How to choose a Seiko watch? Movement differences need to be understood!

Posted by lifata on February 20th, 2023

With its precise and reliable quartz movement, Seiko defeated many Swiss mechanical movements in one fell swoop in the last century, setting off a "quartz storm" in the watch industry. As a representative brand of Japanese watchmaking, Seiko watches are not only famous for their quartz movements, but also for their automatic mechanical movements. Especially in 2017, the high-end series Grand Seiko under Seiko officially became independent, achieving brand separation. So far, Seiko replica Watch is still focusing on the affordable watch market, maintaining a consistent pricing strategy that is friendly to the people. The important task of impacting high-end and showing the top craftsmanship of Japanese watchmaking is entrusted to Grand Seiko. Compared with the public price of Swiss entry-level mechanical watches, the price of Seiko mechanical watches is more affordable, so it has become the first choice for many players who are new to mechanical watches.

After Seiko and Grand Seiko separated, the 9S series movement stood out and became exclusive to Grand Seiko. At present, the movements carried by Seiko watches can be roughly divided into three categories: "low, medium and high". It should be noted that Seiko’s naming of the movement does not use numbers to distinguish the positioning. For example, the previous entry-level movement is the 7S series, which starts with the number 7. Its upgraded version of the watch using the 4R movement is mainly concentrated in RMB 1,000 to 3,000, which is also the main range of brand sales. Seiko’s mid-range movement belongs to the 6R series, which complements the shortcomings of entry-level models in terms of function. The price of these fake watches cheap has reached RMB 3,000 to 5,000, which can fully demonstrate Seiko’s watchmaking philosophy. On the other hand, Seiko also has a high-end model 8L movement, and some performances can compete with the 9S movement.

There are 7S25, 7S26, 7S35, 7S55 and other subdivision models in the 7S series movement, among which 7S26 is the representative. The 7S26 movement has been developed since the 1990s. It adopts an automatic winding structure and has a calendar display function in addition to hours, minutes and seconds. The 7S26 movement has a simple structure and fewer parts, which is conducive to cost control and maintenance. The vibration frequency of the movement is 21600vph, the number of jewel bearings is 21, and the dynamic storage is 40 hours. The allowable daily error range is -35 to +45 seconds per day. In addition, the movement is also equipped with Diashock shock absorbers and "magic levers", which are distinctive. However, no matter 7S26 or 7S36, they do not have the function of stopping seconds, and they do not support winding by rotating the crown. After the launch of the 4R movement with more complete functions, the 7S movement has gradually been marginalized, and new products have become less common in recent years.

Let's take a look at the 4R movement, which is also positioned at the entry level. Compared with the 7S series, the main difference of the 4R36 movement is the addition of stop seconds and manual winding functions, which make up for the shortcomings of the function. Since the movement structures of the two are almost the same, it can be said that the improvement is not large, and they are also entry-level. In the 4R movement family, in addition to the 4R36 movement with the day and date display function, there are also the 4R35 movement with a single date display and the dynamic storage display model 4R37, etc. Their swings are all 21600vph, and the same 40-hour movement The number of jewel bearings varies from 23 to 29.

If 7S and 4R are just Seiko’s entry-level movements, then the 6R movement is a watershed. The performance of the 6R movement has been significantly improved: it is equipped with a Spron510 spring, which is made of alloy and has a certain anti-magnetic ability. In addition, the running error of the 6R movement is smaller, and it has a certain decorative polishing, which can widen the gap with the entry-level movement by virtue of its appearance. Among them, the dynamic storage of the 6R15 movement has been increased to 50 hours; and the 6R35 movement has gone further, with a dynamic storage of 70 hours. In addition, the 6R series movement also has a model 6R27 with a vibration frequency of 28800vph, which maintains a 45-hour dynamic storage and also adds a dynamic display function.

The 8L movement is currently the highest-level movement used in Seiko Replica Watches Store, and the brand has strict requirements on it. The daily error range of the 8L movement has reached -10/+15 seconds per day, which is an outstanding performance among many Seiko movements. In fact, the 8L35 movement has a certain "blood relationship" with the 9S55 movement used by Grand Seiko, which can be simply understood as its simplified version. Although the 8L35 movement is not as good as the latter in terms of details and polishing, in terms of its structure , both are equally good. The 8L movement also has a high-vibration model 8L55, which has a vibration frequency of 36,000vph under the premise of maintaining a dynamic storage of 55 hours.