Buy Seiko Men's SKA371 Kinetic Dive Silver-Tone WatchSeiko Men's SKA371 Kinetic Dive Silver-Tone Watch Product Description:
- Kinetic movement; functions without a battery; powers Kinetically with the movement of your arm
- Strong Hardlex crystal protects dial from scratches
- Case diameter: 42 mm
- Stainless steel case; black dial; date function
- Water resistant up to 660 feet (200 M)
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
42 of 45 people found the following review helpful.
An interesting blend of tool-watch and jewel-watch
By Joseph Carroll
Ever since my Seiko "Orange Monster" (SKX781) quit I had been looking for a dive watch to replace it that was both more accurate than an automatic (my Monster would usually be off by five minutes each week) and yet not require a battery change. Changing batteries is both a pain and not eco-friendly, and I just plain hate doing it. I looked for about a year at the Seiko "Black Knight" kinetic (SMY089) that Princeton exclusively offers as well as Citizen solar-powered (Eco-Drive) dive watches, liking neither options especially well. I wanted a big, solid diver with a little certain something extra - much like my Monster - and the Seiko SKA371 seems to be it.First, the watch seems quite well made. It is much more finely finished than my Monster and light-years ahead of Citizen's watches as far as build quality goes. The bezel moves smoothly with solid clicks, and it does not inadvertently turn like my Monster's bezel used to. Second, this is a heavy watch! It is significantly heftier than my old Monster. I happen to like that, but other folks may not. The band, like the other Seiko bands I have worn, it high quality. It does not often pull hair and the clasp is solid and strong. The crown is easy to grasp and turn, yet it screws down to prevent accidental time changes and makes the watch more water resistant (200 meters). The hour and minute hands glow brightly at night and so do the indexes. The second hand is very pale and hard to read in total darkness, but that does not bother me. The substantial case-back is slightly curved to fit on the wrist better and is pretty thick - the mineral crystal is too. When one reads the time it seems that you are looking down into the watch; I would think such a thick crystal would be hard to crack. The kinetic movement feels neat moving back and forth and keeps good time (it is quartz-based after all).There are only two things I am not thrilled with, and they are minor. One is that I do not care for the shape of the hour hand. The other is that I wish the bezel came up a little further than it does to help protect the crystal from scratches (although I do not have any yet).Overall the Seiko SKA371 is a nice looking watch that I do not mind wearing to the office while at the same time being an extremely rugged timepiece that should work well in the field or ocean.There is one thing about Princeton Watches though. While I like them, and they have watches other companies do not, they call to confirm your order. This was problematic for me because I am rarely home and it delayed my shipping (after complaining they still shipped my order UPS 3-Day Air while not charging me for it), and it seems to defeat the whole point of ordering Online. If they need to talk to you over the phone, why not just accept phone orders only? Again, I still think they are a good company, but people should keep their policies in mind when ordering from them.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful.Diver or Dress Watch? Lucky you, it's 2 for 1!
By zagato27
I'm posting my observations on my purchase of a Seiko SKA371P. First a little background. Got to admit that I've always been a "dive watch" aficionado. In a past "life" I needed a large watch with good lume and easy to read at a glance. Seiko dive watches fit the bill. Well, the demise of my Seiko automatic dive (can't think of the model but it had day/date; rotating bezel; black dial and originally came with a rubber watch band) watch accelerated my decision. It was a good watch but within the past month it would fall 15 min behind. Anyway, even though my life has changed my original requirements haven't: dive watch style; good lume; date; bracelet (not rubber this time); black face; rotating bezel; and automatic....no batteries; and affordable. After trolling a few watch forums I came across a couple threads that had great reviews of the Seiko SKA371. I found my watch!Now I had to find out where to purchase it. Finally settled on Amazon and one of their vendors...WatchZone. Purchase price was reasonable ($210...can I divulge that???) and included shipping. I ordered it and then it was time to wait. Well, I chose standard shipping and it just took forever. Next time I'll spring for 2 day! Watch arrived by UPS and of course no one was here to sign for it but my neighbor was there for me. I've got to go show him what he signed for over a beer or two! Plain brown cardboard box with lots of security tape (Do not sign for this if the tape has been cut) that was thankfully intact. Inside the box was stuffed a UPS plastic bag with the little air pockets. Inside of that was the blue Seiko box with the white cardboard surround. Opened it up and there it was on its pillow. Warranty, and Seiko Kinetic cal. 5m62 & 5m63 Diver's watch instructions, and a Seiko Elite Club application (should I send this in???) of yes it had the green tag with SKA371 $475.00 suggested cal 5m62 with the bar code.The watch was perfect. No scratches, no imperfections that I could discern. The bezel moves like silk! I also appreciate that the "teeth" on the outer edge are large and easy to grip. As has been noted the watch face is very deep and looks great. One of the features that attracted me to this watch was the skeleton hands. I know that this is a "like it or hate it feature" but I do like it and really like the stubby hour hand with the round lume on it. Another feature that I believe has been overlooked are the circular lumes on the hours. First they have some depth to them as they appear to be a bit domed and secondly they are surrounded by a chrome ring. This in my opinion makes for a very handsome face. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this could function as a dive watch but is really a "dress watch" in disguise! Well, I took it to a jewler (Seiko AD) who I've done some business with (jewelry for my wife.....expensive jewelry) and he sized the bracelet for me for free. This guy just earned my business for jewelry for now and the future. Fact is I had to go back twice to get it right. The first time it was too loose and I found that the watch was just beating the top of my hand. Others have mentioned, this is a heavy watch. Now it's pretty tight with no movement and I'm pretty happy. Gosh, I haven't mentioned that the bracelet is wonderful. Very heavy and well made and I love the style with the big links. Clasp has the push down lock and also the squeeze button secondary lock to release. Perfect.Quibbles/Changes. Very few. I wish that the watch had the day along with date but I can live with just the date. I'd like it a tad larger though (tired old eyes you know....wait long enough and you'll get there). Crown, I wish it were repositioned at the 4 o'clock position...just my personal preference. Wish that the crown shoulders were a bit more integrated into the watch case. They seem to be a bit of an after thought. Just not smoothly integrated. Skeleton hands, I like them but might be nice if they had lume along their entire length. I believe I saw a lume shot of an Oris that had skeleton hands with lume along the entire length and they were very prominent. Lastly, how bout some engraving on the top of the crown? Well, got to remember the price point on this watch and well, maybe asking too much.Conclusion. This is a great watch regardless of the purchase price. It's got style and is flawlessly manufactured. As for precision, I've always liked the quartz second hand tick, tick (BTW time is hack-able) and accuracy is spot on. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a quality dive watch with some style. I found out after I ordered my black face that you could also get this in "pepsi" version(red/blue bezel) and a yellow face version with black hands and there is also a titanium "look" version too. Additionally, you can get it with either a ss bracelet or a rubber band. I'd recommend the ss bracelet but that's me. Hmmm, I'm thinking bout that yellow one.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful.Great Looking and Practical
By Daniel Grant
