reintitan
2622
Future Look of the SKX divers?
Oct 01, 2018,17:36 PM
Seiko has yet to update the classic SKX dive watches with its newer movements that both hack and are hand-windable such as the 4R35, 4R36, or 6R15. These Seiko divers such as the SKX007, SKX009, SKX011, etc have been "stuck" with the old workhorse Seiko cal.7S26 that neither hacks nor can be wound from the crown. Even models that came out years after the classic SKX diver models such as the Monsters have been upgraded with the newer movements. The Monsters are already on their 3rd-Generation powered by the cal.6R15! (The 1st-Gen had the same 7S26 movements which were upgraded to the 4S36 in the 2nd-Gen.)
So when will the classic SKX divers get the movement upgrade?
Maybe this collaboration between Seiko and wena (a Sony brand) might show a possible look to a 2nd-Gen SKX diver.
Note this wena collaboration adds some "Smart" features to the clasp of the bracelet, but the watch head itself is totally mechanical. So for this discussion, let's forget about the clasp and bracelet and focus on the watch head.
The movement is a cal.4S35 (date only, no day display) which hacks and can be hand-wound. The dial has applied markers rather than the painted ones on the current SKX divers. While the hour and minute hands remain the classic SKX design, the sweep seconds hand has been "upgraded" to the same "neo-stop light" design of the MM 300m. Nice. The crown is signed with the Seiko "S". The bezel insert is a Countdown one instead of a Time Elapsed one.
The only drawbacks I see in this collab watch is that the water resistance is only 5 bar (5 atm or 50 meters) so it is not really a dive watch (Seiko's true diver watches are all ISO 6425 compliant). The see-through caseback also has to go IMHO. Finally, the crystal is still Hardlex instead of being upgraded to sapphire.
Still it's a good start to base a new 2nd-Gen SKX diver watch on.