Seiko’s greatest offering in the mid-tier luxury arena in 2014 was perhaps from the Sportura Kinetic Direct Drive range. From appearance alone, it becomes clear how amazing this new timepiece is. The Sportura family is often missed by casual watch users who think it to be overpriced; this one is extremely reasonable on those grounds, appealing and comes in beautifully totally under the radar.
In the design, functionality and finishing departments, Seiko didn’t even bother to rest till reaching a satisfactory result. So it can’t be helped if you simply stumble upon one and get impulsive to swipe your card or pull out your wallet. There are 4 different versions to the same model; this one is the dressiest of all. This is the kind of watch that goes with your sharkskin suits and your upper-management uniforms equally. And maybe, even with jeans and cargos.
There are other three versions of this Seiko Sportura Kinetic Direct Drive. These have black as the primary color; there’s black IP coating and perforated leather strap besides polished stainless steel. The advantage with black is it goes with everything; the blue demands you are neatly dressed top to bottom. A serious watch wearer shall grab both if budget permits.
But the blue Sportura has a few good points. Firstly, the hands are very high-contrast, offering a great legibility. Next, it makes the whole set up look very rich and attractive, which is further enhanced by their intricate shapes and surrounding details. I’ve always been a fan of blue.
I guess there is still a lot of people who don’t realize what Seiko Kinetic Direct Drive is. So, a short recap.
Seiko Kinetic Direct Drive is a rather exotic quartz movement. Like Kinetic, it has a rotor in the style of automatic movements in it and charges as the rotor goes round. The Direct Drive takes this style of winding a step higher; it allows the watch to be charged by turning the crown; hand-charging (like hand-winding) would be the right word. Another thing is, you get to see the indicator-hand jump with the turn of the crown and find out how much power is generated, in real time. It’s the same hand that doubles up as the power reserve indicator, so you also stay updated on your remaining battery life. However, the utility aside, it makes for some casual, fun activity when you got just nothing else in hand. You’ll also have plenty of it for it stores power worth only a month. A clever move by Seiko to keep the hand-charging option functional.
There’s no midway about the large indicator arc at the side of the dial; either you love it or you hate it. In that case, skip the rest of this article. If you want things that simple, why don’t go for a simple Seiko 5? There are plenty of them found here.
Those who like or absolutely in love with it shall find it adding to the sheer elegance of the design rather than detracting. It’s the love of interaction – more so when you are changing from mechanicals to quartz, for the first time in your life.
Watch(es) mentioned in this post are listed below. Click to see details and buy them:
