Review of the Seiko Sportura SNJ005

If I had just slightly thicker wrists, the flow of the links would be smoother andthe issue would be completely unnoticeable. The problem is actually not the sizeof the watch itself, but the fact that the first link attached to each lug is notactually hinged, even though it looks like is, which essentially extends the practicalsize of the case by almost an entire inch. It's a very strange design, but only somethingthat you'd notice if your wrist is as narrow as mine. If you have skinny wrists,I highly recommend trying this bell & ross on before actually purchasing one.The Sportura line is one of the few very cool Seiko collections that we're luckyenough to have easy access to in the US. In fact, three out of the four watches inthe Sportura line (the SNA451, SNJ005, and the SNL015) can be found in just aboutany decent sized mall or jewelry store. (For an overview of the entire Sportura line,see my article entitled TheNew Seiko Sportura Line.) The SNJ005 retails for about $650,but is typically discounted at least 20-25%, so expect to pay between $480 and $520,or even less.If you're a frequent traveler, and your wrists are big enough to accommodatethe SNJ005, you can't go wrong with this timepiece.Additional resources:Viewthe Seiko Sportura SNJ005 photo gallery.My article entitled The New Seiko Sportura Collection.SeikoSportura SNJ005 Product page.Seiko SporturaSNJ005 Operational Guide (PDF).Note also that pressing the two buttons on the right toggles button toneson and off.)Although the SNJ005 contains some fairly complex world time functionality, it'sactually not difficult to set. You can either synchronize the analog and digitalreadouts, or you can intentionally set them to different times if you want to beable to see two time zones at once (which you can already do with this seiko online, soI wouldn't recommend it). Once it's set, you won't have to worry about it for a longtime since all the world time offsets are preprogrammed, as well as daylight savingsand the watch's calendar. And since Seiko is known for their extremely accurate quartzmovements, you really can set it and forget it.There are only two things I don't like about the SNJ005. The first is the factthat you can't navigate backwards when setting things like the time, or the alarm.The lower right-hand button is used to advance the time, the upper right-hand buttonis used to advance your place, and upper left-hand button is used to take the watchin and out of set mode. That means the lower left-hand button isn't being used foranything, so why not use it to let you decrement numbers so you don't have to loopall the way back around if you pass the intended time? (It should be noted thatthis is a very minor point, but when you're as obsessed with seiko as I am, younotice little things like this.)The second thing I don't like about the SNJ005 actually has more to do with somethingI don't like about me, and that is my skinny wrists. The SNJ005 is too largefor my wrist. I don't mean that it simply overpowers my wrist because it actuallydoesn't. What I mean is that it literally overshoots my wrist on both the top andthe bottom so there's a noticeable"crease"in the bracelet as the links turn too sharply back around the curve in my wrist.