Does The Seiko Turtle Still Punch Above Its Weight?

Seiko is a brand that many consider the gateway drug to entry-level mechanical watches. It is also a rare example of a watchmaker that produces anything from affordable timepieces to expensive and high-end watches. The Seiko “Turtle” exemplifies the brand’s ability to punch hard in the affordable segment.

The Seiko SRPE93 (formerly known as the SRP777 and nicknamed the “Turtle” for its case shape), is one watch that exemplifies what I would call “Seiko magic” — a perfect mix of durability, quality, heritage, and relative affordability. These qualities extend throughout the catalog, to be sure, and more expensive models have them too. However, the Seiko Turtle is the ideal candidate when discussing the “Seiko magic” concept.

Seiko’s Turtle is a compelling option 

You see, my first-ever article for Fratello considered whether the Seiko Turtle represented the last gasps of what made Seiko the dominant value-driven watch brand in the sub-€500 price segment. This portion of the market has seen increasing competition that has rubbed off some of the brand appeal that Seiko once had.

A recent article looking at Japanese rival Citizen examined why this brand seems to be going from strength to strength in that segment and could potentially displace Seiko. One of the reasons I mentioned in that article was the commitment Citizen has made to that price point. Some of Seiko’s best hits in that same segment, on the other hand, have been limited editions, not regular-production models.

A trio of cushion-cased Seiko dive watches, including the modern SRPE93 (left)

Inspired by an important historical design

So we come back to the modern Seiko Turtle, which came out in 2016. This watch riffs off a historically important dive watch for Seiko, the 6309-7040/9. This watch stayed in production from 1976 to 1988. It had a large 45mm cushion case with a 22mm lug spacing, a screw-down crown, and a 150m depth rating. You can read an excellent story on the 6309 by my colleague Mike Stockton here.

The proportions would suggest a larger-wearing watch with some heft, but the clever case design helps alleviate that. The underside of the case slopes inward, meaning there’s less metal contacting your wrist. It creates a wonderful wearing experience reflected in the modern interpretation of the watch, the Seiko SRPE93/SRP777. Fortunately, we get the heritage of the original 6309 for a practical steal with the current SRPE93.

The modern Seiko Turtle 

The modern Turtle is a bit of a coup. As I stated in my first review of the watch in 2023, the watch comes with professional specs and a design language that celebrates some of Seiko’s greatest dive watches, all while remaining at an affordable price. It is no wonder that reviewers of the time waxed lyrical about how Seiko offered so much value with serious heritage and brand prestige.

The modern Seiko Turtle’s 200m-water-resistant case has a 44.3mm diameter and a 47.7mm lug-to-lug. Like its ancestor, it comes with a 22mm lug spacing. The Seiko 4R36 caliber provides a day-date complication and 41 hours of power reserve. This is a competitive set of specifications for a watch that has an entry-point price role in the Seiko Prospex lineup.

Seiko SPB317 “Slim Turtle”

Moving up the horological food chain

As we step up in the Prospex range, we see a host of improvements. This includes entrance into the 6R series of calibers, which provide 70 hours of power reserve. You also see better finishing, new and more expensive materials, and the utilization of sapphire glass over Hardlex crystal.

Let’s take the Seiko SPB317 “Slim Turtle” as an example. It shares a similar design language with its less expensive sibling, but the slimmer handset and rectangular markers offer a sense of class that elevates the overall impression we get of the watch. It’s also a slim dive watch at just 12.3mm thick.

Seiko SPB151 “Captain Willard”

The challenges of going better

It’s not all peaches and cream as we go up the Seiko food chain, though. Users of the 6R series of calibers have persistently reported issues with the movements. There are dozens of forum posts and articles discussing things like poor amplitude. Now, the 6R series is quite common, and many thousands of these movements are produced each year. Still, it’s unusual to see such a large series of forum posts dedicated to issues with just one caliber family. These are issues that are often reported “straight out of the box.” While today’s 6R movements offer an extended power reserve, the 4R series seems to have a more problem-free reputation (on the internet, at least).

The other significant challenge that Seiko has almost created for itself is that the new line of SPB dive watches is a more recent family that reflects the upward trend in the brand’s pricing. The Seiko Turtle SRPE93, on the other hand, was introduced in 2016, well before the COVID-19 pandemic. Its pricing partly reflects that fact. Back in 2016, Jack Forster said that Seiko Turtle, given its affordability and specs, “seem[ed] to come from an alternate universe where the Quartz Crisis never happened.” I cannot agree more with this sentiment.

Concluding thoughts  

To sum up this thought piece, I think the Seiko Turtle is still the best bang for your buck in the Seiko Prospex line of dive watches. That is quite a statement considering that this line has seen such a flurry of releases over the last five or so years. Many of you, dear readers, may strongly disagree with this statement, and that’s perfectly okay. When I consider what I’m after in a Seiko dive watch, the Turtle SRPE93 ticks all the right boxes in an unpretentious way.

This is not to discount the many wonderful options in that part of the Seiko catalog, but the Turtle manages to sneak in with as much heritage as the best of them, with enough specifications and durability to last a lifetime and a winning price to match. Checkmate.