# Detailed review of Seiko SBQJ015 - High-End quartz 8F56



## safi_cz

_I have written this article for Czech watch portal Chronomag.cz. Original English translation is posted on my blog watchpassion.spaces.live.com _and on this forum.

_Enjoy it! Martin_

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Story began one day in year 1959, when management of Seiko decided to form team of engineers, who will be responsible for development of the first quartz wrist watch. Consequence of this decision and 50 years of technical development are watches with certified deviance 5 seconds per year!

*History of quartz* 
First prototype of quartz watch has been developed by Swiss engineers. But it was Seiko, who has placed first quartz wristwatch on the market. In year 1958, Seiko began to experiment with quartz technology. Year later, engineers were forced to decrease size of single components of quartz movement to fit mall wristwatch. Movement had to be more accurate than best mechanical wristwatch at that time, and had low production costs. Ten years later, on Christmas 1969 Seiko has placed first quartz wristwatch on the Japanese market - Seiko 35SQ Astron. According to Wikipedia, "_Within one week 100 gold watches had been sold, at a retail price of 450,000 yen (US$1,250) each (at the time, equivalent to the price of a medium-sized Japanese automobile)."_









Source: Jayhawk's Watch Photograph Database

*My way to high-end quartz watches* 
Almost all my articles and reviews were focused on mechanical watches (except Traser GMT Pro Blue). Main reason was that majority of produced quartz watches are boring: low-end Asian production in price of few USD, fashionable watches produced no matter where and also cheap models of renowned brands (with high profit margin).

In my mind quality watch was always connected with mechanical painstakingly decorated movement - combination of technology and art. What has changed my mind? Watchuseek High-end Quartz forum.

No matter how developed, decorated and expensive mechanical watch you have, in most cases you will have to live with two significant disadvantages of mechanical movement: 

Accuracy - even the most accurate mechanical movements gain +-30 seconds per month
Source of energy - in case that you don't own A. Lange 31 you will have to wind/wear your watch daily or buy watch winder
Even the cheapest quartz movement don't have those disadvantages, but only high-end quartz watch will give you the same feelings as watch with inhouse beautifully decorated mechanical movement. What is high-end quartz? You can find official WUS definition here, but I think it should contain little bit more criteria: 

Annual accuracy guaranteed by producer has to be mostly 20 seconds (per year"). Some movements like Seiko and Citizen will lose/gain only five seconds per year. Many ordinary quartz movements have monthly accuracy guaranteed +- 15 (for example Seiko 7T62). High end quartz watches are several times more accurate
Movement is equipped with thermo compensation methods to eliminate effect of temperature changes to watch accuracy. Watch can also have low sensitivity to changes of temperature
All parts of movement has to be made with sufficient design to guarantee decades of operation
Design and manufactory quality of remaining parts of watch have to be on high level
Super accurate quartz movement are produced by Breitling (based on ETA movements), Seiko, Citizen and some other Swiss brands. Below mentioned picture shows hand assembled movement 9F62 used in Grand Seiko models. Service intervals are guaranteed to 50 years (except change of battery).


Source:







Ebay

You can find similar movements in Grand Seiko SBGX039 with magnetic resistance 40000 A/m. According to ISO 764, watch can be classified as an antimagnetic with magnetic resistance 4800A/m.









Source: Jayhawk's Watch Photograph Database

Only few renowned brands use thermo compensated movements in its models. In most of Omega Seamaster quartz models you will not find high-end quartz (but in omega). Initial investment to new watch with high-end movement is around 1500USD, average price of high-end quartz is between 2000-3000USD. One of exceptions are watches equipped with Seiko 8F family movement (8f32, 8F56...). These watches can be bought in price below 500USD.










*Seiko SBQJ015*

Seiko has already produced about 40 models with movement 8F56. I have chosen SBQJ015. Why? 

Curiosity - I wanted to have watch with high-end quartz movement, but I was not sure if I will not sell it in one week
Excellent readability - black background of dial in combination with simple white hands and indexes. I do not know why, but overall design of watch suggest design of pilot watch
Titanium case and bracelet covered with technology Diashield, which should be much more harder than steel 316L
Maximum annual deviance +-20 sec (according to official manual)
Perpetual calendar until 2100
10 years battery
GMT indicator
You can easily adjusted summer time and time zones without any impact to position of minute hand
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*Case: size*
Case has reasonable diameter 39mm with height only 10,9mm. Case is relative short - length of case is only 45mm because of short lugs. Therefore watch looks compact.

