Seiko 4r37-00B0 - SSA003K. Some people call it the "cyclops" or "Wazowski" due the to subregister. Not me though. "Slide rule 4R37" will do for now, until someone really hits a corker of a nickname for this baby.
Overview
Three words you're going to read a lot:
elegant, restrained, classy. Other words as well but those might be seen a lot.
The watch is breathtaking out of the box - I got everything - all boxes, tags, receipt, warranty card and everything. The one I got is brand-new from K2 in Singapore, and for some reason it came with the bracelet rather than the advertized rubber strap, which is OK by me.
The watch just oozes quality - opening the white box with its black velvet interior, the watch appeared like a jewel. It's an extremely clean design, very restrained and elegant. It is an assembly of simple intersecting lines and curves, with nothing extra. Every angle shows this. The mix of black and silver/stainless is excellent and works perfectly with the simple geometry of the case, dial and bezel. The shape and profile are simple, clean - especially so for the coin-edge bezel, across its surface to the matching curved surface of the flush crystal - in profile the watch is very restrained. It has the classic Seiko stylings - the mix of polish and circular brushing is especially lovely.
CASE:The watch is large. It's a biggie, and it wears big. The effect is minimized somewhat by the two-tone bezel, but since the bezel itself is a serious 44mm across, it still looms a bit. The watch is only 12mm high but it seems larger, mostly due to the almost straight case sides. The dial design is extremely clean - the 008 version has a carbon-fiber look to the dial and it seems too busy to me - this is very elegant, restrained, classy. The hands are also very simple. Lume is slightly grey, and glows well though not like a Monster or anything. The Stargate-type crown is a little bit of a distraction but it might be considered a hallmark of the Superior line since all of my "Superior" models have them. It would look better with a 6105-800x crown IMO. Also, for some reason I expected the crown to be screw-down but it's not, and it kind of feels like I'm driving without a seatbelt.
CRYSTAL: The curved crystal perfectly matches the angle of the bezel, making an overall smooth curved surface edge-to-edge. It maximizes the 3D deep look of the dial and hands - it looks like you're looking to a pool of water. I've only seen this before to this degree in the 7T32 Pilot Chronos. It does lend a small amount of distortion to the dial especially when viewed from an oblique angle but that's part of the charm, right?
BEZEL: The two-tone bezel is obviously the stylistic hallmark of this model, and it's a grabber. Visually it's really outstanding. The slide-rule instructions are only a few pages, which is weird - my 7t32 flightmaster had a huge thick book filled with all the crazy math you could do with the thing, but this only has a things about conversions between different kinds of liquid measures. My last worry is about that very smooth side profile on the bezel and crystal - there's nothing to protect the bezel surface. On the 6139-600x watches the surface of the bezel insert angles down slightly so that the bezel surface is protected by the relatively raised edge of the bezel and the edge of the flat-topped crystal - not so here. Anything that hits on the edge will drag across the bezel and across the crystal with no interference. The design is visually amazing, but functionally may have some long-term issues due to this. Part of this may depend on the durability of the markings & coatings on both surfaces. Time will tell.
BRACELET: The watch also shares the Stargate bracelet link - I did a side-by-side and they're the same; it's also possible that this bracelet would work on the Stargate though the hollow endlink has a different profile than the Stargate. My only other quibble about the bracelet is that it's a little beefy for me - I've always loved the tapered look of the older style bracelets. However, the bracelet link profile subtly mimics the angle and profile of the lugs, so there's rhyme and reason for the look. That said, the bracelet tapers only first two links and is straight thereafter - if they'd run that taper to the third link it would have looked nicer. It's a little thick and stiff for my tastes - see below for my bracelet recommendation
24-HOUR SUBDIAL: The 24 sub-register hand is somewhat out of place stylistically, and also is an odd choice since the point of the hand actually obscures the number it's pointing to. The entire 24 sub-register is faintly silly since it's not independent - I suppose it'd be useful if you were in a cave away from daylight and needed to know if it were a.m. or p.m. but other than that, it's just a style thing more than a functional item.
MOVEMENT: The 4R37 is a hacking and handwinding version of the 4R35 which is used in several dive watches. Officially it's rated at -45 to +35 s/d or so. Functionally so far it's fine - the hand-wind works well, and of course it hacks. I put it on the timegrapher out of the box and it placed a steady -10-14 s/d with a surprising amount of beat error - .03 -.04 (dial up, and vertical). I tweaked it - it produced extremely stable and steady results out of the box, so fine-tuning it wasn't an issue. After four solid days of wear (nights spent dial-up on the sidetable) is currently +20 seconds total. Not bad.
RECOMENDATIONS: Bracelet change.
A sidebar of collecting watches is obsessively picking up vintage bracelets, even if I don't have the model they go to. This last summer, Jonathan tipped me off to a seller in Thailand who was selling off three NOS taper bracelets, Kreisler Stelux ones, in a Seiko parts bag. They were all bagged, clearly brand-new NOS, with an unfamiliar endpiece. The links were the beautiful thicker folded-link Stelux ones, higher quality with a unique removable link arrangement, much nicer than the standard version made for Seiko. I later found one model they went to was the 6106 TV dial model, where the crystal was rounded on the sides. Anyway, I picked them up for a very nice price, and put them away waiting for the right watch..
I never thought that the watch in question would be a brand-new throwback design, but here we are. I tried it quickly just to see if it was even worth it, and was very impressed - an immediate change in the feel of the watch for me. I had to mod the new bracelet - the final link was too wide - it didn't visually work and also impacted on the points of the lugs, which meant it kept getting caught. Thankfully I have three of them, so I removed the extra end links, inserted new removable ones, and got the length I wanted. The bracelet is almost exactly perfect - the only issue is that the connecting link that goes inside the endpiece is 10mm and the opening is 11mm - there's a visible gap - but it's a small price to pay.
the NOS Stelux has that light comfortable feeling these well-made bracelets all have. Since it's NOS, the brushing is perfect and matches the case. The bracelet tapers from 22mm to 16mm and is very comfortable - must lighter and less intrusive than the big fat stock bracelet. The link length matches the length of the curved portion of the lugs, so it works visually IMO, especially since the links themselves are curved to the same degree as the lugs are.
The only issue that I see is that there's a style mis-match between the endpiece and very simple bracelet link style - the endpiece has an extra high-polish stripe which now seems out of place.
FINAL SUMMATION: Final review grade: I'd say B+ to A-. The overal design is very classy, stunningly simple and clean. There are a few functional issues that I wish had been addressed (screw-down crown, independent 24-hour hand, bracelet design tweaks), but Seiko cranks out a ton of different designs and this is a large departure from their recent Baroque offerings. Functionally it lacks some of the tool feel of a true classic like the 6105 divers (not a frill there, not one) and it's clearly more about looks than extra functions, but IMO has more than enough timeless style enough to last. I'm delighted I got one, and I expect to see more of these on the WRUW threads here very soon. Especially since despite the nearly $500 price tag, they seem to be widely available in the mid-$200 range on eBay from a grey market seller, supposedly brand-new. I myself paid just over three bills. Why a brand-new Seiko would be going for such a major discount out of the gates is a mystery - I'd love to have someone explain it to me.
Next come the pictures, such as they are. I really have to finally get a new camera. The one we have a is a low-end Canon, designed in hot pink for girls to take pictures of each other in bars. Fine watch detail was not part of the design specifications.
First off, I'm glad it made it to me - this is how it arrived:
And the drum roll....
[size=1.45em]REPLACED BRACELET:
[/size] 
THANKS FOR LOOKING!
