Seiko SKZ209K1 (also known as Atlas or Landshark)

[Jockinho]

I own this watch for 3 months so I thought I share a review of it. The Atlas series contains four (I think or please correct me otherwise) different versions with different color on the dial (blue, white and black). The last one is a limited edition which is made of titanium instead of steel and with a silver dial.

Mine is the SKZ209K1 with a blue dial.



Weight and measurement
50 mm including both crowns but it wears like a 42-44mm (not bigger than the Monster). My wrist is about 6,5 inches...
Weight 155-160 grams with bracelet.
14mm thick.
Lug width: 22mm.

Case
I think the design is beautiful with it’s high bezel. On the wrist the watch feels very good, even if it’s “sits” pretty high. The crown is a screw - down placed at 4 a clock. This is good due to it prevent the crown to dig into your wrist. Otherwise, I find the crown very manageable and there is no problem to set either the time or date.

There is also a second crown, which is for the compass located at 9o´ clock. I will come back to that later. But worth mentioning is that this is a non screw-down crown, however that has any effect on the water resistant I can’t say. But I doubt is a big issue, Seiko use to know what they doing.

Crystal and dial
As I'm sure most of you allready know Seiko uses there own glass, called Hardlex crystal, which will resist cracking better than sapphire but is less scratch resistance. This is probably the most negative thing I can find of this watch. It didn’t take me long to scratch this watch, but since I bought it used (but without any scratches) I can’t say if that may have affect the crystal’s resistance. But I still feel that sapphire glass is preferable especially since the retail price is pretty high on this watch. Luckily you can find this one on numerous auction sites for about 200 dollars so for that price I can´t complain.
The Dial is easy to read even if it’s little messy. This Seiko is easy to mod but I prefer the original dial which I think look good. The day function can be set to either Spanish or English language.
I think the hands suit the dial well, and they are pretty green of luminous which makes it glow really good and for quite a long time. However it’s not close to Monster standard but still very good.

Bezel
It’s a one direction rotating bezel (left). It takes some effort to turn the bezel but that also reduces the chance of moving it unintentionally. Otherwise the look of the bezel is just too damn beautiful with it’s dark blue color.

Bracelet and strap
The bracelet was the best I felt before I got the Monster. On the surface this is one great bracelet. The links are all solid and it feels safe thanks to a superb 2-button clasp. However I find it hard to get the bracelet sized so it will fit my wrist. I like my bracelet to sit tight but with this one even a jeweler can’t get it right, it doesn’t matter if he moves the lock or remove more links. This is pretty annoying since it´s one great bracelet. So a little warning if you have a small wrist...
The strap which was included with the watch is Seiko’s Z22 rubber band, and to be honest I don’t like the look of it so I haven’t tried it on yet. If the incoming Nato doesn´t work I might give it a try but I´ll probably have to boil it first since it’s really hard.


Movement
The movement is a 7S36. The accuracy has stayed on a stable + 7 sec per day for the three months I own this watch. I find that good enough for an automatic. It takes some time to get it started (I don’t shake mine that much) but once it’s on it runs very smoothly. And an automatic is always a sight to behold. The reserve time is around 30 hours if you wear it regularly.
The time and date is as I mentioned before easy to set, but with a noon hacking movement it´s hard to calibrate the exact time. You can as for most of the Seiko’s automatics by pulling the crown a little bit backwards stop the secondhand, but this is probably not good for the movement. Yet it’s possibly.

The compass
Well this is the main feature of the Atlas but I’ll think most of the users doesn’t know how or even when to use it. Unfortunately I’m one of them.
However the compass bezel is very loose and it turns just by wearing the watch which is kind of irritating.

Summary:
Positive:
- Very comfortable to wear, no sharp edges.
-Bracelet is great, but hard to get it sized good on a skinny wrist.
- Good lume.
- For 200 dollars, this is one great watch. (I got mine used for 135).
Negative:
- Bezel compass moves to easily. Crown at 9 o´clock isn´t a screw down.
- The use of Hardlex crystal.

In the end I´m very satisfied with it. If I should compare it to the Monster I would say they are both extremely well made pieces. And if you grab one for around 200 dollars, I’m sure you won’t get disappointed. It’s one cracking watch…

[DougFNJ]

Very nice review....great photos (I wish I could shoot that good) Keep up the great work

[timetokill]

Great watch! This is my old one on kevlar - should not have sold it

[Daz]

Great looking watch guys.
I have a use for a compass in my other hobby, can anybody tell me how this compass works, is it accurate or is just a gimmick. :thanks

[Rhino-Ranch]

Great review -- but you left out the details regarding the compass function?
Jim

[mikeynd]

It is not an actual working compass,I believe you can use it in conjunction with the sun,the crown at 9 rotates the compass bezel.

[Isthmus]

It is not an actual working compass,I believe you can use it in conjunction with the sun,the crown at 9 rotates the compass bezel.

It is a working compass, it's just not a magnetic one (It's a mechanical compass). you are correct in saying that you use it in conjunction with the sun. The important thing to take is that any direction readings you get are general and not exact headings. Also, they readings are only good for visual (point to point that you can see) dead reckoning, not for general "in-motion" navigation.

[Ryan Alden]

brother, here's mine..

[g-whiz]

Thanks for the nice review. I've had my eye on those Atlases for a while now and may just have to pull the trigger on one now.

[Gadget21]

Very nice review and watch. I've got the Map Metre version with the plastic crown guards, if you think your dial looks a bit busy, you should see mine
I do love it though, nice big chunky watch with solid feeling bracelet. The fact that the movement cannot be hand wound doesn't worry me too much as it is my daily beater, non-hacking also not an issue as it tends to gain about +5 sec/day at the moment anyway (you'll always get better accruracy even with a $10 digital anyway, but then again that's not what we're all about is it?)