Never have I seen a watch’s image suffer for external reasons as much as the SRPB089. For those out of the loop, this piece became a lightning rod for controversy when Hodinkee placed them for sale, sold out immediately within minutes, and were immediately placed for resale for ridiculously hiked prices by resellers. In essence, if you weren’t ready to buy from Hodinkee within minutes of release, your only chance of owning one was from a reseller, for 50%-100% more than the original price. This, understandably left a bad taste in many collectors’ mouth, and since then, the watch has had a polarizing image among the watch community, having been such a popular but poorly executed release.
If you are able to move past that, this watch is simply phenomenal. It takes everything that made the SARB017 (green Alpinist) a modern classic and adds a much more versatile blue dial to the mix. The great movement, design, water resistance and overall feel of the original watch stays, with a new layer of versatility added to it.
Note: For what it is worth, Seiko authorized dealers in the United States later released this model in brick and mortar locations, though that received little to no media coverage, making this widely unknown to the public. I was able to snag one at retail weeks after release, in essence solving the entire controversy that shrouded this model. Sadly, many do not know this was released in physical stores.
Specifications:
Size: 39.5mm
Case: Stainless Steel
Movement: 6R15 Movement (Hacking)
Crystal: Sapphire
Water Resistance: 200m
Complications: Date, Internal Rotating Bezel Compass
In essence, this can be seen as a review of the SARB Alpinist too, as many of the accolades apply to both models. This watch, in many ways and as indicated by its name, is meant to be a tool watch. The compass complication alludes to that, but beyond that, the water and shock resistance, size, and overall design exemplifies an outdoorsy watch. At 20mm, the lugs of this piece require, what I consider, the most versatile size of straps. Throw it on a leather, canvas, nato, or even metal bracelet, and this piece looks fantastic. Its strap versatility is one of the big reasons that drew me to it, and it continues to be one of the big reasons it is still in my collection. Simply stated, this piece looks great on anything. At sub 40mm, the case size is the perfect field watch size, which attracted many collectors seeking a modest-sized watch, like myself.
The lume applied on this dial is subtle and tasteful. It features Seiko’s proprietary torch lume, but it is applied in small quantities throughout the dial. You won’t get the usual Seiko diver generously-sized lumed indices, but that isn’t a bad thing.
The sapphire crystal was a nice touch for a Seiko piece. Even though most watches above $200 or so sport a sapphire crystal, Seiko seems to not follow suit. We can identify $750+ Seiko sport watches without sapphire. This strange trend is a topic to discuss in and of itself, better left for another day. Regardless, the sapphire on the Alpinist is greatly appreciated.
Finally, the shade of blue used for the dial is the true defining feature of this piece. I have found this truly difficult to capture in photos, as it seems to reflect light differently, depending on intensity and source. As seen in the video below, artificial light gives the dial a sort of purple tone. Add warm light, and the dial turns a rich and very dark blue. Under bright natural light, the dial turns a sunburst and bright blue. I found this to be a nice touch and something that truly differentiated it from its SARB brother.
