8 Of The Best Seiko Chronographs For Every Budget

Introduction

Seiko is one of the most well-known watch brands in the world. Especially across the budget and mid-range market, they create some really nice watches, with great value for money and something for every taste and occasion.

Sometimes it can be hard to match great design with powerful watch performance. Luckily, Seiko offers no shortage of chronograph watches, with models across their dive, aviation, and dress ranges incorporating great functionality for tracking time. 

In this article, we’re going to round up some of the best Seiko chronograph watches on the market. We’ll take a look at their features, build quality, and price as well as picking out our favourite piece across a range of different categories!

Seiko Chronographs To Buy For Men

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• Best overall: Seiko Chronograph Black Dial SPC083
• Best for daily wear: SSB031 Men’s Chronograph Stainless Steel
• Best diver: SSC701 Blue Silicone Solar Powered Diver
• Best pilot chronograph: SNA411 Men’s Pilot Watch Alarm Chronograph
• Best for outdoors: SSB373 Men’s Essentials Field
• Best for formal occasions: SNAF09 Men’s Leather Green Dial
• Best minimalist design: SSB095 White Dial Stainless Steel
• Best premium: Seiko Coutura World Time Chronograph SSG009

Best overall: Seiko Chronograph Black Dial SPC083

To begin, we’ve picked out our favorite overall Seiko Chronograph with the SPC083 model. This is the perfect Seiko Chronograph for those wanting to match style, functionality, and affordable price all in one package.

At 42.5mm, it’s a good size for most wearers, especially those with larger wrists, and does a great job of blending the steel bracelet into the case. You’ve got a clean black dial matched effortlessly with silver hour markers and dauphine hands. From a chronograph perspective, you’ve got three dials, delivering 60 seconds, 60 minutes, and 24-hour functionality.

To round it off, you’ve also got a large date window at 12 o’clock, a Seiko Caliber 7T04 quartz movement, a hardlex crystal, 100m of water resistance, and an easily changeable 18mm band.

Best for daily wear: SSB031 Men’s Chronograph Stainless Steel

Next, we’ve picked out the best Seiko chronograph we think you can choose as a daily beater. There are a lot of different options we could have gone for here, but we decided to settle on the SSB031 model as a great everyday sports watch. 

Features such as its 40mm size, quartz movement, stainless steel bracelet, 100m of water resistance, and a hardlex crystal make the SSB031 a strong contender in every department. Combine that with a nicely balanced black/silver/red design, and you have a Seiko watch with similarities to much more expensive models, namely the TAG Heuer Formula 1. 

It also sports a good chronograph, tracking seconds and up to 60 minutes, alongside a 12/24 hour indicator and a date window between 4 and 5 o’clock. It really is hard to look past this watch as a great all-rounder as it will appeal to a wide range of sports watch fans. 

This is a watch you can wear day-to-day without any worries and will look just as great with a t-shirt as it will under a suit!

Best diver: SSC701 Blue Silicone Solar Powered Diver

Whilst Seiko have a wide range of different watches (as you’ll see in this article) they are perhaps most well known for their dive watches. They’ve had a number of different dive ranges in the past, but it’s a watch from their current Prospex range we’re picking out today. 

And this isn’t just any Prospex watch, the SSC701 ‘Save the Ocean’ is a special edition model. The first thing you’ll notice is how great this watch looks! The 43mm piece combines a black ion stainless steel case with a signature Seiko blue silicone dive strap. 

Those blue shades continue onto the dial with the lighter blue design working very nicely with the large white hands and markings we’ve come to expect with dive watches. Of course, this is packed with all the dive features you’d expect including 200m of water resistance, a screw down crown, a unidirectional bezel and a hardlex crystal. 

Best pilot watch: SNA411 Men’s Pilot Watch Alarm Chronograph

From the depths of the ocean to the open skies! Seiko has a number of great aviation-themed watches and the one we’ve picked out for this roundup is one of their best. 

The SNA411 model, commonly known as the Seiko Flightmaster, is a watch that’s built for precision. Much of the 42mm face is dominated by the complex tachymeter rules around the outside with many different units available for calculating speed, distance and height. Chronograph wise, the centre of the dial has features for tracking seconds, minutes and up to 12 hours, with a small date window also found at the 3 o’clock position. 

