Seiko 5 SNZF17 Review Sea Urchin Automatic Watch Guide
When it comes to affordable automatic watches, Seiko makes some of the most popular watches in the industry.
The Seiko 5 ”Sea Urchin” SNZF17 is one of these watches. The watch has everything you may ask for from an automatic watch at this price range and more. It has impressive build quality, sturdy and reliable movement, is well-finished, and will last for a long time.
Bearing the price in mind, it’s easy to see why this is one of the best dive watches in its price range.
In this article, we are looking closer at and reviewing the Seiko Sea Urchin SNZF17.
Seiko 5 ”Sea Urchin” SNZF17 review
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The Seiko 5 SNZF17 is part of Seiko’s ”5″ collection. This means it must meet 5 criteria, which are the following:
- Automatic winding
- Day/date displayed in a single window
- Water resistance
- Recessed crown
- Durable case and bracelet
The SNZF17 meets all of those criteria and many more.
The Seiko 5 collection was first released in 1963 and was made to offer timepieces with great performance, quality, and style in mind, and at an affordable price.
Seiko 5 SNZF17 case
This watch is at its core a dive watch and features many iconic design traits you would expect in a dive watch. It has a bulky, sporty, and durable 41mm stainless steel case. The 41mm case is a great size for a dive watch. It is large enough to feel robust and reliable, but not too large to scare away even people with smaller wrists. It sits nicely on the wrist and has a great presence. Just what we expect from a sporty dive watch. It has a thickness of 13mm which is quite slim for a dive watch, which prevents it from feeling bulky on the wrist.
It’s no secret that dive watches are not only good for diving but can also look good for a number of occasions and outfits. It works surprisingly well with a suit, just like the way the Rolex Submariner has proven itself to be able to do.
The watch has a brushed, satin finish on the lugs which is contrasted by polished sides. This gives a nice feeling of quality and also looks great.
The watch has a push-pull crown positioned at three o’clock which is protected by rather discreet crown guards. From a modern dive watch, crown guards are exactly what we expect, and it adds to the sporty nature of this timepiece. The watch has a 22mm lug width. The case has a lug To Lug Distance: of 46 mm.
The crown sits recessed into the case and is well protected. It also has deep grooves that allow for a good grip and solid grip.
The watch has a 100-meter water resistance, which, of course, isn’t the most impressive for a dive watch, but again, bear in mind the price. Plus, 100 meters is well enough for the most part. It is not suitable for diving, but enough for swimming. After all, most people won’t go diving with their watch anyway.
Being a dive watch, it is equipped with a 60-minute unidirectional rotating bezel which allows you to keep track of elapsed time. The bezel has 120-click ratcheting. The bezel does not allow as good grip as some other dive watches such as the Rolex Submariner, but it works.
Common for watches in this price range is that the bezel does not line up perfectly with the markers, but the SNZF17 does.
This is a crucial element for any dive watch. The bezel has a black aluminum insert and large markers which allows for great legibility.
If you turn the watch around, you will be able to see the automatic movement inside. And this brings us to the next point.
Seiko Sea Urchin SNZF17 Movement
The Seiko 5 Sea Urchin SNZF17 is powered by Seiko’s 7S36 movement. This is an automatic mechanical movement that has proven to be sturdy, durable, and reliable. It is powered via the rotor inside which spins and charges the movement.
The watch isn’t finished like a Patek Philippe but we don’t expect it to be either. At this price point, and with the ethos of this watch in mind, the industrial, tool-like look of the watch is something that goes very well together with the personality of the SNZF17. The movement offers a power reserve of about 40 hours which is rather good for a watch in this price range.
The movement displays hours, minutes, seconds, day, and date. The movement is equipped with 23 jewels.
Seiko Sea Urchin SNZF17 dial
The dial of the SNZF17 instantly reveals its dive watch personality. Most importantly, it offers good legibility thanks to its large hour markers and hands which create a great contrast against the black dial.
The dial is quite clean and simple. Placed at 3 o’clock is a window for displaying the day and date. At 12 o’clock, we have an applied Seiko5 logo. Printed on the dial is the depth rating of 100 meters, automatic, and 23 jewels, telling us about the specifications of the watch. The lines of text are the sweet spot of not cluttering the dial. The fact that the background of the date and day wheels are black allows them to fit more seamlessly into the watch’s dial. Most watches have a white background on the day and date wheel.
The dial has 60 individual second/minute markers around the dial for easy reading of the time. The hours have round and rectangular markers. All of the markers have plenty of lume to allow for great legibility even in low-lit conditions. The watch has a large hour and minute hands as well as a straight seconds hand with a luminous dot at the counterweight. The hour and minute hands are shaped as broad spears that allow for plenty of lume.
Seiko Sea Urchin SNZF17 bracelet
The Seiko SNZF17 is fitted on a sporty and robust 22mm three-link stainless steel bracelet. It has removable end links.
The watch features a fold-over clasp with spring-loaded security release buttons which allows it to sit safely and securely in place. There’s not much to complain about here. But of course, if you want, you can easily change to a NATO strap. A downside of the bracelet is that it has folded end links.
Conclusion
The Seiko 5 Sea Urchin SNZF17 is a sporty and stylish timepiece that offers great value for money. It is robust, durable, and timeless in design. It’s not a submariner, but it isn’t trying to be, either. The Seiko 5 SNZF17 is a great watch in its own right and definitely one of the best sports watches in its price range.
It has some downsides in terms of quality and finish, but these are things that you can expect at this price range.
All in all, the Seiko SNZF17 is definitely a great watch that is worth buying. At this price, you won’t have to baby it and be terrified of scratching it up. Plus, this watch is robust and will be able to take a beating. It is a dive watch, but it is surprisingly versatile which makes it a perfect everyday watch.
Seiko 5 Sea Urchin SNZF17 specifications
- Diameter: 41 mm
- Thickness: 13 mm
- Lug width: 22 mm
- Lug To Lug Distance: 46 mm
- Jewels: 23
- Movement: Seiko 7S36
- Power reserve: Approx 40 hours
The Seiko 5 SNZF17 is available to order on Amazon.
we just bought a Black Dial SNZF17, until now it is not working..we followed some procedure on how to wind but its no use.
Hi,
If you have an issue with the watch, our recommendation is to take it to a watchmaker who will be able to assess and identify the problem. If you have manually wound it and it is still not working, it may be some issue with the winding mechanism.
Kind regards,
Millenary Watches
You can’t hand wind this watch. Simply shake it and it will start working. You have to shake it for 5-7 seconds, set the watch, then wear it. You’ll be good to go.