The Samurai Arrives

Seiko is a large watch company.  Much larger that we really realize in the United States.  They make a lot more watches than the watches that are available in the United States.  One such watch that we haven't seen in quite a while, in the USA is the Seiko Samurai.  The Seiko Samurai is named after the styling of the watch case.

A Rich Tradition

Seiko has a rich tradition for making great dive watches at a fantastic price.  Seiko has been diving into the archives and re-launching some of the watch designs that have a cult following.  Last year we saw the rebirth of the iconic Seiko Turtle design.  Here we have the rebirth of the Seiko Samurai.  Like the Seiko Turtle, the Seiko Samurai has been updated with a new movement.  The Samurai has an automatic 4R35 movement.  The 4R35 is in the same family of movements as the Turtle's 4R36, both have a 41 hour reserve.  The 4R35 has only a date window and one less jewel than the 4R36.  The Seiko Samurai SRPB09 is part of the Seiko Prospex line.  The watch is a professional dive watch that meets ISO standards for scuba diving.

The Blue Lagoon

The Samurai SRPB09 comes to us in a form of a limited edition watch.  This limited edition watch is part of two dive watches that launched with the same color combination.  The intense blues of the limited edition dive watches have been given the nickname, "Blue Lagoon".  The other watch in this limited edition series is the Seiko Turtle.

Seiko Samurai SRPB09 Case Size

The Seiko Samurai Dive SRPB09 is a very simple watch.  The lines are clean and well defined.  The Samurai SRPB09 is a great size, 43.8 mm, it is about the size of the Seiko Turtle.  The size is large enough to be noticed, but not too big to get annoying.  The watch also doesn't feel large like a lot of watches do.  Seiko has done a great job of "fitting" the watch to your wrist. 

Seiko SRPB09 Overview

The watch design is simple but clever.  There aren't a lot of extras with the watch, it does what it is meant to do, be a dive watch.  This clean look is great in a market filled with "busy" dive watches.  The watch has a lot of remarkable angles and interesting watch hands.  The watch feels more streamlined.  If is as if you are wearing a work of modern art or a piece of architecture. When I first got pictures of the watch, I wasn't really impressed, to me it looked like a basic dive watch.  But when I got the watch in person, that is when I really understood the huge cult following of the Seiko Samurai. The watch is much better in person than in pictures.  In person you can appreciate the design, there are angles that you can't really appreciate in pictures.  The design of the watch could also be compared to a streamline luxury car design.  The Seiko Samurai SRPB09 might be a re-issue of a traditional Seiko Dive watch, but it feels like it is a watch of the future.