, off my squalette, take the buckle off and put it on the Willard here. I mean, this cheap silicone thing I got off eBay, it just is absolute junk in comparison to the Tropic from Holben's. Not as tough, attracts lint like crazy. It's going to disintegrate much sooner and you get that nice vanilla scent, which of course the Italians, they go that extra mile as always. I consider the Willard the ultimate mechanical Seiko diver, as it has two of the most important and powerful factors that, in my opinion, help to define anything, not always, but typically, as truly iconic. Innovative design and cultural significance. But rarely does it happen at such a poetically poignant moment in human history. So I return to the river and water metaphors, as this magic confluence is encapsulated nowhere better than Hunter S. Thompson's genius penmanship. You can almost see the high water mark, that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back. This is from his own peak of literary mastery in what is referred to as the wave speech. The watermark is the carefully considered culmination of three generations of dive watch design by Seiko. Before, things got all crazy with awesome Arnie and Digiquartz and tuna can-inspired cases for saturation diving during the 1970s and 80s. But if you missed my, forgive the pun, previous deep dive, here's the Cliff Nuts. We Americans have been transfixed with China and with our problems in Vietnam for so long that we often forget about Japan. So when the Japanese do things differently from the way we do, we call them exotic or strange. When they do things our way, we call them copiers. The fact is the Japanese are a lot more than just adapters. They're skilled innovators to create their own version of the 20th century. They've been winning one economic victory after another. What the Japanese have done is to take a land poor in natural resources, but with a highly educated, hard-working population and make fine quality, low-priced products. During the 1960s, with that isolationist chip on the shoulder to always strive to do better than any Swiss-made foreigner, Seiko gave birth to the initial design language of the original 62 mass in 1965. By 1967 came the curvier cases and the four o'clock crown placement for ergonomic utility in the second generation with the 6215, before being all turned up to 11 with, you guessed it, the 6105 from 1968. These made-in-Japan divers were then immortalised on celluloid, taking it to the next level of stardom by being worn by its namesake, the protagonist so indelibly portrayed by Martin Sheen. Kind of ironic when you consider just how damningly emblematic both the movie and the book are with their commentary on the pernicious effect of western expansionism. The former on the evils of imperialism in the beautifully haunting prose of Conrad and the latter exploring the absurdist horror and often darkly comical madness in a In recent years Seiko have really embraced Naomi Yamada's legacy, the famed explorer, I've discussed it before, and Rolex through sponsoring the expeditions of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay and capitalising on that explorer fame, they kind of pushed the explorer upon them, whereas Yamada chose many Seikos, in fact there's another quartz Seiko in the Smithsonian Museum in DC I believe, he chose Seiko multiple times. That adds a level of very similitude and also of national pride, Seiko honoured him because he did wear a 6105 at some point, he wore several references, so it really should be called the Yamada watch, but because we are in the west and the larger watch world is through a western perspective, of course the Sadly, it cost him his life. He died doing what he loved, which is more than a lot of people, so we tend to return to this river that leads to darkness, right? Wow, how poetic. The out of control renegade Colonel Kurtz, played by a prophetically profound but masterfully mumbling Marlon Brando, is the target that Willard is sent to whack on behalf of his Are my methods unsound? I don't see any method. As you would expect, and by no accident, Kurtz is a Rolex man, the perfect embodiment of the Nietzschean demonic seed and god complex that is part of the human ego. It's the dark heart and foundational bedrock of Rolex marketing, where twisted ideals of status and legacy are weaponised and used to brainwash, and thus solidifying Rolex into becoming the most desired horological commodity on earth. You know, the shallow flexing types who watch movies only to see the surface narrative, or worse, disregard art entirely. Hence why we get godforsaken creations like Minecraft movies, Kardashians, Jerry Springer. We live in a nightmare world where chicken jockey is a thing. People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people, Jeremy. At first I thought they handed me the wrong dossier. I couldn't believe they wanted this man dead. Third generation West Point, top of his class, Korea, airborne, about a thousand decorations. Seiko divers still seem to be that anti-Swiss alternative, loved equally by the critically thinking, academically inclined, like Jeff McMahons of this world, but also by the many pro divers and fishermen I saw wearing them as relied upon tools during my childhood in Italy. Unlike Kurtz, Willard is a hero in the classical sense, sent to slay a