Sporty dress piece, gorgeous cobalt, octagon bezel: office yes, beach no
A very strange looking Seiko
Gefflar is back, and no, it's not an SLA review. It's a totally weird watch. The Seiko Prospex SPB483J, or the SBDC 203: the Coastline Cobalt Polygonal, whatever the hell that means. 300 metre diver. We're stepping down to the second tier of Seiko Steve's insane collection, down to SPB and even Seiko 5. List price £1,000, but you can buy it today for £750, which I think is an incredible deal.
It's a very strange looking watch for a Seiko. I've never seen a Seiko like this before. It's not really my cup of tea, but I do appreciate that it is extremely well put together, as always from Seiko.
Specs and polish
6R55, a slightly updated 6R35, 21,600 beats an hour, 24 jewels, 72 hours of power reserve. 300 metres at SPB mid-tier level is a great thing. 41.3 mm wide, a really quite slim 12.5 mm thick, 48.2 lug to lug, 20 mm lugs, flat sapphire with internal AR. Seiko says it combines the qualities of a sports watch with the elegance of a dress watch. It looks and feels like a sporty dress piece. If that's what they were going for, they've nailed it.
They've blinged it up with loads of high polish, and unusually for Seiko, a polished centre link. It's not Zaratsu, but the difference is marginal.
The bezel I can't get over
They call it Polygonal. It's quite stiff, a bit slippy, with some coin edging and a bit of back play. I've been a bit ruined, because I've just had nine SLA Seikos in the last week to review. It's handsome. I am at odds with my own opinion here, because it does look really good. I just don't think I want one. Aqua Racer vibes, and I don't like any TAG watches. Maybe a little touch of Nautilus. It's definitely similar to the Shogun.
Cobalt blue dial, though: gorgeous. I've never seen a colour like that from Seiko. Three dial colours are available and this is the pick of the bunch. But the round date window at 4:30 is pointless and practically unreadable. You'd need an electron microscope. Beefy crown guards, a tiny unsigned 6.5 mm crown. Get rid of it.
Bracelet, clasp, lume
The bracelet is very good, apart from the high polish centre link, which will scratch. The clasp is the same one as on the 073 Cave Diver. What is your major malfunction, Mr. 6R clasp? My malfunction is that I scratch myself every time I open. Get rid of it. But it's an SPB, so I'm not going to hate on it too much. Lume: not too shabby. The SLAs are brighter, but the hands are brighter than the markers.
Verdict
It is smart. It is handsome. I do like it somewhat. I just don't like an octagon shaped bezel. It's not Seiko's fault. I like a round bezel. I would wear it to the office, but not to the beach. That's what's up, bros.
