I decided to get another watch-box so that I can keep some of my watches in a more systematic way. There are options in terms of the number of slots but for my requirement, I chose one with 12 slots. I found one on Amazon that came with artificial black leather and a glass top.
The price quoted was also quite reasonable. It was listed at USD16.99 (plus USD25.71 for shipping and import fees). This equates to RM206.69 (product: RM74.73; shipping: RM113.18; import fees: RM18.78).
Within five days the package was on my desk.
I was apprehensive at first when I put in the order. I wasn't sure how well the merchant will wrap the watch-box to go through the delivery process without suffering any damage. When I got the package, that worry was unwarranted. It was bubble-wrapped and stuffed inside a bigger box with loads of padding.
When I took away the plastic wrapping, I noticed a few things about the product. Apart from the glass top and the 12 slots for watches, I also noted that it comes with a lock as well as a set of two keys. A nice touch by the merchant was to throw in a polishing cloth into the mix. A link to the Amazon page for the product can be found here.
I can't remember whether I have said this thing before but I am annoyed with Seiko's public relation strategy on the Seiko 5 range, specifically the lack of a define promotional plan for all the new offerings. Followers are forced to actively look at watch forums or third party blog postings to get a whiff of new stuff coming out of Seiko's factories.
This is one instance that I was caught off-guard. I caught a glimpse of the watch in a shop display stand and I was immediately smitten by it. I didn't even know Seiko has such a model ready for shipment and yet it is already delivered to its dealers (in Malaysia definitely, can't say for sure other parts of the world though).
Anyway, Seiko, if you are reading this, please come out with a formal process of announcing to your legion of fans new offerings with all the necessary information package like stock photos, specification sheets and product description at the very least. If you can do it for your Prospex and Presage, you can do it for your Seiko 5.
Let's get back to the review.
This new series, with reference SRPC61, SRPC63, SRPC65 and SRPC67 is a 2018 offering from Seiko and has been given the nickname "Bottlecap" by fans. It can come either with the additional suffix J1 or K1 which signifies either "MADE IN JAPAN" for the former or elsewhere for the latter. What I got is the SRPC61K1 which means that it is made out of Japan.
I tried getting it in Kuala Lumpur but the price, even after discount, was still higher that what I could get overseas. In fact, I ordered mine via Amazon. It only costs me USD149.99 plus USD24.95 for courier charges which came to RM760.61. In Kuala Lumpur, the MSRP is RM1,145 and the best price I got was RM801.50 (30% discount).
The Watch
The watch is part of the Seiko 5 Sports line which is the more sporty version of the generic Seiko 5 models. Made out of stainless steel, it comes with a bracelet, a unidirectional divers' bezel and a day-date complication. It measures 45 mm across (excluding the crown) with a lug-to-lug width of 47 mm. Thickness of the watch is 13 mm. Meanwhile, lug width is 20 mm.
The watch has 3-hands, date and day complications. The dial is black. It also comes with a unidirectional bezel. The whole construction is made out of stainless steel with brushed surfaces.
The SRPC61 is water rated to 100 meters. Although designed like a diver, I would not advise you to actively swim with one on. The lack of a screw-down crown does make it more likely to have water ingress especially if used in a very active way. A leisurely swim is fine.
Fans have given the nickname "Bottlecap" to this watch for good reason. The cone-base shaped casing plus the notching surface on the bezel creates a familiar shape to a bottle cap.
The chapter rings is vertical and polished. The edge of the dial is printed the minute and sub-minute line markers in white. Every fifth minutes which corresponds to the hour markers is larger than the rest; Seiko uses Lumibrite paint on these to provide illumination in the dark.
The next set of scale is the applied hour markers. Despite have a larger aperture to fit in the day and date complications at 3 o'clock, every hour consists of an illuminated hour marker with various designs. The 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions have rectangle markers. The 12 o'clock has an upside down triangle. The 3 o'clock has a square marker while the rest have round markers. All hour markers are framed with polished metal.