manufactured minotaur that's gone rogue. He deals with the trauma and nihilistic reality of war with a stoic dedication to his mission, being the obedient soldier, along with bouts of self-medicated breakdowns in between quests, something that society loves to push upon us, especially if you are the strong silent type. The Rolex wearing dragon he must slay in this particular case file is highly intelligent, menacingly charismatic, and with a cold, ruthless logic, tries to break down not only the narrative of the story itself, but in a wider sense, the pointlessness of the war. It makes us, the viewer, question who is actually good and who is evil in this particular scenario. This core theme is also what makes Heart of Darkness such an important and essential work of art. Interestingly, Willard reacts in the only way he knows how, by doubling down on his cause, mirroring the watch's own unwavering adherence to purpose and the abandonment of more lofty aspirations. This is also why when you see an SKX or Willard wearer in the wild, it tends to be on the wrists of generally more honest people, not something you can confidently say about most Rolex wearers. The Handsome Beast is a new release from Moya for 2025. It is the reference SJ-E117. The retail price is £2,800. This is essentially a luxury watch at this point and it feels like you've got everything shiny. You've got this wannabe jubilee, that amazing finishing, amazing quality. But this, to me, is too far away from what prospects should be. Quality tool watches for a job, not this kind of wannabe Submariner with this ceramic bezel and all the mod cons. I mean, even the dial, yeah, it's interesting, but it wants to be a Grand Seiko. It's so bad and I just don't think this is fitting quite bare bones movement. I just don't think it's worth it. I did contemplate reviewing this, but honestly, I'd rather watch paint dry. This should have been put into the Grand Seiko family or the King Seiko. Now they brought King Seiko back, not prospects. It just doesn't make sense. But I wanted to give you a little idea of just how crazy things have gone in the last decade, that this is the same family of watches. Can a watch, especially a hero's watch, be a symbol or daily reminder of truth? I know we're veering painfully close to being a bit pretentious, but I get tired of talking about the same specs and the same, you know, at the end of the day, there's something more profound going on with the Willard. And this is why I return to these themes that are immortalized in literature and cinema. Filmmaker and master wordsmith of doom, Werner Herzog, when trapped in the jungle with the violent maniac and actor Klaus Kinski, famously described how the savagery of nature is constantly trying to kill you. There is some sort of a harmony. It is the harmony of overwhelming and collective murder. It's still prehistorical. The only thing that is lacking is the dinosaurs here. Well, cut my check, darling, and I'll be there in no time at all. When I say this, I say this all full of admiration for the jungle. Just like the jungle in Conrad's book, or for that matter, the conflict in Apocalypse Now. These are extremities that remove all the deceptive masks of civility and brings humanity back to a sort of primal, murderous existence. Even the movie's deeply chiaroscuro style is a reflection of this duality in man's nature, ideals and morality. Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. As we all know, the ultimate master of God's holy light, shadow and mankind's violence in the name of it, was the tortured genius Brushstrokes of Caravaggio. And let's not forget, he was a multiple murderer himself. The high contrast crescendos in the intensity of the end of the movie, with Willard symbolically emerging from the primordial jungle water to carry out his master's final solution. It also reminds us why those cursed to serve there would often buy affordable and robust Seiko divers at their local PX stores in the first place, over the easily compromised by water and humidity government issued field watches. Ultimately, the Seiko, the book and the movie reminds us to stay humble, not to fall into delusional egotistical demagoguery like Kurtz or Rolex. Which at the end of the day only results in the inevitable cold hard slap of reality, when the meaningless, nihilistic true horror of existence hits. So moral of the story is just try to enjoy life while you can, to think for oneself, to always be open minded and above all, like Marcus Aurelius always teaches us, to be grateful for what we have in life that we take for granted. Anyway, at the end of the day, I'm just sharing my own independent thoughts, and we can analyze specs and movements and the power reserve and the accuracy until the cows come home. But a watch to me is how it makes you feel. And that's why I look at these films and see it through a different lens. A watch at the end of the day is all about how it makes you feel, right? Let me know what you think about Seiko divers. Are they getting it wrong? Are they getting it right? What's your favorite Seiko diver? Please do share that. Don't forget to like this video. Very important, especially if you want to support free and independent content is the best way to support. I will catch you in the next one. Onwards and upwards. Thank you for watching. Ciao.