SEIKO Prospex Speedtimer Solar Chronograph Blue Dial Men's Watch SSC815

Spoiler alert: I really like this watch! And I debated getting it for while. Mostly, I prefer mechanical watches. But I really respect Seiko as a brand and I definitely was needing a new chronograph that I could comfortably knock around in without worrying about damaging or having a vaguely nagging feeling that there was something wildly precious on my wrist. While it’s not a cheap watch, even at its MSRP of $675, this is worth considering - especially since it is fairly easy to find on Amazon for much less. At first, I was put off by the idea of a quartz movement and I wasn’t really seeing this watch’s connection to the venerable Seiko Speedtimer 6139, but after some thought, I started to get it, and here’s how I arrived at this purchase.The first hurdle was shedding my mechanical watch prejudice and my preference for automatics in particular. As a solar quartz movement, one hassle you can say goodbye to is the maintenance and servicing costs that will eventually get you with a mechanical watch. As a Seiko, I’m guessing this little guy will run practically forever. The other thing that struck me was that if you stop and consider that automatic mechanical watch movements were designed mostly so that:1. You never had to wind your watch (duh)2. You would have a more reliably water-resistant watch by virtue of the fact that you’d seldom have to play with the crownThen I think it becomes much easier to see how the Seiko SSC815 is genuinely descended from the acclaimed 6139. I mean, here are the facts:1. You’ll never need to wind this watch because it is a solar powered quartz movement with a ridiculous 6 month power reserve. Think of it as “electro-automatic” and you’re golden!2. It’s water resistant to 100M vs. a typical mechanical chronograph which might top out at 30M (the 6139 was rated to 70M)The short of it is that I think this watch is in some core, functional aspects, a natural technological evolution from the 6139 form.Plus:3. It’s a chronograph with 1/5th of a second measurement increments whose hand sweeps nicely and quite smoothly for a quartz movement4. It’s accurate to within 15 seconds a month (most mechanical watches would be doing really well if they could say that on a “per week” basis)5. It’s dial color, hands and tachymeter color accents are strongly evocative of the original Seiko 6139-6009 “Cevert” from the 1970s6. The small case size hearkens back to pre-1970’s dimensions – it’s got a great retro vibe and is awesome for smaller wrists (which I happen to have)Now, I do wish that it:1. Found another use for the 3:00 sub-dial: a non-independent 24-hour function isn’t particularly useful. I would have been happier if it was labeled more simply as a day/night indicator or was an hour indicator linked to the chronograph.2. Had less fluorescent coloring on the seconds sweep and minutes sub-dial hands – it’s just a little too bright. Under UV, it’s basically a mini black light party!3. Had lume on all of the hour plots rather than just at 12, 3, 6 and 9. The original 6139-6009 nicely combined all of the faceted/polished markers with lume and I really wish that Seiko had carried that forward here.Otherwise, I have to say that this watch ticked a lot of boxes for me. I love the case dimensions and proportions - it reminds me a lot of the older Zenith Chronomasters in the curve of the lugs and generous spacing for the pushers and crown. Some people have said that the bracelet leaves a lot to be desired, and I have to agree. In fact I never even bothered with it and immediately put it on a strap. That’s another place where this watch excels - it looks awesome on a NATO, with a rubber strap, and with a sailcloth strap! In fact, on the right strap, if you squint a little (and use a lot of imagination) it can sort of exude a VC Overseas Everest Chronograph vibe - this at about 2% of the VC’s MSRP (which in all honesty is about as close as I’m ever going to get to one of those!)All in all, I think this watch is a great value with a credible and historically meaningful pedigree that it draws upon in ways that the other models in this line do not. While it is not my everyday watch, It’s a watch I’ll never have to worry about and I think that it will remain a durable and attractive part of my rotation for many years to come and I’m very happy to own it.