*Case: front view *
Forget drown out curved lines of case and lug as have for example Rolex oyster. Seiko case has shape of whisky barrel. Upper edges of case are beveled and polished. Beveled edges end three millimeters before end of lugs. On right side of case you will find two crown guards with polished surface. Crown guards optically tie up to beveled polished edges of case. This design detail is used also in Seiko Alpinist models, where it looks little bit more beautiful than on Seiko SBQJ015.

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*Case: side view* 
Dominant part of watch is bezel. It is optically separated from the rest of the case and it looks like it has been ticked to case few minutes ago. Side profile of bezel has simplified shape of ">". Total diameter of bezel is 40 mm, what is one millimeter bigger than case. Basement of bezel has diameter about 37mm. Bottom parts of bezel are polished. Upper side of bezel consists of two beveled surfaces, outer is polished and inner is brushed.










Lugs have rounded endings and are drilled-thru to make band/strap changes easy. Line of case between lugs is not rounded, but narrow. On following photo you can see how bezel goes over this line.










Surface of watch is mostly brushed, only edges of bezel and case are polished. Absence of large polished areas in combination with dark grey color of titanium gives watch decent and elegant appeal. It is real pleasure to see how light is playing on beveled edges. Based on position and orientation of watch and light source you can see mirrors and flashes caused by beveled edges (as you can see on next two photos).










*Glass* 
Glass is flat, made from sapphire crystal. Crystal is not equipped with anti-reflective coating what I evaluate as a minus of this watch.

*Crown* 
Crown is partially protected by case. Crown has simple design, it is polished and without any mark or sign on it. Crown fits to watch, but is without any idea or attention to detail. It seems, that designer of watch was very tired, kicked and left by muse when he was working on design of crown. Another small minus.



















When you pull-out crow to position one, you move with hour hand (jumping movement). Position of minute or second hand does not change. By moving hour hand, you can set up date (increase or decrease date). This position is designed to set-up actual local time during traveling or set-up summer/winter time.

When you pull-out crown to position two, second hand will stop (hacking). You move with minute hand. When you move minute hand, GMT hand and hour hand move, but not date. This mode is used for initial set-up of minutes and GMT hand. When minute hand and GMT hand are set-up, you have to push crown to position one to set-up hour hand (because it moves when you move GMT hand).

GMT hand is designed to be set to home time. When you travel, you will easily change hour hand to actual local time (crown in position one). Setting time and date could be solved easily.

When you pull-out crown to position one and push it back immediately, watch will show you set-up of perpetual calendar: 

Second hand will show number of years since last lap year
Date indicator show you month for five seconds (for January it shows "1")
Watch still measure time. When indication of perpetual calendar setup finish, all hands jump to current time.
*Video is here*.

*Dial* 
Black background, white indexes and decent signs are key elements of perfect readability even with GMT hand - no matter what light conditions are. Indexes have white luminous filling surrounded by polished borders. Biggest index is on position "12", bigger indexes are on position "6" and "9". Date indicator on position "3" has black background and is also surrounded by polished border.

Dial indicator is supplemented by shortened index. Seiko has crushed-down perfect design of some models by using wild combination of date indicator hour labels (Some Seiko SARB models). Luckily, Seiko made good job here. I really like black background of watch indicator, white background would broke design concept and kill watch.










Inner beveled bezel contains white second indexes and also seconds labels in five seconds intervals. Inner GMT scale contains white even hour labels. Odd GMT hour labels are printed as dots. Background of GMT scale is grooved (as Breitling do).

Logo of manufacturer is silver and polished, "Perpetual Calendar" label is white, "GMT" label is red (GMT indicators have traditionally red color).

*Hands*

Watch is equipped with GMT hand. GMT hand can be used to: 

Indicate home time or as am/pm indicator (time to be at work/time to drink Pilsner Urquell)
Show time of different time zone or UTC time (used by pilots)
GMT hand is classical arrow hand, painted by shiny red color equipped with luminous filling. Hour and minute hands are black&white with luminous filling. Second hand has shape of long triangle and is made of silver metal. Night reading is excellent; you can see what time is it even at 6:00 morning.




