After owning this product for a little over a year, beating it up day in and day out, and also having comparing it to countless other watches I've decided that my old review (4 stars) was still unfairly low, as this watch is an uniquely excellent product. As I noted in my old review, I am hard on watches. My job can involve running, heavy lifting, squeezing into tight places, climbing, ect, and this means my watch is subject to bumps, scrapes, excessive movement, and sometimes harsh chemical cleaners, ect. I can also be pretty active and spend time outside when I'm not working. Because of this, I'm hard on watches, and I have wrecked many an inexpensive wristwatch before its time. This watch has shrugged off pretty nearly everything I could hand it, and apart from being slightly grimy and having a small scratch on the crystal that I can just barely see at certain angles, it has been pretty much untouched. There are some less expensive watches that can handle my abuse (see the Casio G-Shock I reviewed), but here I have a watch that looks great with my best suit after a year of such abuse, and that is what makes this a remarkable product. My general impression now, is that Seiko generally gives you a lot of quality for the money. They build virtually everything that goes into their watches in-house (I think the only exception is possibly some of the lubricants), and this was my reasoning when I selected the brand. A closer look at the particulars of this watch would have confirmed my impression. It is an ISO certified Dive Watch, actually built for serious use. While I don't dive, and have no special interest in diving, that cert means that the watch was specifically built and tested to withstand a lot of the abuse I'd put it through (physical impact, obviously water pressure, impact to the crown, magnetic resistance, thermal shock, band strength, ect). Still, lots of companies make things they label as a "dive watch", this thing is impressively capable. Every aspect of it has proved to be of the highest quality. The crystal is very thick, and made from a special formula Seiko calls "Hardlax". Hardlax has a moh's hardness of 7, which means it is far harder than traditional "mineral" crystals, which are only a 5 on the moh's scale. It is considerably softer and less scratch resistant than a quality sapphire crystal (moh's 9), but is supposed to be tougher (less prone to cracking). [*Note, Seiko 5 Series watches with "Hardlax" crystals just have regular mineral crystals. Kinetic Divers and other more expensive Seikos have the Moh's 7 Hardlax. This may or may not be the same thing as a K1 tempered mineral crystal on a European or American watch.]The markings are very clear and easy to read (as you'd expect on anything that calls itself a dive watch), and Seiko's Lumbrite glow in the dark markings are the best I've ever seen. They are always easily visible in the dark. The band is also extremely strong. The clasp is very strong because it has both the "deployment" style lock, and a backup outer clasp that folds in the opposite direction. It is also attached to the watch itself with the most massive spring clips I've ever seen. The typical rotating bezel is flawless as well, it is easy to turn, but exhibits no play. Finally the quality of the movement appears to equal the quality of the case and band. This is an autoquartz watch (Seiko Kinetic) which I am a huge fan of. Modern (post 2000) watches should basically never need a battery change, as they are continuously recharged, and will still hold an 80% charge after 20 years. This movement makes such a watch very easy to maintain, there is no battery to change, but if you don't wear it for a few days, it does not run down like a mechanical watch. Plus quartz watches are way, way more accurate than mechanical watches. And this one has been uniquely accurate for me. I have only ever had to reset it for daylight savings time. Otherwise, it absolutely has not changed by so much as 20 seconds in 6 months. I have no explanation for this, as there's no indication the watch is thermocompensated (and those cost a fortune so far as I know), but it's yet another reason why this watch deserves a perfect rating from me. The kinetic mechanism does make a slight but noticeable sound when you move the watch (which was why I previously gave it 4 stars), but in light of how perfectly the watch seems to function, I no longer felt like I could deduct a star for that issue. What's left to quibble about then? Well, it would be nice if there was a perpetual date version of this watch, but then again, I don't see many dive watches with that feature at any price. Also, at this point I wish it was available in more than 1 style. If there was also an orange face, or a blue face/ "coke bottle" bezel version of this watch, I'd buy one in a second, even though it now appears the one I have may very well last me a lifetime. The only other reservation I have in recommending this watch is, that different people buy watches for different reasons. This is not going to delight an hourhologist who collects expensive Swiss pieces. The movement would cost a jeweler maybe $100. But for anyone looking for a great looking, absolutely bulletproof dress/dive watch at a reasonable price, with the convenience and accuracy of an autoquartz movement, this is pretty nearly the perfect watch. Seiko's MSRP is perfectly reasonable for something this well made, and Amazon knocks more than 40% off of that! No watch is perfect for everyone, but this watch is perfect for me, and probably for many other people as well.
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