SEIKODiver Automatic Orange Dial Men's Watch SKX011J1

I did a little research before buying this watch, my first Seiko. I have to say, it's been love at first sight. The case has such nice lines, and it's all so smooooth! The orange face is a matter of taste, but I happen to really love orange. I love the screw down crown, it has a rugged, well-built feel to it. Even the rubber strap, which I figured I would hate, I ended up keeping on the watch. It's not at all uncomfortable, and it looks bad ass. It's the watch I wear the most.

Excellent product very happy to my purchase

My wife bought my first Seiko automatic dive watch in 1985. I purchased a spare a few years later. They lasted (a rough life) until 2018. I gave up watches for about a month. I then investigated a new seiko. The price was lower then the original. Looking deeper it was a movement made in china. I opted for the Japanese movement. After 4 1/2 years of rough service I sent it back for a refresh and missed it the whole time. Keeps time as good as any mechanical watch and looks great. Handles all I can dish out day in day out.

Wonderful watch. The orange dial really pops, but because of this I don't consider this an everyday watch. The black or blue dials are more suited for that, but the 'Orange Boy' is perfect for those days you want to change things up a bit.It keeps time as accurately as I will ever need. The rubber strap is comfortable but a little more rigid than those on the Prospex series. I wish it had hand winding and didn't have the day/date complication, but I knew this when I bought it, so I can't take away a star. This is a really fun watch. Since they discontinued this series the prices have doubled from people rushing to join the SKX cult.

I had been thinking of buying an SKX007, but since I already have an SKX171 and an SRP307 Monster II, I had another look at this one.The bezel is fantastic. It is flush with the crystal. Gold hands and the yellow numbers are a nice change. The deep orange color stands out and makes the watch very easy to read in the daylight. Date with white background is also easy to read. But I find that a black face with white markers is easier to read in low light conditions.Lume is great; almost as good as my Seiko Monster II. The watch is significantly lighter than my Monster II with its metal bracelet. Honestly, the Monster's bracelet has no equal. But while I feel the Monster looks best, this one is lighter and more comfortable.This 22mm band is a little softer and more comfortable than Seiko 20mm bands (like on the SNE109). The loop really irritated my wrist, so I swapped the top with the bottom. I usually do this, and now it feels fine. Comfortable on the second day.I think a Seiko SKX171 or SKX007 classic at about $200 is the absolute best deal for a watch with this kind of style and quality. The SKX011 orange also belongs in your collection if you have an extra $300 to spend on another mechanical. Don't expect others to understand. It took me a year to get around to buying and appreciating this watch.*** If you are still reading, then here is my two cents on finding the perfect work watch:Five years ago, I started my search for the perfect everyday work watch. I was tired of wearing an ordinary digital watch and I wanted an easy to read, stylish analog. I started with the Seiko SNE107 solar, ended with the SKX007 mechanical, and bought the others in between -- plus a few more not mentioned here. If I knew then what I know now, my collection would likely be smaller.I want to tell you things that you can't get from a photo -- insights that you get after spending weeks with a watch on your wrist. I hope that by sharing my opinion and comparison of these fine watches, I can help you with your search for the perfect diver / work watch / "beater".I have come to appreciate the style and value of Seiko so I continued to buy them. I can't comment on other brands because there aren't any other brands in my collection.These are my favorite five:SKX007 Classic Black 7S26 movement with 40 hour power reserve. "The Classic" at top top of my list.Black face with white hour markers. Markers have a white outline. Thin patch of lume inside the white outline. Second hand is white, but the border of the hands is chrome. Easy to read the time in light and dark conditions. Easy to read date window with white background. Did I say easy to read both time AND date?Favorite things about this watch: Pure classic design and easy to read.SKX171 Steel & Black 7S26 movement with 40 hour power reserve.Black face with chrome hour markers. Markers have a chrome outline. They shine in direct light. They tend to look dull gray in photos. Thin patch of lume inside the chrome outline. Second hand is chrome, as are the borders of the hands. Black date window isn't easiest to read, but contributes to classic design of black & steel. Slightly aggressive steel bezel lends itself to a stainless bracelet.Favorite thing about this watch: Rugged classic design plus chrome.SKX011 Classic Orange 7S26 movement with 40 hour power reserve.Rich Orange face with white hour markers. Markers have a black outline. Thin patch of lume inside the black outline. Second hand is black and the hands are gold. Easy to read the time in bright conditions, less so in dark conditions. Easy to read date window with white background. You pay a premium for the orange and gold and I'm not sure why. But it certainly is nice to look at. I have read that the gold bezel begins to fade after many years of wear.Favorite thing about this watch: Classic design plus gold.SRP307 Monster II 4R36 movement with 42 hour power reserve. If you have a 7" or larger wrist, this one is worth every penny and belongs at the top of YOUR list. It is a bit large and flashy for me to wear regularly. Manually windable, hackable, and has a nice domed crystal. The hour markers have a chrome border and the hands are white. The hour markers are also available with a red border. Very easy to read and the lume is more white, unlike the greenish tint of the 1st generation. Honestly, the Monster's stainless bracelet has no equal. Plus it has a divers extension. The date window is black to maintain the black & stainless style. Also consider the SRP581 black/blue. Believe it or not, in 2017 there is now a Monster III.Favorite things about this watch: Bold, unique design. Manually windable.SNE107P2 Solar Diver -- Solar quartz movement with healthy 10 month power reserve. Inexpensive beater watch.Rechargeable battery will last up to 20 years if charged regularly. Just place in a window sill a few times per year if necessary. Black (also radiant in direct light), face with plain white hour markers. There are thick mounds of lume applied to the markers which may or may not be centered. This could be a deal breaker for some. This lume is certainly bright in the dark, and the hour markers are white while indoors, but in the daylight, the lume takes on a dull yellow tint that some may not like. This effect is not noticeable in the other divers. By my observations, this is because the lume is thinner and light can pass through, or because black or chrome borders provide contrast that hides the effect. Second hand is white, as are the borders of the hands. All this white makes it easy to read, but date window has black background -- not as easy to read as a white background. "Starfish" stainless bezel is wider, more flashy, and produces more glare than the classic design of the '007 or '171. Seiko 20mm rubber strap isn't as soft as the 22mm strap that comes with the mechanicals. This model has drilled lugs for easy strap changes. This watches brother, the SNE109, comes with an orange face -- a light shade of orange that reminds me of an orange push-up.Favorite thing about this watch: Easy to read.Any watch that I said has a black face actually has a dark gray face. At first glance they may appear black. But when I saw a friend's Rolex and compared it to my Seiko, I realized what black really looks like.All of these dive watches have excellent lume visible for hours. The lume in the Monster II and the SNE107 seems to be a tiny bit better. But they are all visible long into the night. The Monster II and the SNE107 are also especially easy to read at a glance because of the white markers AND white hands.All of these are mechanical except for the SNE107 which is solar powered. Seiko solar is accurate and reliable, but the mechanicals have character despite their short power reserve and relative inaccuracy. The mechanicals need to be set at least monthly and, of course, when they've stopped after 40 hours off the wrist. The solar only needs to be set a couple of times per year, and the date corrected on short months.The photos on Amazon are rarely as good as they could be. Some are blurry stock photos that could never help to sell a product. Always look at several photos from the Internet before making your choice. Then read the watch enthusiast sites..If you are worried that you may be buying a second-rate or gray-market Seiko, just make sure you buy one that is Prime with the 30-day free return option.Often, Seikos bought or sourced from Japan will have a weird "only valid in Japan" warranty slip.-----Anti-squeak Tip: Some of my rubber strap watches developed an annoying squeak. One was caused by a squeaky spring bar, and the other by the bar squeaking against the strap hole. Sil-Glyde silicone lube is the perfect solution to this. It is harmless to rubber and metal. Take out your spring bars and work some into the ends. Leave some on the bar so it will slide in easy and stay lubed in the strap hole. Problem solved in 10 minutes.-----Strap tip: Try it upside down. My rubber and leather straps usually felt uncomfortable and inched their way around my wrist. Annoying. So I tried it upside down and these problems disappeared. My watches stay put better and the keeper isn't bunched up at the bottom of my wrist. Easy to try -- just wear it upside down for a little while and you'll know if you need to make the change.-----Mechanical watch accuracy tip: wind it up and wear it until bedtime.People have complained that their mechanical watches are unreliable because they are +2 seconds one day and -5 other days. I have also read on many watch forums that these people need to get used to their mechanical watch. How does one get used to a machine?I took some time to analyze a few of my 7s26 Seiko watches and I believe I have figured this out. All I had to do was to make sure the watch was fully wound, check my watch against a reliable clock once a day, and remember how much of the day I had my watch on. I made a game of not having to reset my watch for weeks.I believe that the Seiko developers tuned their reliable (but not perfect) 7s26 movement for the average person: one who wears it all day and takes it off in the evening. Many have noted that their 7s26 runs fast out of the box. Most of mine do too. I made a graph of this for a couple of watches. They gain in the beginning, slow as they use the power reserve, and slow even more five hours after the rated 40 hours power reserve runs out.By the way, this bonus five hours is not really a benefit. If you fail to "swing wind" your dead watch for at least 30 seconds, it may even stop running while in this weakened state, only to start up again 10 minutes later and 10 minutes slow.Basically, I have noted the following: A fully wound watch will gain a little, and when about 1/5 of the power reserve is used, it begins to loose a little. Keep it in and out of this "sweet spot" and your watch will stay accurate for weeks.I believe that the majority of people whose Seiko "runs fast out of the box" will find this is true. The rest, who either don't wear it every day, or whos watch runs at a different rate, don't care. But I had fun making a game of it just this once. And I never fiddle with positional variation. I always place it crown-up -- like the average person.Good luck,-Chris