On the dial there are 7 rows of texts and logo. The upper half of the dial consists of the applied brand and logo as well as the words "SPORTS" printed in red. On the bottom half of the dial, the words "AUTOMATIC", "24 JEWELS" and "100M" can be clearly seen. The seventh row of text is very small and located at the bottom edge of the dial. It consists of production codes for the watch.
The day wheel on the SRPC61 has two languages, English and French. Surprisingly, both the day wheel and date wheel uses opposite colours for the text and background. The day wheel uses a black background with white text while the date wheel uses a white background with black text. I believe the colour combination was used to minimise any disruption of visual symmetry to the dial.
Seiko uses a sword design for the hours and minutes hands. Both are painted with Lumibrite with polished steel frame surrounding the painted portion. Meanwhile, the seconds hand has an epee style design and polished.
The dial is protected by Seiko's in-house proprietary crystal; Hardlex. The flat crystal is flushed with the bezel.
The bezel has angled surfaces that creates an illusion of it being thinner than the bezel of typical dive watches. It has minute markers in dots etched into the metal surface with additional markers in either line or Arabic numbering at 5 minute intervals. Meanwhile, the 12 o'clock marker is an upside down triangle. All markers are filled with black paint.
The unidirectional bezel travels with 120-click increments for a full rotation. Unfortunately, there is some rearward play in the bezel. Nevertheless, the notching at the side does facilitate grip.
The crown on the SRPC61 is located at the 4 o'clock position. It is a push-in crown and sterile without any markings. It has a coin-edge side to enable grip.
The SRPC61 uses a very short and angled lugs to minimise wrist overhangs for wearers with small wrists. The difference between the dial diameter and the lug-to-lug length is just 2 mm! The angled lugs also help keep the watch snug on the wrist.
The watch is paired with a standard bracelet with double-lock folding clasp. The links are connected by a simpler split pin instead of the more traditional pin-and-sleeve system found in most Seiko 5 bracelets. I suspect, this style of locking pin will superseded the more awkward to use pin-and-sleeve system. On the clasp itself, there are 4 micro-adjustment points for finer bracelet resizing.
The bracelet looks solid but on closer inspection you can see the fine line where the metal has been folded over itself to make it look thicker (see below).
I am actually happy to note that Seiko decided to go with a 20 mm wide lugs instead of the typical 22 mm. I believe this is the right size for a bracelet watch as it beautifully complements the size of the watch casing.
The only issue I have with the bracelet is its loose fitting. It jingles and rattles. I guess this is one problem that would be very difficult to address unless Seiko decides to completely redesign the bracelet.
The SRPC61 comes with a display screw-down case-back. Here you can see Seiko 4R36A automatic movement. This 24 jewel, hand-winding and hacking capable movement operates at 21,600 BPH with approximately 40 hours of power reserve.
The SRPC61 does not disappoint when it comes to illumination. The amount of Lumibrite paint used is indicative by the brightness of the illumination. Above was the photo taken of the watch after being subjected to dark light for just a few seconds.
The Wearing Experience
The short lugs make the watch wear nicely on the wrist. It has a similar feel to wearing a Seiko Tuna. The 20 mm bracelet feels just nice and despite the height of the SRPC61, the shape of the watch casing reduces the chance of snagging. In the photo below, you can see how easily the watch tucks under shirt cuff.
Below is a video of the watch on my wrist.
The rattling bracelet is the major downside to the SRPC61. Nevertheless, once on the wrist, it does its job perfectly.
With the short angled lugs, pairing the watch with a leather strap would make it more fashionable in my opinion. Only one of the other four members of the Bottlecap series were paired without a bracelet. Instead, a NATO style nylon strap was used. I would rather see it with a leather strap than a NATO (or even ZULU) strap.
Conclusion
The Bottlecap SRPC61 is a refreshing design. The pricing is also affordable and would encourage a lot more people into the watch-collecting hobby.
The Series
There are four members of this particular Bottlecap series. They are the SRPC61, SRPC63, SRPC65 and SRPC67 with either the J1 suffix (made in Japan) or K1 suffix (made outside Japan).
