Seiko’s $ 1,150 Datsun 240Z watch is neat, but you can do better – Jalopnik

Perhaps my biggest source of shame is the fact that I am a watchman. What can I say? I like to have a beautiful, shiny thing on my wrist that tells time without telling me how many unread e -mails I have. Unlike smartwatches, a real watch will still work in a different decade, even if you buy a relatively cheap. Because I also love cars, you would think that I would be special editions everywhere in Seiko’s upcoming Datesun 240Z, but man, you can get so many watches for $ 1,150, and for that money I really think you can do it better.

I mean, if everything you want is a Seiko with a datesun logo on it, then this might be your best gamble. You can also save $ 155 and just buy the non-date version. It is the same watch, but it does not have the Datsun logo on it. And the watch itself seems solid. Even with the 4:30 date window it is the best-looking Seiko release that I have seen in a long time, and the movement has a 72-hour power reserve, which means that if you take it when you come home on Friday, it still has to write that will come on Monday morning. It also comes with a sapphire crystal and 200 meters of water resistance, so it goes almost everywhere and does everything. The bracelet option even looks pretty, which you usually don’t get from Seiko.

That said, they call it a speed timer, and yet it’s not a chronograph. Instead, the inner Bezel works like a counting down timer, which nobody will actually use. Just like the alpinist, I also get the feeling that the inside is constantly moving, which means that you will probably use the second crown to rewind the ring instead of actually counting it with it. Oh, and it is still a Seiko that costs more than $ 1,000. That is a seriously competitive price, with more non-SIKO options than I could hope to count. Maybe the world’s largest datesun fans will see the value, but I just don’t do that.

However, that first watch is not the only Datesun 240Z Special Edition that Seiko is planning to release in September. You can also get a chronograph version with a mechanical or solar movement, and although it has no room for the Datsun logo, this version is at least a chronograph. You will probably not use that function regularly, but it will give you the option to actually timing rounds and such timing, which fits much better with the name and history of Speedtimer. And although you can find a million cheaper quartz chronographers, mechanical chronographs are much less common.

You lose half of the water resistance of the other speedtimer, and the power reserve drops to just about 45 hours, but if there is a Seiko X Datsun Collab that is worth buying, this is probably the mechanical chronograph. Seiko has history with the Pogue and you get a real internal mechanical chronograph movement. Apart from the fact that the price for this thing is an eye-watery $ 3,200, a full $ 700 more than what Seiko charges for the Non-Datsun Speedtimer mechanical chronograph. Maybe you like the black nicer than the stainless steel, but do you like it $ 700 more fun? I very much in doubt.

In addition, for $ 3,200, you are far in the use of Omega Speedmaster Territorium. The Seiko is probably more unique and is not a fool for nerds (sorry, speedmaster fans, but you know it is true). And yet, every person you see that you wear shiny new Seiko Speedtimer, you will ask if it is an omega, and then it will be a whole thing where you have to explain that it is actually an Seiko, but it is an incredibly nice Seiko and demonstrably a better deal than the Speedmaster, but no it is not really a really watch.

But hey, if you are obsessed with Datsun and Seiko, here you go. You can finally combine your two loves (although it is probably best to make watches and cars watches).