Check out Chris's preview of the Prospex Black Series, including a look at the other watches that Seiko gave the same lume and colors too. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rmSUZfT_daw.html
The quality of your videos has been top notch lately. Great narration, photography and editing. Your video on the SPB249 has put that watch at the top of my list for my next buy. I have the SRPH11 black Samurai that has faux patina colored lume, and it glows pretty well too.
Kind sir, I just bought one of these today, because of Seiko special ops look, and your video. This is such a beautiful looking time piece. It’s a keeper for sure, so in my opinion, I’d get this watch, and enjoy it. This is my first samurai, I just bought the green king turtle, I love that look, but the King samurai, has got its own unique and special look, that I’ll get used too, without a doubt. I’m keeping mine, great video, and I hope you make a good decision concerning yours. Cheers, Matt 😊👍
I've got to say, this is one tough watch. I was impressed how well it withstood an impact I had with a pole due to crowd issues while queuing, and I and my Black Series King Samurai walked away unscathed! I thought the date magnifier would be damaged or scratched, but to my surprise, it was as good as new. I just love how rugged and strong this watch is!
I ordered the JDM version based on your review. It arrived today. It is gorgeous. Very well finished, and that atomic green dial- unreal. Absolutely love this watch. 🥰🥰 Many thanks for pointing me in the right direction.😊
I'm a happy owner of this watch and I have to say I fell in love with it instantly ! I paid around 700€ for it. Everything about it screams high quality ! Details and finish are incredible ! (Absolutely no misalignment on mine !) I own other brands who are worth 10 times more but for some reason, this Seiko became my daily and I just can't part from it ! Probably one of my favorite watches ever and will become for sure a collector item !
@@MusicianGreg I would send you a picture if i could but...😅 The watch is just looking so perfect and so much high end than i paid for... 😁 I've seen 5k$ watches built with less attention to details than this one 😅
Which version do you own? International or Japanese version? How well does it perform after 6 months of use? Can you share your ownership experience , it will help me in my buying decision.
Just got this watch, and it so cool looking in person. After years of low end Seikos, I've been done with them for a while. There are just so many better choices out there in this price range where quality surpasses Seiko, and then some. That said, I have to say this is my favorite Seiko in a long time. It feels like a modded Seiko with the sapphire and ceramic insert. The colorway is just so unique. The watch literally looks like it's glowing all day. It's Seiko so it has drawbacks. Of course like any Seiko, no 2 are the same and YMMV. The cyclops is kinda annoying. The bezel is tight, and extremely difficult with sweaty or wet hands. Timing sucks, but I guess gaining 20 seconds a day is within specs for this watch. This watch just looks so sharp.
Excellent review of a really interesting offering. Your summary hit it: It’s incredibly upgraded, and a great value in a vacuum…yet the awesome standard Samurai still exists. No bad choices there, and I agree that the sweet spot may have been hit by this being a special edition.
Coincidentally, I wore the Pepsi today, and I love it. Seiko seems to be having a very good year. This King Samurai fills a good niche, and a date-only cyclops is more appealing to some of us than the candy bar cyclops of the King Turtle. And just days away is the launch of the 5 GMT, which should be massive!
I was really excited for this release. I tried 2 on wrist. Ultimately, I passed because both had a misaligned bezel and I didn't like the cyclops. It wears smaller than 43mm and is very light. If you're in the market for one, I highly recommend you try it before you decide!
Being a Samurai owner, i would chose the newer black version. I would like to see this in about 10 years of wear, i believe the patina would be amazing.
I love my original Samurai, I opted for the black and silver version. I really like the look of this one but to be brutally honest, Seiko's premium features which always come at a cost, sapphire crystal and bezel, milled bracelets etc. have been standard fare on most microbrands for ages now. With the movement being the typical 4R35, there's nothing there to really justify the higher price. Or maybe I'm just becoming a grumpy old man 😂
Hi from Brazil! Excellent video, as always. IMHO, keep it both. They have complete different personalities, so I'm my opinion they have more differences than similarities in a degree that could easily take as 2 different watch for distracted eyes.
The only thing that bothers me is the bezel alignment. I have a King Samurai with the white waffle dial and I’d happily purchase this blacked out version but for the inability to check the bezel alignment when shopping online.
Fantastic review but my little gripe with seiko is that this isn't really that limited. 8000 units is still a fair amount to be honest. Plus they really need to fix their alignment issues. Other than that, this is awesome, the black and green is a winning combination for me. Keep up the great work
I purchased the JDM model of this watch. My Japanese dealer told me that they are scarce and hard to find. Even at 8000 units, seems like collectors are lining up to buy them. You immediately know why when you see the watch in person. Atomic green and black. Unreal beauty.🥰
Great video! I have a green dial king Samurai. It’s definitely a phenomenal watch especially for the price, that’s definitely a sleek edition. The new strap is much better too. Great Job
Love my STO Great White Sammy. Wear it every day. In fact I never take it off unless I have to do a task that could damage the watch, in which case I wear my Casio Duro beater watch. Anyway, if I were you I'd keep the King Blackout. I'm a one and done kinda guy. I will wear my GTO GW Sammy until the day I buy an Omega Seamaster 300. And then my Sammy will become my beater watch and my Seamaster will become my every day watch. But that's just my philosophy.
