Seiko 5 Sports “Sports Style” 1969 Silver Ref. SBSA217

Seiko made its first watch in 1913, and 50 years later, Seiko 5 was born in 1963. In its long history, Seiko 5 has won respect, affection, and loyalty of young people from all around the world. Seiko 5 Sports offers a new opportunity to feel the spirit of the active and innovative design of that time. Seiko set out to build a watch with five attributes, from which the watch gets its name: a self-winding automatic movement, resistance to water, a day-date in a single window, a recessed crown, and a durable case.

Seiko has long offered their extremely reliable yet affordable Seiko 5 sports collection, especially the SKX diver line for us watch enthusiasts who want to get our hands-on with true mechanical horology at a pocket-friendly price, and boy do they caught on since 1963. However, Seiko’s decided its time to end the long-running SKX sports models recently, and that caused serious commotion among us and its daunting. Until recently…

Today, the Seiko 5 Sports legacy has returned, and their back with some major upgrades while staying true to their design roots. Seiko has relaunched the line-up with the same affordability and even tougher built.

Before we get into the new Seiko 5 Sports line-up, we are excited to informed you Seiko enthusiasts that this whole new collection are available as JDM (Japan Domestic models)! These JDM collection is denoted with the "MADE IN JAPAN" at 6 on the dial. And good news are that we at Gnomon provides these JDMs Seiko 5 Sports for all of you.

The Seiko 5 Sports “Sports Style” 1969 Silver Ref. SBSA217 is one of the most unique Seiko 5 re-issue design language watch among the rest. If the Submariner is the iconic luxury diver of the modern era then the sixties Sportsmatic is the affordable quintessential. Staying through to its undisputed "starter" watch for every budding mechanical watch collector. And that's what makes is so desirable even for seasoned watch collectors. Well known for its robust built and classic design.

The Seiko 5 Sports “Sports Style” for the first time since its Skx days, features an open back and now powered by Seiko's automatic caliber, 4R36, operating at 21,600 BPH (3 Hertz) with hacking and hand winding capabilities. It has 24 jewels with a power reserve of 40 hours. This is a major upgrade from the previous 7S26 non-hacking and winding caliber that used for the old SKX007J1. You know what, since this JDM model features the day/date display, one can self-select the day display to Japanese kanji characters, or in English.

It still holds a 100m water resistant stainless steel tonneau-shaped case measuring at 42mm wide without the crown, a lug to lug length of only 46mm, and a height of about 13.4mm, with a lug width of 22mm. The whole dimension and case design are based off the classic SKX diver silhouette, thus moreover the lugs to lugs length mean this watch wraps around the wrist on all(small or big) wrist sizes like a glove making it extremely comfortable.

The bezel is aluminum and has monochromatic markings printed on it, just like the original sixties Sportsmatic. It rotates buttery smooth into 120 positions has little to no free play in a clockwise direction. Sitting atop of the bezel is Seiko’s Hardlex. The mixture of satin brush and Seiko high polishing on the sides can be seen on the whole watch.

The avant-garde vivid color and high functionality are the highlight of this watch. The fresh sunburst silver dial reflects almost an identical makeover; retro yet still utilitarian. Like for instant, the dial has matching silver peripheral minute track and the applied hour indices treated with Lumibrite in tandem with the handset. Almost identical to the 1968 Sportsmatic,the day and date window uses a very similar frame to the original. The central seconds hand is vibrant orange, consecrated with the blue “Automatic” text located at the bottom, of which can be found on the original sixties model.

Topping off the watch is its 22mm retro steel bracelet with three-fold clasp and push-button release. Its design completes the whole tribute package, while befitting its tonneau-shaped case.

The Seiko’s revival of the Seiko 5 Sports has repetitively filled the void of affordable and reliable mechanical timepiece in the market successfully. The  sixties tribute Seiko 5 Sports “Sports Style” is probably one of the most iconic shirts watches in the history of Seiko watches. While retaining the retro atmosphere of the archive model, this Seiko 5 Sports has a distinctive design and functionality suitable for modern times by adopting a highly practical SKX case.

Given its cult status and price, it’s re-born status definitely good news and is once again available for all of us with the intention is to own a piece of dive watch history or to have a “go-anywhere, do-anything” watch that packs extraordinary value.