*Bracelet* 
Watch is equipped with titanium bracelet with Diashield technology. Titanium is softer than steel and is very easily scratched. Diashield gives titanium higher hardness of surface than steel 316L. Diashield is applied also to case, but not to mechanism of bracelet clasps.










Scratch resistance has been tested by sharp edge of scissors under soft pressure. Scissors have left small hair scratches on steel 316L, but not on titanium with Diashield. Diashield will protect watch against hair scratches, but it does not protect against damage caused by hard pressure or crash. Energy will deform soft titanium under Diashield and Diashield too. In case that wedding ring with sharp edges hit case of watch, it will leave the same dig as on the steel (personal experience).

Bracelet is inspired by design of oyster bracelet. Surface of bracelet part is matt, except two narrow polished strips. Sides of bracelet are also matt. Thick of bracelet parts is aprx. 3,2mm, width of bracelet is 22mm, width of clasps is 18mm. All bracelet parts are very well made with minimal distances between single parts. Clasp is standard Seiko clasp with two buttons. "Seiko"signed. Buttons have adequate resistance. Inner parts of clasp are robust. Big minus of bracelet are end pieces. Pieces itself are very well made, but holes between end pieces and case are big for such producer as Seiko is.



















*Package* 
Watch is packed to grey paper box with cappuccino color inside, manual and guarantee card.










*Conclusion* 
In category of High-end quartz watch you will not find new model which will offer you interesting movement, developed design and Diashield titanium for 400USD. Seiko SBQJ015 is perfect entry to world of high-end quartz watches. But be prepared, if high-end quartz will catch your heart, next purchases will be much more expensive.

Maybe collecting watches is not your hobby and you just need to buy new watch for everyday wearing. Your choice should be Seiko SBQJ015.

Watch could be interesting also for core opponents of quartz watches. As I can say from my experience, after few days I was not irritated by jumping second hand and realize that high-end quartz is a really good idea&#8230;.

Next year I have plans to buy vintage Rolex Oyster&#8230;maybe I should buy some quartz Grand Seiko&#8230;


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## f4nt0m4s

Awesome and detailed review! I've been eyeing the SBQJ015 as an attractive GMT watch that I may be able to afford as a next watch purchase. It really is a gorgeous looking watch, my only concern is that it might be a little too small.


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## safi_cz

f4nt0m4s said:


> Awesome and detailed review! I've been eyeing the SBQJ015 as an attractive GMT watch that I may be able to afford as a next watch purchase. It really is a gorgeous looking watch, my only concern is that it might be a little too small.


Thank you  how large is your wrist?


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## f4nt0m4s

My wrist is around 7.5 inches. I can pull off 39~41mm with dress type watches so I think it would fit fine. The GMT, sapphire crystal, and 10 year battery life really make the price a bargain in my opinion. 

Your gorgeous pictures of the watch are sooo tempting :-d


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## safi_cz

Thank you  My wife has made photos I have similar wrist and SBQJ015 is ok for me. It is about personal preferences. I often wear Grand Seiko with diameter 36mm, so 39mm of SBQJ015 is ok for me


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## Catalin

*Very nice review but I have a question ...*



safi_cz said:


> When you pull-out crown to position two, second hand will stop (hacking). You move with minute hand. When you move minute hand, GMT hand and hour hand move, but not date.


I have found that on my SBQJ015 when I get the crown in the second position and move all hands the date (at some point) will also advance or get back ...

Also the moment when the date advances at night seems to be variable on SBQJ015 - unlike for instance on all Citizen perpetual calendars calibers that I have, which all advance the date precisely between 00:00:00 and 00:00:05 ...


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## IcedOut

Wow, thanks for the great review and awesome quality pics. Much Appreciated!!


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## Guest

I really like this watch and I'm seriously considering ordering it. Just a question about titanium. Do any of you see any disadvantages to titanium watches? A lot of people feel that less weight is better when it comes to a watch. I've also heard some say that the _lack of weight_ makes the watch feel "cheap", suggesting an overall feeling of poor quality. This is obviously a great watch but I just wonder if the titanium aspect of it bothers you in any way (not having the "heft"). It would seem like the watch would be rather "flimsy" because it's so light - regardless of the kind of band you have on it. Also, I'm already aware that titanium does tend to scratch a lot easier .. but I'm not concerned about that with this watch since it has the diashield coating - which is supposed to help. Also, you can always change to a leather band if scratches on the bracelet bother you.