I like the watch a lot, but the idea that the 250 dollar bump is justified by the addition of sapphire Crystal ( something that by reasonable measure should have already been included on the original), better lume and a ceramic bezel, feels like a cash grab. I am also concerned that the cyclops doesn’t look accurately placed and a misaligned bezel on a “premium” watch is simply unacceptable.
This thing looks sick! Thanks for the good look at it. If I had both of your Samurais I would probably keep the new one. A King Samurai might be somewhere in my distant future but my next Seiko will hopefully be the new Seiko 5 GMT.
I find it interesting that in your lume test, the Orient (Baby Triton) actually beat both Seiko's. I still think that what Orient offers is a much better value for money. The Orient's specs are very similar to this new upgraded Samurai, including a sapphire crystal, and yet the Orient is still nearly $400 less.
Yeah, the Orient Baby Triton is a great watch, maybe my favorite diver from Orient right now. Amazing value, and the lume is significantly better than Seiko's, which is a pretty impressive feat!
orient makes some nice watches with great value but the finishing is not realy on par with a samurai. I have a samurai manta ray and an orient kamasu green dial and the finishing of the seiko are way better. We can argue that maybe it's not a level of finishing worth over double the price but it's still a very noticeable upgrade
I have a number of Samurai watches, Just not this one, yet ! Enjoy your videos and point of view, even if it's a year old . Try a Shogun review bit more expensive . Keep up the great work.
Think you need to keep both of them! I just bought the jdm version like yours. What a handsome samurai. The all black watch with that new lume is stunning. It may be my new favorite samurai. The lume is among the best of my watches. I have a soft spot for samurais. My oldest is a black ti bought from Japan. Not much lume.....but the indeces catch the light. The build quality is off the charts. Great review. Thanks
It's absolutely brilliant looking. I'd say keep it, but I was never a big fan of the pepsi colourway anyway so that's just down to preference. Price is my concern, after conversion and markup people here in Canada will be selling them for like $800CAD. Why oh why must everything cool be so expensive?
Thanks for the very detailed review, it will help me take a decision. Where can I find your Chinese character compass please? It’s very cool and unique and and as a Chinese I really want one.
Hi, great video, thank you. Is there a JDM/International version for the SRPH99k1 as well? Looking forward to a video on it too, much appreciated, thank you.
Dave, if you opt to stay with your original Samurai, I’ll be more than happy to take your Black Samurai off of your hands (at cost of course). Great video, I had forgotten about my Blue Lagoon Samurai and went to my case to put it on wrist. I had forgotten how comfortable it is on wrist! Thanks again.👍
Nice one Dave but I think that Citizen is doing a much better job when it comes to entry level watches. And even more expensive actually. They deserve a bit more light. But great review as always 😉
Interesting proposition from Seiko, not my personal style but still very appealing. I prefer the King Samurai Black Manta Ray. Between those two I would keep the Pepsi one
Keep the black it’s more unique. I want one just for those green markers!!! Love that. But I’m not a big watch fan with 22mm lugs. I’m more of a 40/20 guy. So I’m torn!! Opinions please🙏🙏
Aregato !!!Gracias Thank you so much I had to learn since you started with your channels how much you have grown congratulations and I’m beginning to understand the way you think about Watches thank you !! I am in the process of starting a low budget watches and I have noticed it I’m more happy when I weird my regular cycle my regular citizens and once in a while I’m a put an omega but I’m more happy when I wear something that I’m gonna enjoy for the day you don’t have to be one of the high-end You don’t have to be a low end or middle end I have starting to like more affordable Watches and I thank you for that all because of you great great job sir
So something different than the standard Samurai. Plus, it matches your shirt day and night.. well.. maybe if you ever make a version that actually also glows green in the dark.. totally doable, though.
There is much more green visible spectrum than any other color, ergo it makes sense that green lume can be made brighter than other colours. Maybe we evolved to look at trees, who knows.
Found this at almost half the retail price. How? Find a collector whose wife is seriously nagging him into quickly selling some of his pieces :)))) In any case, truly love it. Would wear it while sleeping if it wasn't for the risk of breaking it if I throw my arms around, so sticking to a G-shock at night. Excellent review and I'd say... either keep the new one or keep both if the regular Samurai has too many emotions attached to it :)
