So watches and photography, an intersection of 2 things I love – and 2 things I haven’t paid attention to for a long time.
In 2006 I started my watch journey with a pair of automatic glass backed Seiko 5 watches (his and hers, aww so sweet) and not long after that in 2007 I went for a really gorgeous Seiko SNFK11K – also automatic.
I posted about that one – Seiko Resistance IS Futile – SNFK11K Automatic Watch.
And well, that’s kinda where I ended it with watches for a while – I had a couple of G-shocks (GDF100-1A) and I got a watch for my wedding (Tissot PRC100 Titanium) which I don’t wear that much.
Which is sad, because there are a couple of Tissot watches on my wish list (I LOVE the Visodate).
So ya sometime last year, I started a watch wish list ranging from “Ok I can afford that this decade” to “OMG I need to sell a kidney” kinda price.
The top watch on the list was the Seiko Sportura Perpetual Kinetic SNP055P2, which after some research I decided was ever so slightly too casual and just by chance I found Seiko has almost the same watch in their ‘Premier’ collection which comes with a fancy clippy watch strap (security clasp like metal bracelets) the SNP023P1.
My birthday was coming up, and I decided to get it for myself as basically since Liam has been born I haven’t really bought myself anything worth mentioning.
I was torn between two models initially, basically the same watch with a black face or a white face.
After some reading (the general consensus is white face is more versatile, casual and also smart) and I was just drawn more to the white face with the brown strap as that’s the look that attracted me to the SNP055P2 in the first place (brown strap black face).
I then faced the problem of finding one, as it’s no longer in production and most people don’t keep enough stock to have this kind of watch on hand – but I did manage to find it on Bodying.my here. So boom, here it is!
The reason I was drawn to this series in the first place is my 2 main problems with Analogue watches, automatic watches stop working if you don’t wear them for a little while (most have a reserve for less than a week) and adjusting the date (February every year, leap years etc) which is really annoying and slow on most watches and if the date is wrong I can’t wear them..so I don’t wear them – which is silly I know.
With 232 parts, which is almost the same number as other high-class mechanical chronograph watches, and the world’s smallest ultra-sonic motor, just 0.4 mm thick, the Kinetic Perpetual caliber sets a new standard in Perpetual Calendar watches. The Kinetic movement operates at 100,000 rpm – quite crazy!
The Seiko Kinetic Perpetual series solves all of the problems I have with analogue watches, the date will be correct until the year 2100 and fully charged the watch can store enough power to know what time/date it is for 4 years – which is a long time. No battery changes too.
I just love the technology of it too, if you don’t wear it for 24 hours the hands stop moving, but the date still keeps moving – so when you pick it up the date is right and the watch hands move around until they reach back the correct time. It’s so cool to see it do that!
It has all the stuff I want too (bar day of the week) – day, month, leapyear and a bonus 24 hour time dial (in case I forgot if it’s day or night).
Here’s the fancy security clasp strap, love it! No more buckling and unbuckling (that kinda annoyed me the last time I went for a leather strap haha). I prefer the look of leather straps, but the utility of metal bracelets – this is a nice combination of the two.
And yah, it’s a good looking strap too!
The month and leap year indicator is combined into one dial, the pointed hand shows the current month and the rounded end shows the leap year (status) with right now being +3 that means next year (2016) is a leap year.
This remarkable calendar is also governed by a photo sensor, which recognizes a certain mark on each gear and judges, and corrects the date, day, month and year, including February of leap years.
Seriously the tech inside this watch, is truly impressive.
I am happy! Fairly happy with the pictures too, forgot how hard watch photography was (all those reflective surfaces!).
Happy birthday to me!
That leap year function is way cool, also the watch will probably be way too big for my wrist..
Yah super cool for a mechanical watch.
42mm not too huge, but quite large.