Aside from those time tracking features, the watch is well made, bringing together stainless steel casing, a hardlex crystal, 200m of water resistance, and a high powered Japanese quartz movement. 

If you’re heading up to the skies, or if you just love pilot watches, getting one of these on your wrist won’t set you back a huge amount. It’s a great pick for those who need a technical watch or just for those with a passion for aviation!

Best for outdoors: SSB373 Men’s Essentials Field

Coming back to earth with a bump, our next watch is perfect for those that love to brave the great outdoors. The SSV373 is one of Seiko’s best looking and best performing field watches, with those that love military styling in for a treat here! 

At 43mm this is a great size for a field watch and isn’t too chunky thanks to its 14mm thickness. This is a good looking watch too, combining a brushed black stainless steel case with a hardy green silicone strap. The face itself fits the mould of a field watch, with large numbers and patterned dial design giving it a strong military feel. 

Specs wise, this chronograph tracks seconds, minutes and up to 12 hours with a small, nicely concealed date window slotted between the 4 and 5 markers. There’s also a tachometer for extra time tracking. The watch doesn’t pack in too many premium features but the hardlex crystal and quartz movement will ensure you keep accurate time even after it’s been bashed around a little!

Best for formal occasions: SNAF09 Men’s Leather Green Dial

It’s not just out in the elements that Seiko makes great watches! If you’re heading out for a nice meal or formal event, such as a wedding, you need a watch on your wrist that looks smart and elegant! 

Seiko makes a number of great dress watches and for this article we’ve picked out the SNAF09 model. It combines the classic green dial, brown leather and gold accent combination to create a watch that looks classy and sophisticated without trying too hard. 

Those classy design styles are matched with equally good functionality. Driven by a high calibre quartz movement, the chronograph tracks seconds, minutes, and up to 12 hours with a date window also found at the 3 o’clock position. This 42mm piece also includes a hardlex crystal and is water-resistant down to 100m, not a feature you often see with a dress watch. 

Style won’t cost you an arm and a leg here either. The SNAF09 is a watch you can pick up for a bargain price to accompany you on those special occasions. 

Best for minimalist design: SSB095 White Dial Stainless Steel

Staying on the formal theme, we know that sometimes chronographs watches can look busy. With all of that functionality on the dial, it’s hard to find a watch with a clean and fresh design for those with minimalist tastes.

Step forward the Seiko SSB095! By combining a brown leather strap with a large and clean white dial, this watch is the perfect accessory for the wrist if you’re looking for simplicity. Those blue baton hands, slim hour markers and tiny chronograph dials blend seamlessly into a sleek white dial that’s guarded by an intricate tachymeter. 

Talking of that chronograph, there’s functionality here to track seconds and minutes up to an hour, with a 12/24 indicator and slimline date window rounding off the dial. As with many other Seiko’s we’ve seen, this watch combines a hardlex crystal with a quartz movement, but again, it’s a nice surprise to see 100m of water resistance included as well. 

The minimalism extends to the price as well. The SSB095 is the cheapest watch in our roundup. This is a great price for a high-quality quartz watch that combines solid chronograph functionality with a simple and sleek design. 

Best premium: Seiko Coutura World Time Chronograph SSG009

To finish up, we’ve pulled out one of our favorite premium-feel Seiko Chronographs with the Coutura SSG009. If you’re looking for sleek design and a bag full of functionality, this watch is for you.

This watch really catches the eye when you first see it, with it’s unique case shape and myriad of features on the dial. The large 44.5 mm piece is great for those with bigger wrists, with smaller-wrist wearers potentially finding this model too much to handle.

On the dial itself, the dark black colours are overlaid with silver hour markers, hollow arrowed hands, and blue accents. Functionality-wise this watch is packed with a range of features, including atomic timekeeping, world time, date, GMT, second-time zone, and a power save function.

This is the most expensive Seiko Chronograph we’ve featured but it’s easily the most premium. If you’re looking for a Seiko Chronograph with a difference, that delivers a bucket-load of specs, the Coutura SSG009 is an easy premium recommendation from us!

To Wrap Up…

If you’re in the market for a Seiko chronograph watch, the good news is there are many different models for you to choose from. Given Seiko’s massive range, whether you like a dive or a dress watch, there will be something for you that not only looks great but will sport a powerful, quartz-driven chronograph. 

But look, with so many different models available at Seiko’s budget prices, why do you only have to choose one?