Usually, I am not the type of person to normally wear a “dress watch”, I am a lathe operator. In my spare time, I like to wear simple 3-hand watches, even in smaller diameters, despite my 18.5cm wrist. The Seiko SRPA27K1 is 42mm in diameter with a lug width of 20mm and a case thickness of 13mm, not the typical size of your everyday dresswatch.

I will show you the watch from top to bottom – crystal / hands / dial / case / movement-

Unfortunately Seiko only uses Hardlex and decided to not splash out and offer a sapphire crystal in this model, which I believe would have been possible in this price segment.

With the Seiko SRPA27K1 you get amazingly sharp dauphine hands that are highly polished! They look absolutely fantastic!

The indices on this particular dial are also highly polished and really come into their own on the black background.

The solid steel case is completely polished with a great finish! Furthermore, the watch is waterproof to 100 meters. I’m not entirely sure why Seiko opted to have this for a dress watch, as it rarely or never comes close to water. It is great and reassuring to have this feature none the less.

Now for the heart of the watch, the movement. Seiko builds their own movements, so one can say that they are “in-house” movements. The 4R35B with 21.600 VPH (3Hz) is featured in this watch.

This incredibly reliable movement has been in production since 2011 and serves as an upgrade to the 7S26.  Even though this watch has a display caseback, the rotor is not decorated. That doesn’t matter to me though at this price point

For me the Seiko Seiko SRPA27K1 is the best “dress watch” for your small budget and your big wrist!