SRPC61J1/SRPC61K1
SRPC63J1/SRPC63K1
SRPC65J1/SRPC65K1
SRPC67J1/SRPC67K1
All have a combination of bracelet, NATO strap, polished surface, PVD surface, coloured bezel and coloured dial. The models with the J1 suffix will have the "MADE IN JAPAN" at the bottom edge of the dial.
Specifications
Material: Stainless Steel
Glass: Hardlex
Strap: Bracelet
Dial: Black
Movement: Automatic
Complications: Analog hands, day & date
Caliber: 4R36A
Jewels: 24
Water Resist: 100 m
Bezel: Unidirectional
Case Diameter: 45 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Lugs: 20 mm
Lug-to-Lug: 47 mm
A famous Roman soldier called Marcus Aurelius (121AD - 180AD) was accredited to have said, "To refrain from imitation is the best revenge". Unfortunately, in the world of horology, making a homage is rather common and reflects a strong respect to iconic designs that appears evergreen throughout the ages. Although Orient is one of the few watch manufacturers in the world with the complete production capabilities including in-house movements, it did not stop the brand from creating homages. Of the homages created, one stands out. The Rolex Day-Date, also known as the "President" is a fitting iconic piece for a homage and Orient nailed it perfectly.
There are eight models with different tones and colours for the dial, watch casing and bracelet as part of Orient's homage to the Rolex "President". I chose the reference EV0J003B with clean stainless steel casing and bracelet with black dial. Bought it from Amazon for USD339.00 plus USD25.00 for courier which totals to RM1,582.62. A discount was given by the retailer in the form of a shipping refund of RM108.70 and an item refund of RM43.48. Overall, the net total cost was just RM1,430.44. Below was the email that I received.
I received the watch 48 hours after making the order. Surprisingly, the package originated from Malaysia! Now it made sense why they were generous enough to give me the special discount.
An interesting observation is that you can't find this series being highlighted in Orient's official website. It is as if this series was not sanctioned by Orient. Nevertheless, I am not surprised at all as Japanese watchmakers tend to have a different way of promoting their products unlike the Swiss. Case in point is the way Seiko treats its Seiko 5 line of watches.
Having the fan base to promote one's product is the cheapest and most effective way to get traction. The endorsement of a purchaser is a known marketing gem and works wonders for the promotion of the brand. In fact nowadays with a lot of social media platforms available, "Influencers" are a bred of normal people where their tastes can influence the wants of a lot of their followers. I guess, I am one of them for Orient 😀
The Watch
The watch is a proper dress watch. Measuring just 36 mm across the dial (39.5 mm including the crown), it has a length of 44 mm lug-to-lug with a thickness of 11 mm. Lug width is 20 mm. Apart from the 3-hands, additional complications include a long day aperture at 12 o'clock and a date aperture at 3 o'clock.
Made out of stainless steel, the surface of the face casing as well as the bracelet is polished.
Making a homage is easy from a design and manufacturing point of view. However, on the flip side it is also dangerous from a brand franchise point of view. If not properly managed, the brand reputation can be sullied to a level just next to "replica" manufacturers. This is also could be the reason why the brand did not want to advertise too obviously about this model. In this particular case, Orient is not in any such danger as the homage was done with taste.
The dial is black with five lines of texts and logo. The brand and its logo are positioned at the upper quadrant while the words "Automatic", "SAPPHIRE" and "100 m" are located at the bottom quadrant. The fonts are rather small which makes it harder to read offhand but helps create the feeling of space on the small dial.
The chapter ring is a polished vertical wall. On the other perimeter of the dial is a set of minute markers on a railway-track-style scale in silver. The main hour markers are multi-faceted glass crystals set in metal square placements except for 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock. At 12 o'clock is a long curved day aperture where the days are spelt in full. At 3 o'clock is a date aperture. Both the day and date wheels have the days and numbers printed in black over a white background.
The hands are thin yet faceted rectangular polished rods. Meanwhile, there are no luminous paint used on the watch. This limits the use of the watch in the dark.
Everything on the dial is protected by a flat sapphire crystal and just above the date aperture is a magnifying cyclops eye. There is no AR coating on the crystal which is expected considering the price point of the watch. Personally, I am not that hot for the cyclops eye. A domed crystal would be a better alternative in my view.
