SEIKOCoutura Men's Solar Perpetual Calendar Alarm Chronograph Watch

Other reviewers have already captured this watch's excellent value, feature set, looks and quality. Below are my observations; I'll summarize that this is a dress watch that makes slight trade-offs for looks over functionality (rather than being a sports or everyday watch), and is really well designed and manufactured for that purpose.NOTE: You must properly set the watch the first time around, otherwise calendar and alarm may not work right. It's all in the manual! Shouldn't have to touch it again for a long time.Battery: It's solar-powered, so you shouldn't have to replace the battery for a long time.Size and fit: The case size of 44 mm is on the smaller side for men's chronographs these days, and should work for more wrists. The lugs curve downwards from the watch back (rather than going straight out, or being offset by a domed back), helping the watch wrap nicely on my thinner wrist. There's plenty of removable links - in fact, they *all* can be removed (no one's going to, but just so you know).Functions: I compared this to a Citizen PCAT, which was also in the running. Seiko's functions are easier to use - lower side button for chrono, upper side button for checking date-month-year-battery reserve. Pull crown to position 1 for setting alarm, position 2 for setting time and calendar. Missing are world time, multiple time zones, and radio time sync (compared to more expensive Couturas and the Citizen PCATs), but those weren't worth the premium for me.Buttons: Two side buttons, that shouldn't get pushed accidentally, thanks to the raised "shoulder" of the crown, as well as their own resistance and clickiness (might take some time getting used to). The alarm is set using the side buttons rather than by turning the crown. In some contexts, holding the button pressed will move the hands faster (like when setting the alarm or the time/calendar).Dials and hands: Top dial is for day, date-hand function indicator and power level. The "day arc" dial is less common in watches, and I like how it's done here. Bottom dial is alarm time/chrono hour+minute. Left dial is always seconds. The normal second hand is actually a calendar hand on this watch, cycling between displaying date, month and year when pressing the top side button. It's much more readable than a small date dial, of course less so than a date window - but the date hand is unique and works for the look of the watch vs a date window.The big dials has 1/5th second markings for the chrono functions, but these are missing near the big 5-minute markers - for looks I guess, but I'd have preferred if they had kept the fine markings everywhere.Hands are nicely styled, with the hour and minute hands having plenty of LumiBrite. The calendar hand is really thin; a bit more width would have been nice. Other markings are white against black, no LumiBrite here - will be difficult to read in "mood lighting".Materials and build: can't complain, solid parts are solid, moving parts are well-fitted, glass is sapphire crystal and flat, water resistance of 100 m is adequate (not planning on scuba diving with this dress watch). The polished silver band will slowly scratch, so enjoy it while it lasts. After that, declare it "brushed metal"? The band styling is unique to the Coutura line, as far as I can tell, and quite attractive.You won't find a replacement band from Seiko, so take care of the original (or maybe buy a busted Coutura for the band if you must).Comparable watches: Seiko SSC787 is this watch but in silver with blue tone. Citizen PCATs offer similar dial layout, more features (time zones, tachymeter, radio sync, and 200 m water resistance, but lack month-year) at a higher price.Finally, be careful where you buy it from - either get it from Amazon.com directly, or an authorized Seiko seller. My first attempt landed me a "new" watch from an inventory liquidator, and many of the negative reviews here appear to have had a similar experience.

very nice watch,beautifully made it is just a little to large for my wrist

Watch arrived well packaged, A beautiful time piece well made, quality construction. It’s a little difficult to setup but well worth it

Bought this to wear on my wedding day. I still love this watch everyday. Great quality!

Great Watch. Did a watch trade with my ex husband. I bought him this one and he loved it. However I loved it too. Its a beautiful watch that i should've kept for myself.

It looks nice but if you want it to display the date, it is really funky to set. Once it is set, you need to go out of your way to read the watch to know what month/day it is. That is, you need to change the mode by pushing a button. This should be easy to see and obvious at all times instead. It would be better to just leave the calendar functions off of it and let it be a stylish timepiece. Also, for the price, it should pick up the time from radio waves like much less expensive ecodrive Citizen watches do.

Great watch for the money. fast delivery

March 2023Conceptually this is a wonderful watch: a perpetual calendar that never needs adjustment, a perpetual movement that never needs winding or adjustment, plus stop watch and alarm features. It is an electrical, electronical, and mechanical miracle of miniaturization - a scientific marvel. Unfortunately the implementation is flawed. The dates displayed on the outer rim of the watch are too small to read easily. Depending on the lighting, glare and reflection from the crystal and hour markings may make it almost impossible to read. (The photographs of the watch are glare free and the numbers appear legible, but in practice they are not.)The same applies to the days of the week. The model under discussion has a dark face with light printing. The model with a white face and black printing may be better.The minute and hour hands often obscure the sub-dials, further making them difficult to read. Overall, the watch looks pretty and is good for telling the time. It is a very heavy time piece.The alarm is so quiet that it cannot be heard, even in a silent room, unless the watch is held to the ear. In practical terms the watch may as well not have an alarm. Also, even if one wants the alarm to be set to the same time every day it needs to be reset from scratch. This would be very annoying if one could actually use the alarm.The watch comes without instructions, which need to be downloaded. There are no instructions for adjusting the length of the bracelet.To register the watch and to find the right manual they make references to model number, serial number, case number, and caliber code. None is easy to find, read, or tell apart from the others.Seiko's registration process is outrageous. The system would not allow registration without giving information such as age, income, education, and what other watches one owned. This information is irrelevant to watch registration and a gross violation of privacy. There are two aspects to privacy. The one being whether the company will keep your data secure and private. The other is what part of your information the company itself needs to know. Asking for things such as age and income are impertinent and rude, and a violation of privacy. Refusing to register the watch without this information is outrageous.Upon due consideration I have reluctantly decided to return the watch. Not being able to hear the alarm was the final deal breaker, especially as I had bought it for the alarm.