Seiko SRPC53K1 Watch Review - Seiko Samurai Alternative?

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Case

The Seiko SRPC53 is housed in a really interesting curved solid 316L stainless steel case with larger dimensions of 44MM x 50mm x 13.3MM. The case almost slightly reminds me of the twisted Omega Speedmaster lugs, but not 1:1. Overall, the brushing is very neat on the sides while the lug tops contain a high polish for some nice contrast. When on wrist, it certainly pops straight out at you when reading the time due to its’ case shape. The caseback itself is screwed down whilst the crown is pull and push giving us 100 Meters of water resistance. This watch definitely is not a true dive watch but one that can be used to swim, shower, and pretty much any other water activity besides deep diving. A nice feature is the exhinition caseback which shows off the Seiko 4R36 automatic movement.

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Dial

The matte black dial is clean, crisp, and legible at every angle. A flat hardlex crystal sitting om top of it does insure that as well. The actual layout of the hands and applied lumed markers are quite similiar to the Seiko Samurai which was released to the public over a year ago. All in all, everything is proportioned well, and seems to be in place without too much clutter. Now, the lume is not as bright as Seiko Lumibrite but I would say it is somewhat on the level of C3 SuperLuminova.

Movement

Inside this watch resides the seiko 4R36 automatic movement. We do get a nice day and date feature at the 3:00 position which is quite legible and even contains a black wheel to match the dial color. Essentially, this is an NH35 with a day functiom. Some positives include hand winding. hacking, and a 40 hour power reserve along with 24 jewels. It is also fairly accurate, losing around four seconds a day on my iteration.

Bracelet

The bracelet is a typical Seiko 5 oyster style bracelet. They are not the highest quality with rather flat links and zero curvature, but there are some positives. The actual bracelet is comfortable and easily adjustable with pins and does feature a decent ammount of micro adjustments to insure a perfect fit. Also, there is no dive extension which is a positive for me because those things always hurt my wrist for some reason and allow the bracelet to sit high and awkward clasp side. Other than that, it is definitely useable and functional.

Conclusion

Furthermore, the SRPC53 certainly contains DNA from the Seiko Samurai and Seiko Monster models which are priced a bit higher. If you are in the market for one of those, or just cannot stand to pay such a high price to obtain one - the SRPC53 is definitely a contendor and will satisfy your needs in my opinion.