Is the Seiko 5 Sports worth it?

Sapphire, a screw-down crown, 200m and an in-house hacking, hand-winding automatic — a materially better specification at a similar price.

Orient publishes no US service price, which is the thing Seiko does better than anyone.

On paper this is the best value in the category and it is not close: sapphire and a hacking, hand-windable in-house caliber at a price where Seiko still fits Hardlex. Orient's three-year warranty is longer than Hamilton's or Tissot's.

The Turtle is what people think the Seiko 5 still is: 200m, a screw-down crown and the ISO 6425 diver's marking, on the same 4R36 and the same $176 overhaul.

A 45mm cushion case rather than 42.5mm, and the same Hardlex crystal.

Seiko rates this at 200m as a diver's watch, not merely water-resistant — screw-down crown, screw case back, unidirectional bezel. The 45mm figure is misleading: the cushion case has no protruding lugs.

The 4R36 both hacks and hand-winds, which the older 7S did not, so you can set the seconds precisely and wind it without shaking it. 41 hours of reserve and 24 jewels.

42.5mm across but only 46mm lug-to-lug and 13.4mm thick, so it sits on the wrist far better than the diameter suggests, on a 22mm strap width that takes anything.

Hardlex, 100m and no screw-down crown. It handles rain, washing up and a swim, but it is not the diver the old SKX was and Seiko does not claim it is.

The 4R36 is the most commonly serviced mechanical caliber in the United States and Seiko publishes a flat $176 price to overhaul it. That single fact does more for a twenty-year horizon than any spec on the case.

The same 4R36, the same 100m and the same $176 service path, in a 39.4mm case — the version to buy for a smaller wrist.

The lug-to-lug is actually longer at 48.1mm, so measure before assuming the smaller number fits better.

The 39.4mm case reads small, but the 48.1mm lug-to-lug does not — this wears longer than its diameter suggests. Measure your wrist before you buy on the diameter alone.

Sapphire and 200m on an automatic at a lower price than the Seiko — on specification alone it beats the 5 Sports in two places that matter.

Timex does not publish the caliber or a service price, and the one-year warranty excludes the crystal, strap, case and battery.

Sapphire and 200m for the money is real. What Timex does not publish is the caliber — which means you cannot look up what an overhaul costs before you buy, and that is exactly the number this site exists to check.