What watch do you wear?

Seiko SNE095

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1st generation solar-powered Seiko field watch. Seiko got off to a late start because they had a "superior" alternative to the photovoltaic (PV) cell watches produced by Citizen. Seiko's rechargeable battery watches had a mechanical recharger cranked by a rotating-weight mechanism like the self-winder on an automatic watch. I forgot what they called this system, it's been that many years. Of course Seiko's system cost more, but that's Seiko baby — you pay more to get the best. The problem was, you paid more to get the worst. If you didn't wear these watches every day, the batteries would totally discharge. You had to pull the movement and remove the self-winder to get the battery, take the battery to a dealer or a watchmaker and if they couldn't recharge it, they would sell you a new battery. So you had a battery-powered watch that needed a watch winder. How can you beat that?

Seiko built ill will among collectors of battery-powered watches and their first generation of solar watches didn't sell well. I bought this on closeout and paid less than $100. I wouldn't have paid more. It has some minor design flaws, the first being black day/date windows which are hard to read. Only the hands have Seiko's Super-LumiNova, the numbers and pips fade in 5 minutes. Why that? And the bracelet buckle had 1 (one) micro-adjustment hole. I put it on a leather strap and it looked better.

Thank you Seiko and Citizen collectors for following me on this stroll down memory lane.
 
Piso Mojado said:
Seiko SNE095

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1st generation solar-powered Seiko field watch. Seiko got off to a late start because they had a "superior" alternative to the photovoltaic (PV) cell watches produced by Citizen. Seiko's rechargeable battery watches had a mechanical recharger cranked by a rotating-weight mechanism like the self-winder on an automatic watch. I forgot what they called this system, it's been that many years. Of course Seiko's system cost more, but that's Seiko baby — you pay more to get the best. The problem was, you paid more to get the worst. If you didn't wear these watches every day, the batteries would totally discharge. You had to pull the movement and remove the self-winder to get the battery, take the battery to a dealer or a watchmaker and if they couldn't recharge it, they would sell you a new battery. So you had a battery-powered watch that needed a watch winder. How can you beat that?

Seiko built ill will among collectors of battery-powered watches and their first generation of solar watches didn't sell well. I bought this on closeout and paid less than $100. I wouldn't have paid more. It has some minor design flaws, the first being black day/date windows which are hard to read. Only the hands have Seiko's Super-LumiNova, the numbers and pips fade in 5 minutes. Why that? And the bracelet buckle had 1 (one) micro-adjustment hole. I put it on a leather strap and it looked better.

Thank you Seiko and Citizen collectors for following me on this stroll down memory lane.
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seiko kinetic. I put one on post 5496.

ya got a great watch.

citizens eco drive is still ahead of seiko solar, but seiko are slowly catching up. I collect both brands, but since seiko went crazy on their pricing and dumped the skx line..I find citizen has a better value on their promasters line over seikos prospex line. like both lines though.
 
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JBoone said:
Nice looking watch and band. Simple, classy and clean.
Not very familiar with this brand, looked it up this appears to be the "Five points" model?
Was that the band that came with it? Any other information?
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Yes to Five Points & the original band.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of other information. Gevril list prices are typically ridiculous, with selling prices being markedly less (about a third, from what I've seen). Beyond that, grey market sellers sometimes offer them for lower still.
Admittedly, I gambled on this one after having an order cancelled on a "had to have" watch. As I looked at more images after committing, I had concerns that I was going to hate it...but, luckily, that was not the case. It seems to keep good time, though it's only had a few days on my wrist.
 
I've gone down the watch rabbit hole in the past few years...fortunately I've been in the right place at the right time to snag a couple nice deals...a few of my more recent auto acquisitions.

It is nice to have non-controversial conversation pieces/topics like watches you can have casual discussions about with others.

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jbmonkey said:
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This is a Citizen Promaster Nighthawk "Havana edition" that was sold in Southeast Asia only.

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In the U.S. you could buy this watch from gray market dealers on eBay, but it wasn't popular enough to interest the gray market dealers of New York. I bought a cheaper Citizen watch from an Asian gray market dealer: it arrived brand new with shrink wrapped Citizen packaging, tags, and a warranty for repair or replacement by any authorized Citizen dealer in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, or Brunei. Citizen's and Seiko's quality control is good enough to risk buying without a warranty, and their Asian and EU models are not expensive enough to attract counterfeiters.

I was interested in this watch because it's different. I waited for a sale that never happened and now it's three or four years out of production, but I have more free cash and I'm thinking about a used one. I don't know who called this "the Havana edition" but I suspect it is a collectors' name.

I showed a photo to a fashion-conscious woman friend who said it was the ultimate watch for a career UPS driver.

Update 12/14/23: I dithered too long and it sold. There will be another.
 
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