G
Guest
·Authored by NoDecoDiver
Adapted from Original @ http://www.thetruthaboutwatches.com
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I have a weakness for watches with Yellow and Orange dials. Let me just get that out first. If you take a look in my watch closet it's very apparent that I tend towards bright colors, with the occasional black or white. I have a wife who enjoys going to the mall (shocker) and over the course of a few weeks, this kept catching my eye in the case.
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I felt like a stalker. I would leave my wife in the clothing store to sneak into JCPenney and stare at this beauty. I almost lost sleep over the fact that it was sitting there and I couldn't have it. Fatal attraction vibe, bigtime. I ended up selling one of my rifles to finance the purchase of this Seiko. And yes, it was still worth it.
Case
The case on the SNDAP15 is huge. It's only 46mm across, but it's a very tall, and deep case. Tapering at the bottom, the bezel is a good 2-3mm wider than the bottom of the case back.
Despite it's large size, this watch wears so well on my wrist. I have other watches that are much larger than this, but it still looks big to me. The deep-set dial and large bezel give the watch a larger-than-life appearance.
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One of the coolest things about the bezel and case is the molded cutouts in the sides of the case that line up with notches in the bezel. And unlike a lot of diver watches, the bezel actually lines up perfectly with the marks on the dial, and with the cutouts. The bezel is stiff, and clicks solidly.
The SNDAP15 has a typical Seiko case back, and screws down. It has a timeline for battery changes, which seems a little silly to me, but it serves a purpose for a few years, I guess.
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[b]Crystal[/b]
The crystal on the Yellow Diver is Seiko's proprietary Hardlex material, and is flawless. From any angle except a direct side view, it is all but invisible.
I have several Seiko's with the Hardlex material, and it seems to hold up just as well as my Sapphires, and I personally think it's debatable whether or not Hardlex is less scratch resistant than Sapphire or Mineral.
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[b]Movement[/b]
The SNDAP15 uses Seiko's 7T92 Chronograph movement, which has a stellar reputation for accuracy. Seiko lists this watch at +/- 15s a month, but after six months, it's not lost a second to the atomic clock I calibrate from.
The chronograph hand is in the center of the dial, and the 1/20th chrono hand sets in the 12:00 window. The 1/20th hand runs for a few minutes and then stops while the chrono continues. The 6:00 window shows elapsed time up to 12 hours, with a minute and an hour hand.
The Chrono pushers screw down to lock, and unscrew to engage. This is a great feature when wearing a wet suit or to ensure that the buttons don't get pressed under water.
Upon stopping and reseting the chrono, the elapsed time wheel cycles back to 12:00, which is a really neat effect.
One thing to note - at the 9:00 window, the second hand has a lume dot on the back, which looks really cool at night. Generally, quartz movements make me angry because the second hands do not line up exactly with the tick marks. This watch has a few spots on the dial where the hand is off, but the end of the second hand is larger than the tick marks by a fair margin, so it's not noticeable, but it does not line up 100%.
[b]Lume[/b]
Like every other Seiko, the lume on the SNDAP15 is the standard by which all other watches are judged. Five minutes of sunlight or ten minutes under a strong flashlight yields a whole night of legibility. The lume reflecting off the inside of the case is awesome, especially in total darkness when the lume is still fully charged.
[img]
The Yellow Diver SNDAP15 is one of the best looking watches in my collection. If they made an automatic version of this watch, I would pay the asking price without hesitation. This is one of those watches that only sees limited wrist time because I'm terrified of scratching or bumping the case and crystal.
Much like the Monster, I feel this is a must have in any collection for people who enjoy brightly colored watches.
A quick note about Seiko's rubber strap. Although fairly firm for the size and thickness of the strap, it is one of the most comfortable straps in my collection. It seems to be a slightly redesigned version of the strap on the Monsters. Not much to say other than Seiko's usual quality is apparent in the design and finish, buckle included.