Would appreciate your thoughts,

Thanks!


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## dnslater

One of the most thorough reviews I have seen, nice photos........


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## yotiao

Hi there, 
and thanks for the awesome review. I have one question - could you estimate if this watch would look OK on a 6 inch wrist? I like it, I want it, but my hands are skinny and anything 40mm and up may look strange.

cheers
yot


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## Guest

My wrist is 6", too and this watch fits PERFECT :-!


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## Guest

My wrist is 6", too and this watch fits PERFECT :-!


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## yotiao

DavidSeattleWA said:


> My wrist is 6", too and this watch fits PERFECT :-!


All right! Thanks for the good news (and no need to answer to my question on the other thread ;-)

cheers
yot


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## Jeje3325

Thank you for this great review. Excellent!


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## phamornmarnop

thanks for useful info.


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## webvan

Nice review, thanks. How has the accuracy been since you got the watch?

Does the 8F56 movement have a digital trimmer in the back like the 9Fxx ?


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## STEVIE

Dear Safi:

An excellent review of this watch:-!

I have just unpacked my second order of this model today. The first SBQJ015 I gave to my grandson for his birthday in November 2008. I liked it so much I now have this one which I shall use as a daily beater.

Big pros for this are the sapphire crystal; the toughened coating over the watch and bracelet; the true GMT function and ability to set the hour hand without stopping the movement.

All in all great value for money.

The guy in TYO is very good and the package took just 4 days to get to me from the order placement.

Stevie


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## Beyond 'The Box'

A truly splendid and meticulous review. I have never had an appreciation for quartz until reading this. This watch would be mine had it not been for the lacking in size. I shall now be on the search for a large mid-level or high-end Seiko quartz. If you should have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!


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## rgott

Outstanding review. You have really set a standard in your attention to detail, and for how comprehensive the review is. The photography is excellent as well. Thanks for taking the time to produce this review. |>

After reading your report, I think it's time for me to take a _much_ closer look at HEQ!


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## webvan

About to jump the gun, it's at $438 at Seiya and $428 at chino-watch - Seiya seems like the safer bet ?


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## TimeSeeker

webvan said:


> About to jump the gun, it's at $438 at Seiya and $428 at chino-watch - Seiya seems like the safer bet ?


I got mine at Chino and the experience was superb.
International warantee and all.
The $ difference is very small, and Chino is a Seiko AD, so I'd go with Chino.


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## webvan

Thanks for the feedback !


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## mayostard

Any estimates on the shock resistance of this watch?

Can I wear this while playing golf? I usually wear a mudman but I'm playing with some clients on Monday so I thought I'd go a little more upscale.


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## vanlink

Beautiful watch and great review - thanks for sharing! Like others, I might have to crack the piggy.


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## recon493

I just purchased this watch through Chino. Service was exceptional. The watch itself seems to be lagging atomic time after 2 days of comparing. I am a little nervous about some reports of this watch not being close to the +/-20 sec per year spec. If the pattern holds true this one could lose almost over 40 seconds a year.

But it is super simple to use and when time changes come it will be a breeze! The second hand ticks right on the minute markers too. Good quality. The clasp does not have a secondary system to insure the band doesnt come loose. No problems yet of course but I wonder if over the years the spring loaded catch will lose its tolerances and become problematic. Im not sure if anyone has owned this watch long enough yet to encounter this problem. I have seen it happen on older Eco Drives.


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## webvan

40spy would mean about 0.1spd, how can you see that after two days? Not easy, what device are you comparing it to and that's assuming you got it at 0 initially. I've got several HEQs, a Casio RC, an iPhone synched app and the bipm isite and I don't think I can do better than 1 second.


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## recon493

webvan said:


> 40spy would mean about 0.1spd, how can you see that after two days? Not easy, what device are you comparing it to and that's assuming you got it at 0 initially. I've got several HEQs, a Casio RC, an iPhone synched app and the bipm isite and I don't think I can do better than 1 second.


