Seiko 'Bottle Cap' - SRPC68
On wrist side view
So the first of the non-Micro Brand watches. I know Seiko is very mainstream, but I have to say that there have been very few models that I would have ever considered buying, but as soon as I saw the ‘Bottle Cap’ it was for me a must have - just absolutely liked everything about it. The only decision was which variant to settle on and after much deliberation it came down to this chocolate dialed one with light gold bezel or the dark blue dial with light blue bezel, which did look great but is probably the most commonly chosen colour way of the lot.
The watch itself is deceptively small looking on the wrist as it is actually 45mm in diameter (excluding the crown) but not too tall at 13mm. However, the lug to lug distance is only 47mm due to their stubby, deeply swept down design. Then add to this the fact that as you look at the profile shape of the watch case it tapers quite a bit toward the crystal, so it actually look quite small overall.
The reason I called this a ‘desk diver’ is that although it looks like a dive watch it certainly isn’t; no screw-down crown, only a 100mtrs of water resistance, no lumed pip on the bezel and no lume on the sweep second hand. A very nice looking watch I feel but I would take it off even if just doing the dishes!
Now I already mentioned that there are certain things that I don’t particularly want or need on a watch and this has three of those; the day, date & exhibition case back, but the isn’t a version that doesn’t have these so I just had to put up with it to get this unusual looking watch. On a positive note, it has a black day wheel next to a white date wheel so it mimics the size of the 9 o’clock baton opposite, which is a nice bit of design. The (unidirectional 120 click) bezel action is absolutely superb, superlight, but at the same time very precise and due to the case design not easy to knock unintentionally. The sword shaped hour and minute hands are perfectly sized for the dial and along with applied hour markers all filled with Seiko’s Lumibrite and excellent, very bright and lasting a goodly while. Topping all this unfortunately is as usual Seiko’s Hardlex crystal which has a rather poor reputation for, well, not being very hard and scratching easily.
There are a few odd things about this watch, like the position of the crown being almost at the 4 o’clock position, but actually nearer 3:50, which will have a negative aspect for some, those who like everything to be evenly measured or located. The other thing is although all the upper surfaces of the stainless steel case are brushed the underside of the lugs, a very thin band a the widest point of the case and everything below this is beautifully polished, just where no one will really notice!
The supplied strap with this watch was a very nice NATO, but it was also made of some of the thickest material I’s ever seen on a NATO adding 4mm to the thickness of the watch if worn normally, but I felt even the 2mm increase when worn ‘down under’ style still made it feel too tall so I replaced it with a quality vintage leather strap with my preferred butterfly clasp. The NATO won’t be wasted as I think it will look wonderful on my recently purchased Laco Aachen Flieger.
The mechanism in this watch is essentially the same as the NH36, but called the 4R36A when used in Seiko’s own watches and has proven to be very accurate, in fact although these are perhaps considered very basic Japanese movements it does make you wonder why you’d bother with more expensive movements as all the ones I’ve got in my collection seem to be excellent time keepers.
More pictures of the Bottle Cap can be found in the Watch Picture Gallery along with some of my other watches.
The watch itself is deceptively small looking on the wrist as it is actually 45mm in diameter (excluding the crown) but not too tall at 13mm. However, the lug to lug distance is only 47mm due to their stubby, deeply swept down design. Then add to this the fact that as you look at the profile shape of the watch case it tapers quite a bit toward the crystal, so it actually look quite small overall.
The reason I called this a ‘desk diver’ is that although it looks like a dive watch it certainly isn’t; no screw-down crown, only a 100mtrs of water resistance, no lumed pip on the bezel and no lume on the sweep second hand. A very nice looking watch I feel but I would take it off even if just doing the dishes!
Now I already mentioned that there are certain things that I don’t particularly want or need on a watch and this has three of those; the day, date & exhibition case back, but the isn’t a version that doesn’t have these so I just had to put up with it to get this unusual looking watch. On a positive note, it has a black day wheel next to a white date wheel so it mimics the size of the 9 o’clock baton opposite, which is a nice bit of design. The (unidirectional 120 click) bezel action is absolutely superb, superlight, but at the same time very precise and due to the case design not easy to knock unintentionally. The sword shaped hour and minute hands are perfectly sized for the dial and along with applied hour markers all filled with Seiko’s Lumibrite and excellent, very bright and lasting a goodly while. Topping all this unfortunately is as usual Seiko’s Hardlex crystal which has a rather poor reputation for, well, not being very hard and scratching easily.
There are a few odd things about this watch, like the position of the crown being almost at the 4 o’clock position, but actually nearer 3:50, which will have a negative aspect for some, those who like everything to be evenly measured or located. The other thing is although all the upper surfaces of the stainless steel case are brushed the underside of the lugs, a very thin band a the widest point of the case and everything below this is beautifully polished, just where no one will really notice!
The supplied strap with this watch was a very nice NATO, but it was also made of some of the thickest material I’s ever seen on a NATO adding 4mm to the thickness of the watch if worn normally, but I felt even the 2mm increase when worn ‘down under’ style still made it feel too tall so I replaced it with a quality vintage leather strap with my preferred butterfly clasp. The NATO won’t be wasted as I think it will look wonderful on my recently purchased Laco Aachen Flieger.
The mechanism in this watch is essentially the same as the NH36, but called the 4R36A when used in Seiko’s own watches and has proven to be very accurate, in fact although these are perhaps considered very basic Japanese movements it does make you wonder why you’d bother with more expensive movements as all the ones I’ve got in my collection seem to be excellent time keepers.
More pictures of the Bottle Cap can be found in the Watch Picture Gallery along with some of my other watches.
