SEIKO SLA023J1 Prospex Professional 300 meter Divers

To start, the movement. It’s the Seiko Cal. 8L35, based on the Grand Seiko 9S55. A beautiful, 28,800bph movement with 50 hours of power reserve and specifications of +15/-10 seconds per day. A truly amazing, in-house movement that does justice to a watch in this class.

The watch itself, with its monobloc case, is very elegantly shaped, nicely fitting around your wrist. While the initial 44.3mm diameter may put you off a little bit, the placement of the crown and the relatively manageable 50mm lug to lug distance ensure it’s not a goliath and will fit most wrists. The watch is purpose built, so very legible and using durable materials such as a ceramic for the bezel and a sapphire crystal to protect the dial. The bracelet also feature’s a diver’s extension, in case you want to wear this beauty over a wetsuit, when you take it to the 300m depth it can resist. Of course the watch also comes with an extra rubber strap included in the box.

All that aside, the level of finishing is incredible on this piece. Where you can do your best to take this watch to the limits, the watchmakers who produced this watch gave it their absolute best to make sure the smallest details are just right. There are levels to this and Seiko can compete with the best.