While I have had it only two weeks it fully meets my expectations keeping excellent time so far and matches my old Seiko #5H26-7A10 (quartz) diver which I got in 1990, I had an orange face (easy to see underwater as orange is one of the last colors to lose its original color at depth and becomes light colored) put on it in 1994 and it probably has 300 + hours underwater time but has seen better days and needed to be relumined. Having had Zodiac, Seiko, Rolex, Casio and Luminox dive watches over 35 years of diving I wanted to go back to the old style heavy duty Seiko diver which was "King" of dive watches back in the day and this does just that. I got an auto because getting a new battery every 2-3 years gets old and the watch has to be rewaterproofed if you are going to dive with it again. I like the Japanese 21 jewel movement which is proven and time tested. I also got the heavy duty Seiko issue Jubilee band to dress it up and it is very comfortable on my wrist. My diving days are over now but I have this watch to remind me of dive trips of the past. A little more expensive than the others in the SKX series (never did like the red/blue "Pepsi " bezel or black face) but it's so retro and in ORANGE !Here's an update. After wearing it for over 4 weeks the accuracy is spot on ! While this watch does not have a "hack" feature to set the second hand every time I check it against my atomic clock on the wall or cell phone I can't tell if I have gained/lost time after the initial setting when I first put it on my wrist. For a mechanical watch that's excellent accuracy.

This watch worked well for a few weeks and then I noticed it running a few minutes slow so I reset it. A few days later it was running even slower. Now it seems like I have to adjust the time every 3 days or so