Well, ever since these Seiko Kinetic Chronographs came out in I believe 2000, Iā??ve admired them with a bit of both amusement and bewilderment. Short of a Halter Barnes design, there really arenā??t many watches that look anything like them. Somehow they manage to be hideous, beautiful, highly engineered and overly jewelry-like all at the same time.
At $500 dollars or so, I probably would have bought one years ago, but unfortunately, theyā??re much more expensive than that and I just sort of admired/laughed at them from afar.
The introduction of the new US available kinetic chronographs recently renewed my interest in this genre, and when I saw the Japanese versions with the conventional lugs, I thought to myself, ā??nowā??s the time to jump in.ā?
As the funds started to become available, I began to have second thoughts. It wasnā??t that I didnā??t like the SBDV models, it was just that I knew that after having owned it for a short time, the lack of an hour counter would disappoint me. I love the retrograde display on that SBDV model, but it only counts to 45 minutes. When I have a chronograph on, I use it frequently and like to have an indicator of elapsed hours as well as minutes. Besides, I knew that Iā??d be selling a chronograph with an hour counter to fund this purchase, and I didnā??t want to lose that functionality.
ā??Hmmnnnā?¦.those SQL kinetics with the 9T82 movements can count the hours.ā? I thought to myself! With that, all interest in the SBDV model disappeared and my brain clamped on to the thought of actually getting one of those 9T kinetics.
Thus began the best part of any watch purchase. Searching and learning about the watches through internet browsing. While the 9T series kinetic chronographs are widely available through Ebay and other popular Asian dealers, the prices are pretty stagnant in that I never really could find a bargain. From what I could gather, although there have been a number of 9T82 watches made, Seiko currently only sells 3 versions of the 9T based kinetic chronographs under the Sportura line. Visually, all 3 are pretty similar and I didnā??t have an overpowering preference for a particular model so I waited patiently for the right price on any of the models from the right seller.
Well a couple of weeks ago it all fell together, and of course, I couldnā??t be happier.
So whatā??s it like?
First of all, this one has a significant amount of presence on the wrist. Itā??s not really the size (42mm across) but more the amount of steel that you see on the face and the bracelet. I can honestly say that Iā??ve never before noticed people looking at my wrist so often as I have when wearing this thing. I wore it today, and spent all day trying to cover it up with my sleeve. It wasnā??t that the watch wouldnā??t fit under my sleeve, itā??s just that because itā??s so sleek, my sleeve would just slide right back over it.
All that steel is both good and bad. Looking at the dial really gives you a feeling of high tech engineering in a Rube Goldberg sort of way, but as the eye follows the line, you get to the bracelet and all of the sudden the steel can get a bit overpowering. The mirror finish on the center links is highly polished and can sort of attract attention away from the dial. This I donā??t like and Iā??m already thinking about making an attempt to brush out the shiny areas to tone down the bracelet.
Surprisingly, the integrated construction doesnā??t bother me. I am not a fan of integrated bracelets as I think they tend to make watches look more like jewelry than watches, but the integrated concept seems to work well here. Itā??s just the shininess that bothers me.
Otherwise the quality on the bracelet is first rate. Itā??s super solid throughout, and all the parts of the clasp, both visible and not visible show a very high level of finishing and design. Nothing stamped or cheap looking on this one.
As I said, itā??s the dial thatā??s the fun part of this watch. All together, there are 5 little sapphire crystals protecting 7 hands and a date window on this machine.
The counter on the left rotates once per second in rapid continuous fashion. Unlike the 7A28 1/10 second counter, this one never stops running after a set period. (Is it 10 minutes on the 7A?) Itā??s always racing around its little circle.
The second counter at the top is impressive in that when actuated, the hand travels across the dial in as smooth a manner as Iā??ve ever seen on any watch. Itā??s certainly smoother than any mechanical second hand Iā??ve ever seen and is comparable to what you see on an electric watch. It just floats through the rotation.
The right counter contains the minute and hour counters just like the vintage 7016ā??s. Minutes are counted with a red hand while the hours are indicated in white. Because this is the dial that I look at the most when running the chronograph, Iā??d prefer that it was larger. It would have been nice if Seiko could have switched the location of this dial with the larger, centrally located second counter.
Beneath the minute/hour counter is what Iā??d guess to be the smallest domed sapphire crystal on any watch ever made. All the other crystals are flat, but this one is domed to magnify the date window. Unfortunately, because itā??s domed, you canā??t help but have a constant glare on it making it a bit difficult to quickly read the date.
Finally at the bottom is the time window. The second hand on this one (dead on at every marker on the dial) jumps at one second intervals and the minute and hour hands have luminova inserts. The 12/3/6/9 markers are applied steel.
The fonts on the date display and all the chronograph counters are identical while the 12 and 6 indicators on the time dial are slightly different. Iā??m glad Seiko kept it simple here. Look around at other chronographs. Sometimes youā??ll see more different font types than you can count on a hand. Aesthetically, this always bugs me, and Seiko couldā??ve created a real circus look here had they used different fonts on every dial.
The crown (not signed) has a very precise very IWC like feel to itā??s screw in feel. Itā??s easily the best screw in crown Iā??ve ever encountered on a Seiko.
The movement on this one is a real visual treat. Seiko decorates this thing like itā??s a Grand Seiko. Looking through a loupe, I canā??t find anything to criticize about the finishing. All edges and jewel settings are perfectly beveled, polished and totally uniform. Like the true high end Swiss movements, everything is bright and shiny. Screw settings are countersunk, polished and equally nice. Short of the JLCā??s that I own(ed), I donā??t think Iā??ve ever had a movement that looked as nice as this one when viewed under a 10x loupe. Unfortunately most of the movement hides under a Ā¾ type plate under the rotor, so I canā??t get a look at the gears to see how well theyā??re finished.
The 9T has a 30 day power reserve if the stopwatch is used less than 3 hours per day. However, running the chronograph however can drastically alter the reserve as apparently, according to Seiko, the power requirement is increased 10x when the chronograph is engaged. Unfortunately unlike other Seiko Kinetic movements, with the exception of the 2 second low power indicator, there is no way to gauge the reserve on the Kinetic Chronographs.
