Seiko has always had a strong presence in the world of horology, and the Cocktail Time from the Presage collection is one of those watches that stands out in the minds of watch enthusiasts because of its unique dial design. Today, let’s take a deeper look at Seiko’s new Star Bar watch to see its strengths, weaknesses, and what’s making it so popular.
1. Appearance design: colorful dial, flawed details
The most striking feature of this Star Bar watch is the dial. Model srpk 93 J1, the dial presents a unique combination of colors, said to be inspired by the dazzling night scene of Tokyo, creating a unique and irresistible texture. Under different angles and lighting conditions, the pattern on the dial seems to be given life, constantly changing its appearance, and each change is like a visual feast that can easily catch people’s attention and make people immerse in it and fall in love with it sincerely. The hour markers on the dial are extremely exquisite gold applied indices. The clever design of the design is that the middle has a delicate cut, which not only adds a three-dimensional sense to the hour markers, but also makes them emit a charming luster under the refraction of light. With the same gold Arrow-shaped hands and the golden Seiko logo, the style of the entire dial is instantly elevated to a new level, showing unparalleled elegance and refinement. The design of the hour hand is even more ingenious, with one half finely frosted and the other half high-gloss polished. This differentiated treatment is not only to increase the reflection effect of light on the pointer, making it clearly readable under different lighting conditions, but also inadvertently enhances the layering and artistic sense of the entire dial. The second hand is a delicate needle shape with a hollow counterbalance. This tiny but exquisite design detail undoubtedly demonstrates the brand’s extreme attention to and persistent pursuit of details in watchmaking. The date display window at the 3 o’clock position on the dial also uses a gold frame that matches the pointer, achieving perfect coordination in color consistency. Although the color of the dial will switch between gray, silver, and black as the light and angle change, the deep black of the date display window can always coexist harmoniously with the overall tone of the dial, as if it is an indispensable part of the dial, adding a lot of color to the design of the entire dial.
However, this watch is not perfect in terms of appearance details, and there are indeed some shortcomings. The watch mirror is made of mineral crystal. Although mineral crystal has a certain degree of hardness and can provide basic protection for the dial in daily life, its wear resistance is dwarfed by that of the more high-end sapphire crystal. During long-term wear, the mineral crystal watch mirror is very easy to be scratched, which is undoubtedly a rather regrettable flaw for a watch that is expensive and aims to show refinement and quality. As for the strap, it adopts a design that looks like a five-link design, but it is actually a single-link structure. This single-link structure of the strap has greatly reduced flexibility during actual wearing, and cannot adapt well to various movements and bends of the wrist, which to a certain extent affects the comfort when wearing. In addition, the hollow end chain design of the strap has become the focus of many consumers’ complaints. In today’s watchmaking industry, especially in the context of the pursuit of high quality and exquisite craftsmanship in 2024, such a design appears on a higher-priced watch, which is really difficult for many consumers to understand and accept. The buckle is the most basic butterfly buckle, and its function is limited to a simple two-way closure. There is no Seiko engraving on both sides of the strap, which makes the entire strap look relatively simple and lacks texture, forming a sharp contrast with the refinement and elegance displayed by the watch dial.
2.Movement performance: average, with acceptable stability
The Star Bar watches are powered by the caliber 4 R35, also known as the nh35 movement. This is one of the more common self-winding movements in the world of watchmaking, with 23 diamonds in its construction and the ability to be manually wound and have a stop-second function, which provides a certain level of ease of use in the daily life of the watch. In terms of accuracy, according to the experience of many users, its average daily error is around +10 seconds. For most ordinary consumers, such accuracy can basically meet their needs during daily wear and will not have too great an impact on the accuracy of time. However, when we compare it to the high-precision movements used by some high-end watch brands, we realize that there is still some room for improvement in the accuracy of the 4 R35 caliber. However, it is worthwhile to recognize that this movement performs reasonably well in terms of stability, and is able to continuously and stably provide power output for the watch, ensuring that the watch can operate normally under various environmental conditions without problems such as insufficient power or unstable timekeeping, thus laying a solid foundation for the reliability of the watch. However, it cannot be ignored that as a limited edition watch, consumers often have higher expectations for its movement, and such a movement configuration does not show too many unique advantages and highlights in many limited edition watches, which has also become one of the important reasons for some consumers to question its cost performance.
3.Size and wearing feeling: The size is controversial, but it is comfortable to wear
The size of a watch has a crucial impact on the wearing experience. The size of this watch is 40.5 mm in diameter, 12.3 mm in thickness, 47 mm between lugs, and 20 mm between lugs. Such size parameters may seem a bit large to some consumers, especially when we position it as a formal watch. In the traditional aesthetic concept of formal watches, some consumers tend to think that a size of about 39 mm would be more suitable. Such a size can show a more refined, low-key and elegant temperament on the wrist, which complements the overall style of formal wear. However, in the actual wearing process, this watch also has a good performance. It weighs 120 grams. When worn on the wrist, the overall feeling is relatively balanced, and there will be no top-heavy or unstable wearing. Although there are some shortcomings in the design of the strap mentioned above, the surface of the strap is relatively smooth and there are no obvious sharp edges in the process of contact with the wrist, which makes it not irritating or uncomfortable to the skin, thus ensuring the comfort of wearing to a certain extent. The design of the crown is relatively traditional, with an etched Seiko logo. This classic design not only highlights the brand’s characteristics and heritage, but also gives people a comfortable feel when operating. It is easy to grasp and adjust the time. Whether it is daily time adjustment or other special circumstances that require the operation of the crown, it can make users feel convenient and smooth.
