CWhatWatch

In my eyes, the SUR307 is the perfect “go anywhere, do anything” watch for almost anyone. Part of Seiko’s essential line, the watch uses a tried and true dial layout with great fit and finish to keep things versatile. For better or worse, the watch does share a few design elements with models further up the Seiko food chain. Now that that’s out of the way, let me tell you what I really think. This is, especially in the silver dialed variant, the most boring watch I own. For all intents and purposes, this is a simple and inoffensive watch. It takes no chances and oddly enough, I think it should be celebrated for that. Let me explain.

Picture this – you and your significant other are getting ready to go out. You’ve planned this night well in advance and are excited to go try the latest sushi place. Unfortunately, your kids have other ideas and need you to help them build a bridge for their train set. Of course you build the bridge, but this leaves you no time to grab your shiny new watch and set it. We all know how bad traffic can get and you should have left five minutes ago. So which watch do you grab? Something that goes with everything, something that you don’t need to set. You grab a quartz watch with a silver dial. That is exactly what the SUR307 is, it is the watch that fits seamlessly into any situation.

The 40mm case fits well on a variety of wrists. I think the watch even feels a bit smaller due to the thicker bezel, which makes the dial look smaller. And on that dial there are some great allusions to Seikos from higher price brackets. Specifically, the sharp baton indices and dauphine hands look like they could be straight from your favorite Grand Seiko or King Seiko models. They do, however, feature some great lume plots that only increase the versatility of the piece.

The watch looks at home on the included 3-link style bracelet. However, the watch is really elevated when you start putting it on different straps. The silver dial just sings with any 20mm strap you can think of. Feeling loud? Throw it on a bright pink strap. Feeling dressy? Button it up with a glossy lizard skin strap. Ultimately, the watch looks good on anything and really embodies whatever style you are looking for. Given the right strap, the watch can fulfill almost any need.

So the watch, on its own merits, is a great watch. For the price you would be hard pressed to find another more versatile and low maintenance watch. However, in the grand scheme of the watch collecting hobby, I think the SUR307 is an illustration of another argument that can be made in favor of the “cheap quartz” watch. I remember an old Top Gear segment, where one of the hosts was reviewing a simple electric or hydrogen powered car. The host was generally unenthused at the prospect of driving the car. However, by the end of the piece he concluded that to the enthusiast, cars like the electric car are “necessary evils”. If we want to continue to collect and enjoy high end cars, there has to be a space for the simple low maintenance car. In other words, the electric car will “save” the gas car. I can see a direct comparison to quartz watches like the SUR307. In order to have our high end and luxury watches, we need the daily quartz watch. Of course, there are always exceptions to everything, but by having affordable quartz watches we do not have to daily wear our more meaningful pieces.

Reference	SUR307
MSRP/Price Paid	$250/~$111.70
Case Size	40.2mm
Lug-to-Lug	47mm
Lug Width	20mm
Materials	Stainless Steel, Sapphire Crystal