Seiko SLA039 Anniversary Limited Edition

For a lot of people, a Seiko diver priced near 6K is going to be a tough pill to swallow—but you should consider taking the medicine. The SLA039 has a Rolex-level outlay because it packs Rolex-level engineering (but with fewer of the ostentatious associations). Stealth wealth is one of my favorite categories in wristwatches. Discretion seems to be an art form lost on most of the instagram generation. So do your part with this Seiko hi-beat.

What you get in exchange for going Japanese is a lot of quirky, cool subtlety. The SLA039 was meant to honor the anniversary of the 62MAS, Seiko’s initial dive offering. The model features a 44mm monobloc dive case with zaratsu polishing usually only seen on Grand Seiko cases. The monobloc is milled from something Seiko call ‘Ever-Brilliant’ steel, which is more resistant to pitting over time and slightly silvery. The dial is a gorgeous blue, highly-legible hommage to the 62MAS layout. Inside is the caliber 8L55. It’s a hi-beating 36000 vph as opposed to 28800 vph. Yet, the power reserve is still an impressive 55 hours. That’s a trick bit of engineering to pull off.

The first 62MAS re-edition (SLA025) is quickly becoming another highly-collected reference. I have to imagine this lovely blued hi-beat LE will follow suit. Also, in an unrelated aside, I’d like to add that it features one of my favorite seconds hand designs of all time.

Find this SLA039 here on Reddit for 5750 USD.