4.Price and Value for Money: Overpriced and Questionable Value
In terms of price and value for money, the Star Bar is priced at AUD $640, a price point that has generated a lot of controversy and debate among consumers. When analyzing the price tag, it is clear that many consumers feel that the price tag is too high considering its mineral crystal, hollow end bracelet, and modest 4 R35 movement, making it a poor value for the money. In today’s watch market, consumers have a clearer and clearer perception of the quality and configuration of a watch. In contrast, on e-commerce platforms such as AliExpress, you can buy a watch with a sapphire crystal for as little as two to three hundred dollars, and these watches already outperform Seiko’s Star Bar in the critical area of the crystal material, as well as other features. This stark contrast has many consumers questioning Seiko’s pricing strategy for this watch, struggling to understand why the price is so high for a relatively low feature set, making them weigh the pros and cons more carefully in their purchasing decisions.
5.Consumer Seiko Review Summary
In the numerous online discussions about this watch, consumers’ comments are varied, fully reflecting everyone’s multi-dimensional views on this watch.
A considerable number of consumers have given high praise to the design of the dial. They believe that the color combination and pattern changes of the dial are like a fine work of art, which is the main motivation for them to buy this watch. For example, a consumer excitedly said: “The dial is simply beautiful. The unique color changes and exquisite pattern textures seem to condense the bustling night scene of Tokyo in a small space. Every time I watch it, I can feel endless charm. After buying it, my love for it is increasing day by day, and I have no regrets at all.” However, not all consumers have a completely positive attitude towards the dial design. Some consumers have put forward different views. They believe that the dial lacks the proper symmetry in the overall layout, and the combination of various elements looks a bit messy, which does not meet their rigorous and harmonious standards for the design of a high-end watch dial.
Most consumers expressed varying degrees of dissatisfaction with the hardware configuration of the watch, such as the movement, mirror, and strap. Many people pointed out that in this price range, the watch market should use more high-end and durable sapphire crystals instead of mineral crystals that are easily scratched and have a slightly inferior texture. The hollow end chain and single link structure of the strap and the simple butterfly buckle design have become the focus of criticism from consumers. They believe that these design details make the watch look too cheap and seriously inconsistent with its price positioning. Some consumers even said angrily: “Seeing the mineral crystal watch, cheap strap design, and thinking about its price, I really feel like I have been fooled. It’s like a product made of ordinary materials, but trying to sell it at a high-end price, which is really unacceptable.” In terms of price, almost all consumers who participated in the discussion agreed that this watch is overpriced and has a very low cost-effectiveness. They all said that there are many other brands of watches on the market in the same or even lower price range, which can provide better configuration and quality in terms of movement performance, watch mirror material, watch strap craftsmanship, etc. One consumer commented sharply: “The pricing strategy of this Seiko watch is really puzzling. Can it charge an exorbitant price just because it is a limited edition? Compared with other brands, it is completely at a disadvantage in terms of cost performance. I really don’t know where its market positioning is.”
“Some Chinese watches with Seiko movements, except for the dial, are not much worse than Seiko in terms of detail workmanship in other accessories, but only 1/4 of the price of this watch, such as Baltany watches”
In addition, many consumers have raised profound doubts about Seiko’s brand strategy. They believe that Seiko has gradually lost its past advantages in terms of product value in the process of development in recent years, and its creativity and innovation capabilities are also insufficient. Especially in the launch of limited edition products, the number of limited editions is too large and lacks unique selling points, which makes people feel that the brand is just perfunctory, rather than really creating limited edition watches with collection value and unique charm.
In summary, although Seiko Star Bar watches show unique charm and artistic sense in dial design, which can attract the attention of many consumers, there are many unsatisfactory aspects in key hardware configurations such as movement, watch mirror, watch strap, and price positioning. These problems directly lead to its low cost performance, which in turn caused widespread and fierce controversy among consumers. In today’s increasingly competitive watch market environment, Seiko may really need to calm down, re-examine its product positioning and pricing strategy, and deeply understand the increasingly diversified and refined needs and expectations of consumers. Only in this way can it regain the trust and favor of consumers in future market competition. If you are a consumer who has extremely high demands on dial design and can ignore the shortcomings in other aspects to a certain extent, then this watch may be able to satisfy your desire for unique dial aesthetics; but if you are a rational consumer who pays more attention to the overall quality, cost-effectiveness and hardware configuration of the watch, then before deciding to buy this watch, you must think twice and carefully weigh the pros and cons.