Seiko Orange Monster Watch Review

The Seiko Monster is one of those watches everyone needs to have owned in their past. In terms of dive watches, it usually is THE watch that all other watches are compared to. Rightly so, too. I recently bought one to see what all the hype was about. Nonetheless, I was impressed. Was I surprised? Of course not.

There are a million and one reviews of the Seiko Monster out there, so I won’t go into too much detail as I’m sure you have heard it all before…

The initial impressions

The two things that impressed me immediately – as they do for all others who buy this watch – was firstly, the insane lume, and secondly, the tank of a bracelet this thing has.

The size in itself isn’t so “Monsterous” by today’s standards anymore, as pretty much 80% of watches nowadays are 42mm or bigger.

The lume

The lume… it’s bright. Very bright. Give it a quick charge and away to goes! Really sets this watch apart from all the other dive watches out there. It has a nice green colour to it. Nothing more to say really, apart from yes, what you have heard is right and it kicks butt!

The bracelet

I have heard many people who have had a collection of watches that costs thousands and thousands say that the bracket on the Monster is the best they have ever seen on a watch. I agree, albeit I have a much smaller amount of watch experience! It truly is incredibly well built. It is so lovely and smooth, and the clasp gives you a feeling that it is never going to pop off by accident with its great double lock. There is a nice polished section where the pin goes through on each link. This is a nice touch and I think is much better than having the whole link brushed steel. Each link is a couple of mm thick and is solid steel (of course), which makes it pretty heavy – but also makes it feel like a tank.

The dial and hands

The first thing I HAD to do was see “the rocket” for myself. This is when all the hands line up together and make what looks like a rocket. It is hard to find any pictures of this, so I have taken one for your viewing pleasure. You can find it in the gallery section below.

I like the rehaut/minute track running around the outside of the dial. It curves up, which allows the dial to meet up with the crystal. The crystal of course is Seiko’s hardlex, which is supposedly harder than sapphire, but not as scratch resistant. It is still pretty hard to scratch it though, so don’t worry if you are a kind of guy who won’t buy a watch unless it has a sapphire crystal. This will still do you fine.

The case

The case is very well machined. Strangely, Seiko opted to leave the crown blank, which is a shame. I would have liked an engraved Seiko logo on there. But I guess this is to keep costs down. The crown guard extends from the bottom lug. The bezel has the loveliest action on any bezel I have ever experienced. Turning it gives a lovely satisfying sound and it is very easy to manipulate.

The movement

The movement is Seiko’s hard as nails 7S26 automatic movement. This literally will last you years and years without needing a service. It lacks a couple of the usual features on most automatics today though, as in it doesn’t have hacking seconds, nor does it allow hand winding. Just a simple gyrate of the watch will get it going though. It has the usual 40 hours or so power reserve. My Monster wasn’t the most accurate, but they are easy to regulate. It runs at 6 ticks per second, or 21,600 bph, and is very silky smooth. No stutter on the second hand at all.

Final thoughts

The question is not should I buy this watch. Because the answer is YES! The question is more about the aesthetics. If you are happy with how it looks (as it is quite a unique looking watch), then there is no other watch that should grace your watch collection. The only thing that should ever get in your way of buying one of these is the looks. There is no other watch that offers this level of finish and quality at this price. FACT.