Seiko 5 is a watch line synonymous with getting into the watch interest. It is stuffed with dependable, reasonably priced, and rugged automated watches. They’re the epitome of what makes Seiko some of the important watch producers on the earth and have lengthy been a default selection for an entry-level mechanical timepiece. My first mechanical watch was a Seiko 5 SNZG11. Not too long ago, I had it restored.
The Seiko 5 gateway drug
My first foray into the world of mechanical watches was the Seiko 5 SNZG11. I had obtained the watch as a present from my father. I can nonetheless bear in mind the enjoyment and surprise I felt once I seemed on the show case again and noticed the mechanical rotor wobble and produce the Seiko 7S26 caliber to life. I’ve featured this Seiko 5 on Fratello earlier than in its unrestored type.
Up till that time (2013), I had not been into watches — in no way. They’d at all times been one thing my father was into, and my grandfather, who was born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, owned and cherished IWC watches (his Caliber 89 has come into my mom’s possession). Earlier than leaving Sydney to take a brand new job as a reporter in Asia, my dad gifted me a mechanical Seiko watch to be my timekeeping companion. That watch was this Seiko 5 SNZG11(J1).
A Seiko for all times’s adventures
On the flight to Bangkok (after which to Chiang Mai), I bear in mind casting my eyes over this blue-dialed watch with Arabic numerals and sporty textual content. One thing was reassuring concerning the metallic heft of the watch. I additionally bear in mind noticing the sound of the winding rotor wobbling. It was my first time seeing, listening to, and experiencing a mechanical watch motion actually in movement. It was a curiosity!
The watch went on to accompany me on an extremely adventurous time working as a journalist in Southeast Asia, with a quick stint in China. I’d put on that watch day by day of what ended up being a year-long journey. My Seiko 5 was a watch that stayed out of the way in which, wasn’t too blingy, and offered me the time once I wanted it.
A worthy companion
The Seiko 5 proved to be extremely helpful in my day-to-day work. Its mechanical caliber was a helpful characteristic on longer journeys as a result of the kinetic vitality of the motion of my arm was all that was essential to hold the watch going. The 100m water resistance was additionally a welcome characteristic for any sudden river crossings whereas chasing a narrative or accessing areas with no electrical energy and humidity that blankets you want a sodden presence.
The Seiko 5 would go on to accompany me on some very tough and, at occasions, harmful journeys. It by no means faltered or failed till the final month of my journey. It confronted tough situations, together with a harsh local weather!
The unfortunate river crossing
It was one October day when my Seiko 5 got here near being destroyed altogether. I used to be crossing a river, sure by heavy jungle on both facet, as a part of overlaying a narrative in a distant space within the mountains. There have been a number of river crossings concerned, and although bodily arduous, the primary two went with none actual hiccups. The third river crossing, nevertheless, was not so easy.
It wasn’t the biggest river I needed to cross that day, but it surely was the trickiest. Shallower than the earlier two rivers, it had a quicker and extra highly effective present. We had been crossing at a degree the place the river narrowed, primarily funneling water by means of at a fair quicker price. Underneath the water, the river mattress was notably rocky and unstable. It absorbed all of my consideration, and I couldn’t hear the cries of certainly one of our guides over the sound of the speeding water earlier than it was too late. Within the nook of my eye, I noticed an orange mass. Mistaking it for some giant piece of low-hanging fruit, I didn’t give it an excessive amount of consideration.
The dent left from that day within the jungle
An emergency strip
Then, earlier than I knew it, I used to be lined in giant, crimson ants. I used to be being bitten, and it was excruciating. Shortly, our crew needed to strip me down. I had barrelled right into a swarm of leafcutter ants. Whereas a leafcutter ant’s chunk is just not notably sturdy, it’s extremely painful due to the presence of formic acid, a pure insecticide the ant makes use of to guard itself.
IDP Faculty, Karen State
Inside maybe 20 seconds, I had stripped, however within the commotion and the flurry of occasions, I managed to swing my arm laborious towards a rock protruding out of the river mattress. A backside chunk of the Seiko 5’s case was primarily flattened by the affect, leaving a sizeable dent. The watch stored ticking however was wildly out of time. Once I returned to base, I positioned the Seiko in a drawer with the intention of getting it mounted on my subsequent project in Bangkok. Sadly, for numerous causes, I by no means bought round to it.
The work required
A number of months in the past, I lastly adopted by means of on one thing I ought to have achieved years in the past and despatched the Seiko to a specialised watchmaker for an overhaul. This got here with directions to maintain all of the dents and scratches intact.
The watch was away for a few months; this explicit watchmaker will get very busy as a result of there aren’t many within the space the place I dwell. Fortunately, once I lastly bought the decision that the watch was able to be despatched again, I used to be instructed that all the things was now in good order. Some elements had been broken within the collision with the rock and had wanted to get replaced. However the watchmaker instructed me that the watch was again to life and was protecting higher time than ever earlier than.
Concluding ideas
Now, the Seiko 5 has returned to me, and certainly, it retains unimaginable time (now being higher regulated than when it left the manufacturing facility). I plan on sporting it extra typically because it’s a watch with unimaginable sentimental worth to me.
What about you, Fratelli? Are there any notably sentimental watches in your assortment? I’d like to learn a few of these tales within the feedback part.
