The SNK807 is the Blue Sibling of the Much-Loved SNK809
To see the black SNK809, check out our SNK809 review.
Every now and then, a watch comes by that, in reality, needs no introduction. The Seiko SNK807, a well-known member of the even better known Seiko 5 family, is such a watch. At only $60, it is an incredibly inexpensive automatic watch.
A price like that begs the question not if, but where Seiko cut corners. Let’s jump right in.
The SNK807 Features a Beautiful Blue Dial
The beautiful blue dial of the SNK807 feels like a well-executed exercise in restraint. There are no distracting elements present and Seiko did a good job on making the dial clean and legible.
On a very slightly textured background, the SNK807 features and outer track with minute markers and an inner track displaying the hours. The minute markers have Arabic numerals at five minute intervals, similar to the inner hour track, which has Arabic numerals at every hour. Furthermore, Seiko included small lume pips at the very outer edge of the dial. Though not quite as bright as on other watches, the lume is more than sufficient.
The dial sports the well known Seiko 5 logo at the 12 o’clock position. At the 3 o’clock position Seiko added a day/date window. While I’m personally not a big fan of date windows, this one is executed beautifully and fits the watch well. A nice touch is that the day disc contains two languages, English and Spanish.
The SNK807 is fitted with sword hands for the hours and minutes. The seconds hand closely resembles a straight pin. It has its end tipped in red, which really adds some interest to the watch as a whole. The hour and minute hands both have a lume filling that do their job more than sufficiently. The second hand has lume in its counterweight.
Seiko SNK807 Technical Specifications
- Model Number: SNK807
- MSRP: $185
- Case Diameter: 37mm
- Alternate Models: Quite a few
- Movement: Automatic, Seiko 7S26C
- Complications: Day/date display
- Power Reserve: Approximately 40 hours
- Water Resistance: 30m / 99ft
- Crystal Material: Hardlex
The SNK807’s Case & Finishings
The case of the SNK807 is made of stainless steel and has a matte brushed finish all over, with the exception of the edge of the caseback, which is polished. It’s 37mm in diameter and 11mm thick and as such fits pretty much anyone. It has slightly curved lugs, which are 18mm apart.
At both the front and the back of the watch Seiko added a flat Hardlex crystal. While the movement has no finishing whatsoever, it’s still inherently cool to see it at work. It’s not a feature one would expect at this price point, but it’s a cool bonus. One point of criticism, however, is the print on the caseback crystal: it is unnecessary and makes it feel a bit cheap.
The crown is positioned at the 4 o’clock position and is rather small. Despite its size, the push/pull crown does its job. Setting the day, date and time is a breeze.
A more critical note goes out to the blue canvas strap the SNK807 comes on. The watch has so far been very good at hiding its true price. The strap, unfortunately, takes away from that. It makes the watch look a bit cheap and almost like a children’s watch. It really doesn’t do the watch any favors. Furthermore, it doesn’t appear to be very durable; after a few days the first signs of degradation were already visible. A recommendation to all future buyers or the SNK807: ditch the strap. Even a generic, plain black or brown leather strap will completely change the watches’ appearance for the good.
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The Seiko 7S26C Movement Inside the SNK807
The SNK807 comes with Seiko’s own Calibre 7S26C, a budget movement found in many Seiko 5’s and Seiko SKX-divers. It has a fairly standard power reserve of 40 hours.
I expected to find significant concessions in the movement, but Seiko has improved it’s calibre a lot over the past two iterations. Whereas the 7S26(A) was once notorious for losing up to 30 seconds per day, the 7S26C has reduced that to a very reasonable 3-5 seconds a day.
That doesn’t mean Seiko hasn’t made any concessions: the 7S26C doesn’t support manual winding, nor does it have hacking seconds. It would’ve been nice to have seen them included, but it’s hard to blame Seiko for leaving it out in a watch priced at $60.
Specifications
- Rate: 21,600 bph
- Accuracy: -20 to +40 seconds/day
- Jewels: 21
- Hacking: No
- Hand winding: No
My Final Thoughts on the Seiko SNK807
Seiko has achieved something rather incredible with the SNK807. They managed to create an extremely affordable automatic watch, throwing in a day/date complication as a bonus and succeeding at hiding its true price pretty well.
At this price point, significant concessions are unavoidable, but Seiko has been able to make them not be too apparent or painful. The result is a watch that is not perfect, but does a lot of things very right for very little money.
As such, the SNK807 makes for a great weekend beater watch or a first watch for someone just getting into mechanical watches. But regardless of how you use the SNK807, do yourself and the watch a favor and throw out the blue strap.
Seiko 5 SNK807 Automatic Photo Gallery