The fluted fixed bezel is a key design copy on the EV0J003B. Orient was able to balance it nicely. Another design copy is the screw-down crown located at 3 o'clock. The crown is sterile without any etchings. It has 4 positions; the first when screwed down; the second is the initial position after unscrewing; the third to adjust the date; and the fourth to adjust the time and day.
The watch casing is paired with a jubilee style bracelet. The links use a simple split pin to keep it all together. There is also a two stage micro adjustment points on the clasp. The clasp uses a double push button system with the brand stamped prominently on the outer part of the clasp.
Close examination of the links on the bracelet indicate that each one is solid and is either pressed or machined (I suspect more like pressed) from a steel billet. Due to the price point, I half expected it to be so. If it is just stamped sheet metal and folded on itself, the pricing would be much lower (perhaps even half of what I paid).
The movement is protected by a solid screw-down case-back. Very simple in design with no graphics apart from some information about the watch stamped in the centre. The movement is Orient's in-house automatic 21 jewel 46E40 caliber, This is part of Orient's workhorse movement that is non-hacking and non-hand-winding. Power reserve is approximately 40 hours.
An important point to note is the method to adjust the day function. Pulling the crown at the first position only adjust the date function. To adjust the day, you would need to pull the crown to the second position and move the hour hands back and forth between 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock to have the desired effect on the day function.
The watch is water rated at 100 meters. With a screw-down crown, I guess swimming in it should be fine. However, I would not recommend anything more vigorous in the water.
The Wearing Experience
The sub-40 mm width is perfect for a dress watch. It sits perfectly on my wrist and the polished stainless steel surface gives that additional shine that belies its true commercial value. Everywhere angle you look at it, the watch looks regal.
Below is the watch on my wrist.
CONCLUSION This is one homage that I have no qualms getting. It was done properly and the production quality is classic Orient. Coupled with the asking price, it is also very affordable. Instead of having a flat sapphire crystal with cyclops eye, I suggest a dome sapphire crystal instead. This would make the dial visual more perfect in my eyes.
The Packaging
The packaging on this Orient is as more elaborate compared to the standard Orient watch boxes. The outer white cardboard sleeve is white with the logo and brand printed in silver at the top. Inside, is the main watch box made out of hard board. The same logo and brand is also printed on the top in silver.
The watch box opens by flipping the top upwards as well as flipping down the front wall. Internally, it is padded rather luxuriously with cushioned velvet with the log and brand printed prominently on inner surface of the top wall. The watch sits snugly on its pillow.
The Series
There are 8 models under this series. The all gold painted examples are the EV0J001G (with gold dial) and EV0J001B (with black dial).
Then there are the dual tone gold and silver painted models EV0J002B (with black dial), EV0J002C (with golden dial) and EV0J002W (with white dial).
Finally the three silver painted models EV0J003B (with black dial), EV0J003W (with silver dial) and EV0J003DY (with blue dial).
All eight models come with Jubilee bracelet.
Specifications
Model Number: EV0J003B
Case Material: Stainless Steel
Band Material: Stainless Steel
Band Width: 20 Millimeters
Bezel: Fixed Fluted Bezel
Case Back: Solid
Case Diameter: 36 Millimeters
Case Diameter: 39.5 Millimeters with Crown
Case Length: 44 Millimeters
Case Thickness: 11 Millimeters
Lug Width: 20 Millimeters
Crown: Screw-down
Clasp: Double Push Button
Crystal: Flat Sapphire with Cyclops Eye
Case Back: Solid screw-down
Dial Color: Black
Features: Day Complication at 12 o'clock Position, Date Complication at 3 o'clock Position
Movement: Orient Automatic 21 Jewel 46E40 Movement, Non-Hacking, Non-Hand-Winding
Power Reserve: 40 Hours
Water Resistance: 100 Meters
I decided to get another watch-box so that I can keep some of my watches in a more systematic way. There are options in terms of the number of slots but for my requirement, I chose one with 12 slots. I found one on Amazon that came with artificial black leather and a glass top.
