We’ve always liked Seiko watches for their wide range of styles and craftsmanship at all price levels. Seiko has consistently hit the jackpot in designing budget friendly watches that are made very well. Their Solar watch is a bargain at $100 and their 5 series has always been the most affordable automatic in the market. We can’t forget that they make outstanding high-end watches like the Seiko Premier Series.

The Seiko 5 Automatic Canvas Watch is a throwback design reminiscent of military field watches. This watch was named “5” because it maintained 5 key attributes:

1. Automatic winding
2. Day/date displayed in a single window
3. Water resistance
4. Recessed crown at the 4 o’clock position
5. Durable case and bracelet

On first glance, you’ll notice this watch is fairly small at 37mm in comparison to modern styles that usually start at 40-42mm. The band is equally small at 18mm. This 5 model comes in green, blue, beige, and black. The dial design is unique in that the minute markers are on the outside and the hour markers are on the inside. The hands are thin and luminous, but the seconds hand is luminous only on the counterweight, which can be confusing in the dark. The crystal is Hardlex and the watch is water-resistant up to 30 meters.

This watch runs on the Seiko 7S26 movement that is 21 jewel, non-hacking automatic with a 41 hour power reserve. The caseback is open, so you can see the movement at work. The deviation in time is -20 to +40 seconds per day. This doesn’t have the same precision as a quartz or digital watch, but if you take care of it, it will last forever. Once you put this on your wrist inertia takes over and it’ll start running. The craftsmanship and engineering to build an automatic movement is quite impressive and at $60, you cannot find a better budget-friendly automatic watch.

Price: $60+/- (Buy on Amazon)
Source: Seiko