PADI Shogurai: a swamp donkey of a ticker in emerald green, and I love it
Behold the Shogurai
Look at the state of this wrist clock. The SRPL53K1, the mini Samurai PADI Shogurai, a 2025 special edition for the 60th anniversary, in Green Lagoon. Unreal, bros. Courtesy of Seiko Steve, the king of Seiko, the lord of Japan. List price £560, available now for around £450.
PADI is the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, founded in 1966. Seiko first joined forces with them in 2016, and I think they've collaborated on over 20 twerps, all with the PADI logo on the dial.
The specs
Inside is the 4R35. Rugged, dependable, reliable. A swamp donkey of a ticker. Minus 35 to plus 45 seconds a day, but who cares, right? It'll run for a thousand years in a paint shaker. 41 hours, hacks, hand-winds. 41.7 mm across, call it 42. 12.3 thick, call it 13. 49.5 lug to lug, 20 mm lugs tapering to 18 at the clasp. 200 metres. A flat Hardlex crystal with AR on the underside, a screw-down crown at three, and a 120-click unidirectional aluminium bezel with a shrouded pip.
Misaligned and proud
A wonderfully misaligned chapter ring, which I think is excellent. I particularly like a misaligned chapter ring. The bezel doesn't quite line up either, but that's normal behaviour. I do like a misaligned twerp. It's for the beach.
This emerald green graduation dial is a sight to be seen. Inspired by shimmering light and the rippling surface from underwater. It is rad. Spear-tip hour hand, needle-tipped arrow seconds hand, full-loom sawtooth indices. The comfortability matrix is beyond thunderdome.
Samurai, Shogun, Sumo
The Samurai, the Shogun and the Sumo are the three Seiko twerps that take no design cues from heritage divers. I love all three, particularly the Shogun, which was fantastic, but nobody bought it, so they stopped making it. The Shogurai takes the steep angled lugs from the Shogun, and the crown guards and three o'clock crown from the Samurai. A much smaller version of the Samurai, and they've got rid of the thing I didn't like on it.
Bracelet, clasp, crown
The bracelet is all brushed, pin and collar, and you don't need to upgrade to a Strapcode because it is basically a Strapcode. A little bit of rattle. No polishing anywhere except the undercut. The bezel action is pretty solid for a 4R. I'm not a big fan of the crown knurling. It's not as good as coin edging and it runs a bit dry.
The clasp is a tinfoil stamped piece of rubbish with a twin-trigger dual deploy fold-over and four micros. But the diver's extension is very good. I do like that.
Verdict
I know I slack them off and make fun of them, but I like this little clock. I love this little watch. I think it's great. If you could pick one up for £450, £400, it looks good, doesn't it? It's no Sumo. The Hulk is king. But the brushwork is exceptional, the loom is great, and for a 4R it's not bad at all. Is Seiko just the best thing ever? Do we love them? I love them. Never give up.