Adapted from Original @ http://www.thetruthaboutwatches.com
__________________________________________________ _
I have a weakness for watches with Yellow and Orange dials. Let me just get that out first. If you take a look in my watch closet it's very apparent that I tend towards bright colors, with the occasional black or white. I have a wife who enjoys going to the mall (shocker) and over the course of a few weeks, this kept catching my eye in the case.
I felt like a stalker. I would leave my wife in the clothing store to sneak into JCPenney and stare at this beauty. I almost lost sleep over the fact that it was sitting there and I couldn't have it. Fatal attraction vibe, bigtime. I ended up selling one of my rifles to finance the purchase of this Seiko. And yes, it was still worth it.
Case
The case on the SNDAP15 is huge. It's only 46mm across, but it's a very tall, and deep case. Tapering at the bottom, the bezel is a good 2-3mm wider than the bottom of the case back.
Despite it's large size, this watch wears so well on my wrist. I have other watches that are much larger than this, but it still looks big to me. The deep-set dial and large bezel give the watch a larger-than-life appearance.
[img]
[img]
One of the coolest things about the bezel and case is the molded cutouts in the sides of the case that line up with notches in the bezel. And unlike a lot of diver watches, the bezel actually lines up perfectly with the marks on the dial, and with the cutouts. The bezel is stiff, and clicks solidly.
The SNDAP15 has a typical Seiko case back, and screws down. It has a timeline for battery changes, which seems a little silly to me, but it serves a purpose for a few years, I guess.
[img]
[b]Crystal[/b]
The crystal on the Yellow Diver is Seiko's proprietary Hardlex material, and is flawless. From any angle except a direct side view, it is all but invisible.
I have several Seiko's with the Hardlex material, and it seems to hold up just as well as my Sapphires, and I personally think it's debatable whether or not Hardlex is less scratch resistant than Sapphire or Mineral.
[img]
[img]
[b]Movement[/b]
The SNDAP15 uses Seiko's 7T92 Chronograph movement, which has a stellar reputation for accuracy. Seiko lists this watch at +/- 15s a month, but after six months, it's not lost a second to the atomic clock I calibrate from.
The chronograph hand is in the center of the dial, and the 1/20th chrono hand sets in the 12:00 window. The 1/20th hand runs for a few minutes and then stops while the chrono continues. The 6:00 window shows elapsed time up to 12 hours, with a minute and an hour hand.
The Chrono pushers screw down to lock, and unscrew to engage. This is a great feature when wearing a wet suit or to ensure that the buttons don't get pressed under water.
Upon stopping and reseting the chrono, the elapsed time wheel cycles back to 12:00, which is a really neat effect.
One thing to note - at the 9:00 window, the second hand has a lume dot on the back, which looks really cool at night. Generally, quartz movements make me angry because the second hands do not line up exactly with the tick marks. This watch has a few spots on the dial where the hand is off, but the end of the second hand is larger than the tick marks by a fair margin, so it's not noticeable, but it does not line up 100%.
[b]Lume[/b]
Like every other Seiko, the lume on the SNDAP15 is the standard by which all other watches are judged. Five minutes of sunlight or ten minutes under a strong flashlight yields a whole night of legibility. The lume reflecting off the inside of the case is awesome, especially in total darkness when the lume is still fully charged.
[img]
The Yellow Diver SNDAP15 is one of the best looking watches in my collection. If they made an automatic version of this watch, I would pay the asking price without hesitation. This is one of those watches that only sees limited wrist time because I'm terrified of scratching or bumping the case and crystal.
Much like the Monster, I feel this is a must have in any collection for people who enjoy brightly colored watches.
A quick note about Seiko's rubber strap. Although fairly firm for the size and thickness of the strap, it is one of the most comfortable straps in my collection. It seems to be a slightly redesigned version of the strap on the Monsters. Not much to say other than Seiko's usual quality is apparent in the design and finish, buckle included.
