SSG001P1 Prospex Radio Sync Solar
Jul 5, 2019 3:20:34 GMT -8
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Post by leffemonster on Jul 5, 2019 3:20:34 GMT -8
Earlier this week while staying overnight in Cardiff between meetings I had some time to kill so went out into the city to see what I could find in the summer sales. I’d spotted the SSG001P1 on the web on sale at a high street jewellers, but unfortunately the Cardiff branch didn’t stock Seiko. However, another store in the same retail group did have it in stock, so I tried it on for size.
I thought it might be too large at 47.8mm case width, but on the wrist it didn’t seem quite that size. I have a theory that watches with a ‘standard’ size dial but with the addition of a chapter ring and bezel wear smaller.
It’s a big chunk of steel for sure at 47.8mm case, 54mm lug-to-lug, and 14.5mm thickness. Lug width is 22mm and the watch is fitted with a brushed steel bracelet with solid end links, and a 3-fold clasp with safety clasp and button release. There are four micro-adjustment points available on the clasp which is a nice feature.
The watch is powered by the calibre 8B92 module and, to give it the correct title, it’s the SEIKO Radio Sync Solar World Time Chronograph. The bezel is a non-clicking bi-directional slide rule bezel that turns really smoothly.
The dial features a 24-hour subdial at 3 o’clock, chrono minutes at 6 o’clock and a seconds subdial at 9 o’clock. The seconds subdial also indicates radio signal reception status.
The hands and markers are lumed and it glows all night once charged, just as you expect from Seiko.
A nice touch is the green markings on the chrono minutes subdial - this kind of breaks up the stark black and white on the rest of the dial. The screws at the ‘corners’ of the subdial are quite neat as well. The date window is set between the 4 and 5 o’clock markers.
The nice lady in the store adjusted the bracelet for me and, I’m pleased to say, this doesn’t use the collar and pin arrangement but uses the waved-split-pin - so there’s no danger of losing those pesky collars. She also set the watch to time as well, as there was no radio reception in the shopping mall.
Setting the time actually proved to be a bit of a challenge. Pressing the bottom left pusher button for 3 seconds causes the chrono sweep seconds hand to move, stopping at the time zone the watch is currently set to. If you look closely at the dial, there are four letters at the 3, 21, 23 and 43 seconds position. These indicate the radio signals that the watch receives -
D - DCF77, Southeastern Frankfurt, Germany
B - BPC, Shangqui National Time Service Centre, Beijing, China
J - JJY, Fukushima and Kyushu, Japan
W - WWVB, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
My watch indicated that it was currently set to receive the Japanese signal, presumably as this was set at the factory. No surprise it was indicating ‘no reception’... Using the same pusher, or the top left pusher, the time zone can be changed with each press moving the chrono sweep hand to the adjacent time zone index. I set it to ‘D’ for the Germany signal, and the hands started turning - and settled on the time it would be in Germany if I was in Japan... 🤣
As I couldn’t get any radio reception in Cardiff, I set the time manually. This isn’t done in the usual way. Pulling the crown out to the second click, the seconds hand turns to zero and you then have to press the buttons on the left to set the time - turning the crown has no effect. The date is set in the same way but with the crown at the first click. The watch also features a perpetual calendar, apparently good through to 2099.
When I got home (to civilisation...) radio reception was available and I was able to set it properly.
Talking of the crown, its a screw-down affair despite the watch only being 100m water resistant. The crown is machined, as are the surfaces of the two chrono pusher buttons on the right side of the case.
The chronograph is a 1/5 second chrono which records up to 60 minutes, and automatically stops after 6 hours, all pretty standard quartz chronograph stuff.
The caseback is quite unusual. I was expecting a screw-down caseback, but this one is actually a snap-back emblazoned with SEIKO and the Prospex ‘X’ (stock photo)
Somewhat disappointingly the crystal is only Hardlex and not sapphire, but at least its anti-reflective. On a watch with an RRP of £599 I’d have expected a sapphire crystal though.