I set it right after a manual atomic synch with another watch and it was precisely on target with the atomic watch. It has been just over 3 days, did another manual synch and can just tell that it is now about a half second behind atomic. At this rate it will be a second behind in a week and 52 seconds behind for the year. I may be off by a little, sure, but its not looking like 20 seconds a year. I hope I am wrong but we'll see.


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## webvan

Which atomic watch ?

My RC Casio GW-M5600BC gains about 1 second a day so depending on when I check my HEQs against it they can appear to be off by up to a second. Even when forcing an RC synch I've seen differences of up to 1 second, not sure why...

Here some websites you can use to double-check : 
http://www.bipm.org/fr/practical_info/time_server.html
http://time.gov/timezone.cgi?Pacific/d/-8/java


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## TimeSeeker

unfortunately mine seems to be keeping +1.5 seconds each 2 weeks.
I'm not wearing it, I have it sitting inside the box during this time.


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## webvan

Any temperature variations in your environment ? I came across one of djwquest's (sp?) yesterday and the 8F56 was turning in a rather poor performance, sorry don't have the link handy right now.


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## mayostard

recon, are you wearing the watch? It's not thermocompensated, the 20 s/y spec is only valid if you're wearing it at least 12 hours/day.


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## TimeSeeker

I only wore the watch for a few days, and have had it since in the box.
there is really not much temperature variation, its inside an air-conditioned room at about room temperature, maybe a little higher since its inside the box.
I absolutely love the watch, but have not worn it since I am rotating watches on a monthly basis and there are a few in line ahead of it. I'l wear it in November for the entire month.
Still, thats just over 5 seconds in 1.5 months. Weirdly the watch I am wearing an eco drive has gained the same amount in the same period of time.


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## mayostard

The variation isn't what causes inaccuracy. The movement is calibrated to temperatures closer to human body temp than room temp. If you're not wearing it at all, the deviation will be high.

The eco-drive is almost certainly also calibrated to near body temp, if you're wearing the eco-drive and you're not wearing the 8F56 and they are keeping the same time, then the movement you're *not* wearing is much more likely to be a more accurate timekeeper - if all things are equal.


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## recon493

mayostard said:


> recon, are you wearing the watch? It's not thermocompensated, the 20 s/y spec is only valid if you're wearing it at least 12 hours/day.


I am wearing the watch at least 12 hours. I have been using two different atomic sources at the house. The wrist watch atomic(Casio G shock) is always just a hair behind the wall mount atomic clock. Needless to say, the point that was made is valid, that even the synchs of the atomic clocks can be off a little. I am going to give the watch a full week and I will report back. I know that a month from now will be even more accurate. I know those looking at buying this watch are certainly skeptical at this point.

I also have a Promaster eco Nighthawk euro version that WHEN worn does about +5 seconds a month. I love the Seiko and the 8F56 movement. As long as its time keeping is marginally close to the specs of 20 spy then I will will be good to go with it. I am convinced that a lot of times it boils down to luck of the draw! The watch is very light weight, not pimpish and functionally sound crossing different time zones/changes.

I also believe that those of us appreciating high accuracy also realize that a budget version (8f56 as compared to Chronomaster for example) has the potential for more variances in manufacturing. One poster said it best...Seiko just should advertise +/- 40 sec. I believe they would still sell the watch just fine.


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## recon493

Casio G-shock atomic. And thank you for the links. Very cool!


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## webvan

Sure, let us know what it looks like over time.

Based on djwquest's testing, the accuracy of the 196Khz 8F56 certainly seems to be very prone to variations, unlike a TC movement or a 4Mhz movement, found this on the subject https://www.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=249883 or https://www.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=272143


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## recon493

Since this last post I havent touched my 8f56 other than to set the hour hand back for the time change. I have monitored the second hand sweep and compared it to just one atomic source. Nearly two months ago it was or appeared to be a half second behind atomic. And to this day it still is. I am resisting the urger to re-synch it with atomic precisely(as though I'll jix it). But I do know that THIS particular watch is on pace to be much better than 20 sec a yr. 

All around a very good value.


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## dacvibe

"!Bring out yer dead!"

This is lovely!
Was there ever an automatic / mechanical version of this made?

If so, what was the model number?
Thanks


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## local_time

amazing! love the history


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## BlueRibbon

Are there current Seiko models featuring this (or a similar) movement?


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