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The Seiko 5 Sports Field Is Reborn as the Newest Affordable GMT

by Zen Love . Dec 19, 2023

News

The Seiko 5 Sports Field Is Reborn as the Newest Affordable GMT

Looks and features like this have never been so accessible.

Until last year, you mostly wouldn’t have expected to get a solid automatic GMT watch at under $1,500 much less $500. Seiko changed all that with its 4R34 movement and the Seiko 5 Sports GMT, and it’s now adding to that collection with the Field GMT—and to its reputation for offering the kind of watch you wouldn’t expect to find at such affordable prices.

It’s more than a GMT version of Seiko’s field watch

Longtime Seiko fans will know the celebrated but famously dirt-cheap Seiko 5 collection, within which was also a Seiko 5 Sports line. It was resurrected to fit into the modern brand’s more global presence in 2019, and began with models based on the beloved SKX dive watches. The collection’s ranks soon proliferated. Representative of the old Seiko 5 line was the SNK and other field-style watches, and modern versions of them soon followed as the modern Seiko 5 Sports became a pillar of the modern brand.

The new Seiko 5 Sports Field GMT watches have dials and 39.4mm-wide cases quite similar to their non-GMT counterparts (though lug-to-lug and width measurements are slightly different). Those dials recall old Seiko 5 watches like the SNZG with large Arabic numerals and small military time markers toward the inner dial. But that 24-hour bezel—it changes the watch’s character considerably.

A taste of Explorer II, for the masses?

Rather than the diver style that characterized the first crop of Seiko 5 Sports GMT watches, the new models riff on the collection’s field watches. But they also recall another familiar watch archetype. A lot of watch fans are going to see the fixed (i.e., not rotating) steel 24-hour bezel and think of one thing. Yeah, it’s Rolex.

Specifically, they’ll think of the Rolex Explorer II. Or, perhaps the Tudor Black Bay Pro will come to mind. Or, the recent Seiko Prospex Land “Navigator Timer” GMT. But, for many, nearly all watches seem to inevitably call back to Rolex, and Seiko is offering what can be understood as a popular style but with just enough of its own DNA and character.

Seiko 5 Sports GMT watches still feel a little special

Since Seiko introduced the 4R34 movement in sub-$500 watches in 2022, the GMT landscape has evolved quickly. Citizen introduced its own automatic GMT with the Miyota 9075 movement, and microbrands have begun adopting both Seiko and Miyota movements in their own affordable GMT watches. There have even been more relatively accessible Swiss automatic GMTs.

With the strong response to its entry-level GMTs, Seiko also took the concept to its other collections. Prospex and Presage models got a similar treatment with the brand’s higher-tier movements being similarly tweaked to offer the dual-time functionality. Despite the generally prolific nature of the Seiko 5 Sports collection, however, the brand has held back on flooding it with new colors of GMT.

Three models introduced the Seiko 5 Sports GMT in 2022, and the brand has only recently added three more in a similar style. It feels as if Seiko is being careful to keep GMTs in this collection feeling “special” with carefully considered releases. The Seiko 5 Sports Field GMT comes in two variants: the SSK023 is in brushed steel on a five-link bracelet for a price of $435 and the SSK025 has a black coating and comes on a leather NATO-style strap at the new entry point for a Seiko automatic GMT at $415.

Seiko 5 Sports Field GMT SSK023 & SSK025 Specs

Dimensions: 39.4mm wide, 47.9mm lug-to-lug, 13.6mm thick

Movement: Seiko 4R34 automatic

Functionality: Time (hours, minutes, seconds), date, GMT

Water Resistance: 100m

Availability: April 2024; not limited

Price: $435 (SSK023), $415 (black SSK025)

It’s more than a GMT version of Seiko’s field watch

A taste of Explorer II, for the masses?

Seiko 5 Sports GMT watches still feel a little special

Seiko 5 Sports Field GMT SSK023 & SSK025 Specs

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