What if you finally can date that beautiful girl and it turns out to be not what you expected…..and you walk away bored. That’s basically what happened to me with the Seiko SLA017, the diving watch –limited to 2000 – that is praised for its perfect 39.9mm case size, a beautiful modest sunburst dial, a dedicated inhouse diving movement 8L35 with 50 hours of power reserve and proper heritage. Such a watch checks all the boxes for a true watch lover like me. The sapphire crystal is awesome where the curves create a cool distortion around the outer edges. And the Zaratsu finishing technique is nicely executed with a circular brushed top and polished flanks. But after putting it on my wrist, my enthusiasm took a wrong turn somewhere and I eventually sold it after only wearing it a couple of times.

My gripe: the case height is 14.1 mm and the dial sits very low. The outer dial ring -which is mirror polished just like the indices- doesn’t have any scale. So this construction makes no sense and I would have rather preferred an 11mm case thickness so it will slide under a sleeve more easily. And the undecorated automatic Grand Seiko diving movement is rated to -10 to +15 secs per day and I think that’s not impressive for a Seiko of 3800 euro, especially when they claim it’s regulated by Seikos best watchmakers. Perhaps it performs better under water?

So I sold a watch that looks good on the wrist and is one of the best looking diving watches available. It was just not what I was looking for when I bought this watch. I miss that tool watch vibe. It doesn’t feel like a watch that was used in the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition in the sixties. With all the polished indices, dial ring, flanks etc. the Seiko SLA017 feels more like something to show off at work or your special occasion watch, but not a tool watch. And that’s fine, just not for me.