Seiko Steve's box of fake SKXs: I hate them all, but for 180 quid you could do a lot worse
A sausage of clocks
Welcome back, bros. Seiko Steve has delivered me a sausage of clocks, and as usual it arrived in the most disgraceful state: tons of detritus, cat pubes and a multitude of disgrace particles. I spent hours scouring the box of twerps with cellar tape. Now look at them, left to right. Seiko 5 Sports fake SKXs. Very pretty and attractive. And I hate them all. My opinion is my own, bro. Nobody gives me anything, so I'm free to say it.
Same family, different lottery
Steve buys two of the same model just to see the differences, and the differences are quite stark. Take the SRPD51K1: blue sunburst dial and blue bezel on both, but aren't they completely different? Different bezel colours, one dial much glossier, one date wheel in French and English, the other in Kanji. Both are tech, but the second is way better.
They're RRP £280, but you can get them for £160 to £170. Every one has the 4R36: automatic, hacking, hand-winding, 41 hours, 24 jewels, plus 45 to minus 35 a day, day-date. Absolutely proper. The clasp is fully stamped out, non-milled, a twin trigger with a fold-over safety and four micros. No diver's extension, because these are not divers. Stainless steel, 100 metres, which is more than enough for any naysayer who demands 200. Hardlex front and back, hollow end links, 170 g on all links, and a display back showing off a hideously undecorated movement. No screw-down crown, no loom pip, not an ISO diver. Still tech.
The bezels are all over the place
Loose on one. So stiff on another it hurts my fingers to turn it. The 71 is probably the loosest of them all, very, very loose. Then one that's painfully tight and doesn't even want to move. The Milan mesh one made my thumb split. I'll say it again: these bezels are all over the place.
My pick of the bunch
The gold-accent one is probably my favourite, or second favourite. Best bezel of the bunch, just about perfect, with a gold applied logo and gold around the indices. I love that one.
But the monochrome SRPD55K1 is the one. All black and silver, reminiscent of the SBDX21. I'm a boring twerp-lover and I like boring-looking twerps, and this is the most boring of them all. This is my favourite one. Just plain and simple. That's how it should be, for the beach.
The Milan mesh one has a beautiful concentric sunburst and a lovely bracelet, but a flippy-flappy, wobbly clasp that's a pain to reattach. Not my cup of tea, but I can see why people like it. Then I told it to get rid of itself and called it a rubbish piece of junk, so make of that what you will. The SRPD71K2 has a striking blue sunburst dial and a high-quality silicone strap.
Verdict
That's my review of Seiko Steve's twerps. Complete rubbish, and I hate them all. But they can all be slapped for 150 to 180 brand new, which is a ridiculous value proposition for an integrated, in-house heritage brand. If you only got 180 quid to buy a twerp, you could do a lot worse, for the beach. One more twerp review to come, then I'm out of the clock game. Never give up.
