Watches have been my passion for several years, and of all the time looking through endless timepieces, I seldom found a watch that so accurately captures the love for horology as the Seiko 5, the watch I wear on my wrist at this very moment.

As Jack Forster said, they are considered to be the “worst-kept secret in watchdom”, and so, with the pain of an empty hole left inside me after I had to send in my Rolex for three months long repair, I pulled the trigger on a Seiko SNKE01K1, also known as “The Poor-man’s Grand Seiko”.

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know what to expect when my subtle box from Amazon appeared at my door step. I do know, however, that any expectations I had of the watch, were more than surpassed the moment I lifted my new daily wearer out of its’ box.

At first I had my reservations about the see-through case back. I had previously agreed with Rolex in that, if it is not a particularly impressive movement then you shouldn’t try to show it off. But rather than the fear of the watch feeling tacky, it actually did the exact opposite: it felt honest. Seiko knows this is not an attractive movement, but they also know the target audience of this piece: enthusiastic beginners to the world of horology. And a beginner does not care about whether the movement is attractive; this is the first one they’d get to see, and they’re falling in love with its intricacy.

It also feels honest in another way. Although the case-back begs to differ, the movement makes no lies in that this is a tool watch. The fact that this piece is a tool watch is confirmed by the fact that I was never scared to wear my Seiko; an unfortunate feeling I often experienced whilst wearing my Rolex.

Now of course, with a watch at this price, there are also some drawbacks. Personally I had some trouble with the bracelet. While I largely appreciated the design of the bracelet, it did pull out a fair amount of hairs at first, something that fortunately ceased to occur within a week. Then I found that the link connecting the bracelet to the clasp, which is a piece of metal bent to look like a ‘C’, started loosening to the point that my bracelet would regularly disconnect from the clasp while opened. While preferably avoidable, this made for a great opportunity to show off the movement to friends. Eventually, I was able to repair it by squeezing it back into shape with a pair of pliers, once again adding to the tool watch spirit. My final complaints are dedicated to the poor lume, and the crystal, which easily attracts scratches.

So to sum up this piece, I continue to have a great experience with the Seiko SNKE01K1. It is a watch I would recommend to anyone without hesitation, if they were looking for something more than the time on their iPhone.