My first attempt at writing a brief review. Just had this watch for 4 days. Before I begin, my apology for the lousy iPhone photos. This review ws written on a lazy Friday morning in office.
Specifications:Case : Stainless steel with black hard coating
Glass : Dual curve box shaped sapphire crystal with **super-clear coating on inner surface
Band : Extra-strength silicon
Water resistance : 10 bar
Magnetic resistance : 4,800 A/m
Case diameter : 48.0mm, thickness – 18.1mm
Caliber: GPS Solar 7X52
-GPS controlled time and time zone adjustment
-Perpetual calendar correct to February 2100
-Signal reception result indication
-World time function (39 Time Zones)
-Daylight Saving Time function
-Power save function
**Super-Clear Coating - Seiko’s proprietary newly-developed anti-reflective coating, applied on both the front and back of the glass. It prevents 99% of light reflection and allows the dial to be easily legible, even in bright light.
General Appearance :First impression of the watch is that it is very solid and bulky. This is a stainless steel version weighing in at 138g. It has Seiko’s own “black hard coating” similar to PVD on the casing and deployant buckle and catcher. It is a big watch at 48mm and the thickness of 18.1mm does intimidate some wearers. However, the downward slope lugs do help it wear square on the wrist. I would say someone with smaller than 7” wrist would not find it appealing or easy to wear. Having said that after some extended wearing, I can still feel the weight on the wrist.
The next interesting feature of the watch’s appearance is the sapphire glass itself which is modelled after the earth’s stratosphere which curved entirely over the case eliminating the need for a bezel. Seiko claims that the glass is made in-house and the process took over 10 hours of polishing to achieve the shape and curvature.
With its thickness, it creates an interesting 3D effect when viewing the dial. There is certainly quite a depth from the glass to the dial. Markers are raised quite a bit to accentuate the 3D effects and are shaped in such a way to give further depth and structure.
The SBXA033 has blue lumibrite markers with the 3,6,9 & 12 having additional markers which look white in daylight but give orange luminous. The hands also have the orange lumibrite.
The band/strap is again Seiko’ own claiming it to be “extra strength silicone”. It is very soft and gives a nice feeling on the skin when worn unlike typical silicone strap which give a “sticky” feel. It doesn’t attract dust or lint as much compared to the typical silicone.
The dial itself is a solar panel to provide power and charging. On this model, a world map is incorporated with its centre being the Arctic which help to identify and associate the different time zones. At the edge of the dial, different time zones are marked in 1 hr increment with UTC at 12. Key cities with the relevant time zone are also marked further to the edge almost to the side of the watch.
There is a sub dial at 6 which allow you to set to a second time zone independently. At 10, there is an indicator dial to provide various information. Under normal time keeping mode, the marker will point between E and F to show the power reserve. Using the same indicator, information such as whether airplane mode is on/off as well as DST is on/off. When synchronising time, there is indicator whether 1 or 4+ satellites are locked onto. Will explain more on this later.
Functions :The watch is quite easy to use. Synchronising it for the first time is done very smoothly and without hassle. When I received the watch, it was set to Tokyo time and in airplane mode. While in airplane mode, the time keeping mode is still on (i.e. showing Tokyo time) but the indicator at 10 will just show the marker pointing to the airplane sign. To reset the airplane mode, I just need to press the button at 10 once and then press the button at 5 and hold for 3 secs which will on the GPS mode and the marker on the indicator will move from airplane sign to the “ON” sign briefly before goes to F which indicate power is full. To synchronise to local time zone, I need to be outdoor with clear sky if possible and press and hold the button at 2 for 6 secs. The second hand will move to the 30 sec position briefly before it starts to search for satellites. The second hand will start to move along the dial once it acquires satellite(s). You will know how many satellites by its position. At 1 means 1 satellite, at 2 means 2 satellites and so on. To be able to locate your location and thus the time zone you are in, it will need to lock onto at least 4 satellites. While all this is going, the indicator at 10 will have the marker move to the 4+ position to indicate the watch trying to determine your time zone. Once successful, the second hand will move to 13 sec position which is also marked with a small “Y” indicating yes. If failure to determine your location for whatever reason, the second hand will move to 18 sec position marked with a small “N” meaning no.
To maintain accuracy, the watch will try to synchronise itself once a day whenever it determine that you are outdoor and the sunlight is strong enough. I noticed that this happened every morning when I depart for work as I walk to my car in my yard. In this case, it is actually just trying to synchronise the time without determining your time zone. To do this, it will just need to acquire 1 satellite only. You will know this happening when the second hand moves itself to 60 sec position briefly, the indicator at 10 will have the marker move to 1. The watch will start acquiring satellite and when it locks onto one, the second hand will move to 1 position and when successfully synchronised the second hand which move the 13 sec position with the “Y” sign to confirm. You can also do this manually, unlike searching for time zone, I will need to press the button at 2 for 3 secs until the second hand move to 60sec position. The watch shows the same indications (marker, dial, hands etc) as explained above during auto synchronisation.
Another cool feature is, as the hands particularly the second hand & marker are used for various features, there is possibility that they will be misaligned. This can also happened if one drops or knocks the watch. It has a self alignment feature which it does so automatically. The second hand will align itself every minute while the hour and minute hands at 12:00AM or PM twice a day. If misalignment still persists, one can manually do so via a procedure involving multiple buttons presses explained in length in the detailed manual. There is also possibility of interference which cause the watch to behave abnormally which requiring resetting the IC which is also explained in the manual.
Also besides the indicator on power reserve, one can also be notified of the low power status by the movement of the second hand. When power is low i.e. marker indicating E, the second hand will move every 2 secs and in extreme low power situation it will move every 5 secs.
The watch also has built-in power saving modes in 2 stages. Power Save Mode 1 - If the watch does not receive sunlight to charge for more than 72hrs, it will stop the hands with the second hand stops at 15 sec position. It will restart the moment light is received. Power Save Mode 2 – when power is very low at E level for too long, the watch will stop and the second hand stops at 45 sec position. It will only restart when charging until at least half full (i.e. between E & F). Memory of last settings would have lost and the watch needs to be synchronised again.
Lastly, one can always check the status of the watch on various setting by single press on relevant button. To check whether DST is set, press button at 10 once and the indicator marker will show whether DST is on/off – see photo below.
Pressing the button at 2 once, will bring up the last synchronisation done (the indicator which show either it is time setting only or time zone setting by pointing to 1 or 4+ and the second hand will show whether it was successful or not – Y or N) – see photo below.
Pressing button at 5 will show you your current time zone setting – the second hand will point to UTC+?, in my case, it is pointing to 8+ which is BJS showing Beijing time which is same as KL – see photo below.
That's all for now and sorry for the longwinded review, guess I was carried away...