All in all, I’m very happy I decided to pick this up. My concern about it being too big for my 6.75” wrist proved (at least to me) unfounded, and I was saved the hassle of ordering on-line as the store I bought it from price-matched their Group partner.
So although I didn’t find what I was really looking for in the Cardiff sales, I didn’t come away empty handed! Thanks for reading 👍🏻
I thought it might be too large at 47.8mm case width, but on the wrist it didn’t seem quite that size. I have a theory that watches with a ‘standard’ size dial but with the addition of a chapter ring and bezel wear smaller.
It’s a big chunk of steel for sure at 47.8mm case, 54mm lug-to-lug, and 14.5mm thickness. Lug width is 22mm and the watch is fitted with a brushed steel bracelet with solid end links, and a 3-fold clasp with safety clasp and button release. There are four micro-adjustment points available on the clasp which is a nice feature.
The watch is powered by the calibre 8B92 module and, to give it the correct title, it’s the SEIKO Radio Sync Solar World Time Chronograph. The bezel is a non-clicking bi-directional slide rule bezel that turns really smoothly.
The dial features a 24-hour subdial at 3 o’clock, chrono minutes at 6 o’clock and a seconds subdial at 9 o’clock. The seconds subdial also indicates radio signal reception status.
The hands and markers are lumed and it glows all night once charged, just as you expect from Seiko.
A nice touch is the green markings on the chrono minutes subdial - this kind of breaks up the stark black and white on the rest of the dial. The screws at the ‘corners’ of the subdial are quite neat as well. The date window is set between the 4 and 5 o’clock markers.
The nice lady in the store adjusted the bracelet for me and, I’m pleased to say, this doesn’t use the collar and pin arrangement but uses the waved-split-pin - so there’s no danger of losing those pesky collars. She also set the watch to time as well, as there was no radio reception in the shopping mall.
Setting the time actually proved to be a bit of a challenge. Pressing the bottom left pusher button for 3 seconds causes the chrono sweep seconds hand to move, stopping at the time zone the watch is currently set to. If you look closely at the dial, there are four letters at the 3, 21, 23 and 43 seconds position. These indicate the radio signals that the watch receives -
D - DCF77, Southeastern Frankfurt, Germany
B - BPC, Shangqui National Time Service Centre, Beijing, China
J - JJY, Fukushima and Kyushu, Japan
W - WWVB, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
My watch indicated that it was currently set to receive the Japanese signal, presumably as this was set at the factory. No surprise it was indicating ‘no reception’... Using the same pusher, or the top left pusher, the time zone can be changed with each press moving the chrono sweep hand to the adjacent time zone index. I set it to ‘D’ for the Germany signal, and the hands started turning - and settled on the time it would be in Germany if I was in Japan... 🤣
As I couldn’t get any radio reception in Cardiff, I set the time manually. This isn’t done in the usual way. Pulling the crown out to the second click, the seconds hand turns to zero and you then have to press the buttons on the left to set the time - turning the crown has no effect. The date is set in the same way but with the crown at the first click. The watch also features a perpetual calendar, apparently good through to 2099.
When I got home (to civilisation...) radio reception was available and I was able to set it properly.
Talking of the crown, its a screw-down affair despite the watch only being 100m water resistant. The crown is machined, as are the surfaces of the two chrono pusher buttons on the right side of the case.
The chronograph is a 1/5 second chrono which records up to 60 minutes, and automatically stops after 6 hours, all pretty standard quartz chronograph stuff.
The caseback is quite unusual. I was expecting a screw-down caseback, but this one is actually a snap-back emblazoned with SEIKO and the Prospex ‘X’ (stock photo)
Somewhat disappointingly the crystal is only Hardlex and not sapphire, but at least its anti-reflective. On a watch with an RRP of £599 I’d have expected a sapphire crystal though.
All in all, I’m very happy I decided to pick this up. My concern about it being too big for my 6.75” wrist proved (at least to me) unfounded, and I was saved the hassle of ordering on-line as the store I bought it from price-matched their Group partner.
So although I didn’t find what I was really looking for in the Cardiff sales, I didn’t come away empty handed! Thanks for reading 👍🏻
