I recently had the pleasure of taking a 3-week break in Japan with my wife, starting and ending the trip in Tokyo, with a cruise in the middle. As you can imagine, being a watch nerd, one of the items on my to-do list was buying a Seiko. (Others included: try Gachapon machines, buy something Pokémon related, use the futuristic toilets).
My criteria was simple: JDM on rubber to combat the heat.
Now, you would think, “he probably scoured all the amazing watch dealers and saw crazy vintage and new examples from all the world’s top brands, visiting all the boutiques he possibly could “, but no. Remember how I mentioned I was with my wife and the bulk of the holiday was a cruise? No time for a day of Tokyo watch shopping, my friends!
In fact, I got 10 minutes. Yes, 10 minutes to find and buy a watch in Japan.
The purchase experience
On one of pre-cruise evenings, having rinsed the two Disney parks, we went to a nearby shopping centre for a quick dinner, and they had a shop called Bic Camera.
I know, it doesn’t scream watches, but apparently they are a thing and were on my radar as a good watch spot. We wandered in at around 19:50 thinking they closed at 21:00.
After a few moments, a kind gentleman indicated they were preparing to close for the evening. My wife had already started filling a basket with unusual flavours of KitKats and mystery sweets, so they could see we were going to spend and I guess were happy to let it play out. I went to the wall of watches, and it was mostly Casios in plastic bags and Seikos in a cabinet.
There were lots of steel models, simple dressy things you could wear to an interview, some chronos, etc. nothing too outlandish or desirable when I already own 9 Seiko watches, new and old, and have parted with many more than that over the years. Then my eye caught two brightly coloured Seiko 5s with the SKX style bodies. One orange, one yellow dial.
I asked another kind gentleman if I could see them (19:56 by now, 4 minutes to go!), popping off my own Seiko Arnie Reissue, and gravitating to the orange dial watch, which was conveniently the cheaper of the two, seemingly marked down on sale, on top of an apparent reduction versus RRP already. It worked out around 26k Yen, with 1 UK Pound around 200 Yen, for context. Bargain.
I tried it on, admired it for a few seconds, loved it, and told the nice man I would buy it. He was a little stunned by the speed but the moment felt right! I did no due diligence: barely checked the condition, had no idea how aged it was or indeed whether this was the exact one I would take home, I just saw it, liked it, bought it.
My wife was also purchasing an obscene amount of snacks and knickknacks by this point so we had 3 people running the till just after 20:00, one bagging the goods, and another filling out my Seiko warranty. You can’t fault Japanese politeness and customer service, even when you are eating into their home time!
The Watch
The chosen one was an SBSA309, with a vibrant orange dial, on rubber. It’s the new style of SKX case where you get a transparent back and hacking seconds, but no screw-down crown, so 100m WR rather than 200m. The bezel insert is a plexiglass style, which is an immediate bump in finish versus the old aluminium ones. There are square “applied” hour markers giving a retro feel in conjunction with the bright orange dial and gilt effect hands. The Seiko word is “applied” too, while the 5 and Automatic are printed. Being the Japanese Domestic Market variant, you get the coveted Kanji day wheel with English option too.
Wearing a new JDM in Japan
As with all NWAs, the honeymoon period is always fun, and this was during a 3-week holiday that many people would have as an actual honeymoon, so even sweeter! As you will see from the pictures, I decided to wear the watch most days as I explored the wonderful country, while trying to give my Seiko Arnie from back home some love occasionally too!
A few days into the experience, I noticed the watch was perhaps 90 seconds fast. I know Seiko give huge ballparks on their performance, so I put the watch right again (why not use the hacking, as its there!?) and gave it a few more days. Its settled beautifully now, I am pleased (and pleasantly surprised) to say.
Being on holiday and in and out of the pool in sunny locations, the bright orange dial absolutely hit the right notes. Clearly it will look out of place on a dull English winter morning, but I am hopeful it will serve as a portal to take me back to those hot, stunning, Japanese days.
On our various day trips, I would find excuses to use the bezel to remind us when to get back to the meeting points. It’s a little stiff to operate, with a springy sensation which feels odd when compared to Tudor, Rolex and even some of my other Seikos, but I’ve put it down to being part of the watch’s character.
Towards the end of the holiday, it dawned on me that I was going to be expatriating my new watch from its beautiful home country, which made me glad it had seen so much of Japan with me. We plan to return in 2028, and it will undoubtedly come along (in full knowledge it’s likely to get partially benched for that year’s new purchase, of course!)
Back to reality
So the 10th Seiko slot in my watch box is filled now, with a vibrant watch, loaded with happy memories. As I write this I am back in the UK, feeling chilly and horribly jet lagged, with a mountain of laundry to do, but the watch keeps beaming back at me and reminding me of an amazing trip. Can’t wait to take it ‘home’ in 2028 to add some memories.
Based in the UK, I began collecting watches in 2014. Started gently with an SKX009J, but then the Black Bay 79220N opened doors to this wonderful world of watches! Many, many Seikos, Casios, Tudors, Vintage and two Rolex later, I am in the slower, enjoyment phase of watch collecting now.