Seiko Men's SNA413 Flight Computer Chronograph Watch

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by: T. Le (United States)
on: Monday, 2-March-2009

Im a fob watch collector and for me, if its not self winding, it is not a watch. But after I read the review by JP below and I realized that he made a very good point about the differences between quartz and automatic. It is a nice watch, but I hate the dome crystal which is annoying sometime. Seiko makes good watch, but their chrono is suckiest. This watch grabs more attention among my friend than my Oris and Rado. Not a bad watch for the money.

by: R. C. Holt (Kiefer, OK)
on: Friday, 30-January-2009

Although the flight computer is too small for many to read, it is a functioning E-6B. The Seiko movement is very accurate, within 1 second over the past couple weeks. Excellent quality. Looks great!

by: JP (United States)
on: Wednesday, 7-January-2009

I will have to follow this up with a more extensive video review, but for now here are the highlights.

1) It arrived on time with free holiday shipping from your site. PLUS

2) It arrived without protective plastic covering the crystal, case back, crown and pushers, or bracelet. MINUS

3) It also arrived with a slight scratch on one of the link-segments on the band. Since it was the polished portion of the link segment, it was very noticeable. ** BIG MINUS ** , but I remedied this by choosing this link segment as the links I would remove when I was sizing the bracelet, so no harm, no foul.

4) The bracelet measures just over 21mm consistently all the way around (no tapering), is solid stainless steel, and has solid end links. Also, it was erroneously reported as being a 3-link band (two brushed links on the outside and one polished link in the center with a vertical crease). In sizing the bracelet and moving the links, I quickly learned that it is actually a 4-link bracelet since the polished center is actually made up of TWO links side by side, each with a brushed link on either end (brushed+polished+ polished+ brushed). I

5) Diameter of case/bezel is listed as 42mm (w/o the crown), but it seems to be closer to 40mm.

6) Dial - The dial is protected by a domed Hardlex mineral crystal that does a magnificent job magnifying the fine writing of the EB6 rule, Telemeter, and Tachometer, and all other info including he date on the face/dial.

The domed crystal also does an excellent job throwing back a lot of LIGHT and shimmer to onlookers, so it tends to get a lot of WOW responses.

7) The bezel is non-ratcheting and bidirectional. It has a highly polished coined edge. It has a very solid and smooth in its movement.

8) The weight and balance is just right. It is slightly lighter than the Seiko Monster divers, about the same weight as my Omega 40mm (heavier than a Chase Durer Pilot Commander Alarm chronograph).

9) The alarm (located at the 6 oclock position) can be used as a GMT to track a secondary time zone. It has its own fully independent minute and hour hands, so this is quite nice.

10) The chronograph second hand (the BIG second hand) and chronograph hour hand (in the small sub-dial nearest to the 12 oclock position) are in bright yellow. All other hands are in stainless steel with or without lumibrite (luminescent paint for glowing in the dark). The chronograph sub-dials at 12 and 9 oclock are outlined in white paint, but the alarm sub-dial a 6 oclock is nicely outlined with a stainless steel circle/ring.


11) The crown and pushers are all screw down and the threads are very well engineered. This allows not only for the true 200 meter depth water resistance rating, but also keeps dust and moisture out of the watch. Dust and moisture are the biggest enemies of any all watches, regardless of the price-point.

12) ALL the chronograph hands and sub-dials can be manually reset to zero or manually aligned with the pushers if the need ever arose.

Conclusion: This is a dressy watch. The picture really do not do it justice. I purchased both this watch, as well as the Chase Durer Pilot Commander Alarm chronograph. This one for dressier, more formal attire while the Chase Durer for more casual occasions. Both watches have Japanese quartz movements and respective of style, quality, and function, they are easily on par with or better than most if not all of the other watches in my collection, including several well-known swiss automatics costing $3200 to $4000 each.

The only thing I would change about the Seiko SNA411 is the crystal. This is my first time owning a watch with a Hardlex crystal, and besides my Casio beater watch, all the other watches in my collection have sapphire anti-reflective crystals, which Ive never had scratch, shatter, or fracture on me...so well see how this Hardlex holds up, especially in its domed and slightly protruding fashion.

BTW - for all those considering automatics, consider this...what Ive found out in extensively researching before making my recent purchases:

1) Automatics MUST be cleaned/lubricated/maintained every 2-3 years, which runs anywhere from $150 to $399 for EACH automatic watch....depending on the brand and complication of the movement (basically, the more you paid for the watch the more the jeweler will charge you)

2) Automatics are not even remotely close to as accurate as quartz watches. Quartz are usually accurate within +/- 5 to 15 seconds a month, whereas automatics are usually +/- 5 to 15 seconds a day (for there best swiss movements).

3) Seiko invented the worlds first quartz wristwatch - the 35SQ Astron Watch - in Tokyo on Christmas day, 1969.

4) Quartz movements only require a quick and relatively inexpensive battery change every 2-3 years, some even every 10 years, and if the movements ever get so bad that an overhaul is needed (Ive never heard of this happening, but anything is possible), you can buy an entire new movement wholesale from between $30 - $80 and find a friendly jeweler to install it for you. With one of my better known swiss automatics, before I invested in a watch-winder ($199) to keep it constantly in motion to keep the internal 37-jeweled parts lubricated, it cost me $750 for a complete overhaul when the movement went bad after 4 years. AND that was DISCOUNTED!!!

Its nice owning swiss automatics (prestige, hype, exclusivity), but not that nice. After buying one of them, I always have a bad taste in my mouth...like I know I just got ripped off...no matter how much swiss watch-masters hand-made craftsmanship the sales person touted about). With my two purchases of the Seiko SNA411 and the Chase Durer Pilot Commander, Ive never felt so good about a luxury watch purchase.

Ill take a high-quality quartz watch (swiss or japan movement) any day over ANY of my swiss automatics now that I know better. So go out, find a watch that suits you...enjoy it :-) I know I will be enjoying BOTH of my latest additions :-)Seiko Mens Flight Alarm Chronograph Watch #SNA411

by: Paule Veilleux (Canada)
on: Tuesday, 6-January-2009

Salut a tous,cette montres est fantastique,toutes les fonctions que vous
demander dans une montre y sont,chronographe,reveil,date,lunette tournante et beaucoup plus.Je dis dans mon titre une brietling pour le prix dune timex et cest vrai,ok vous avez peut-etre pas un mouvement swiss automatique mais vous avez le look et ce nest pas une fausse montre.Cette
montres Seiko est une montres de tres grande qualité avec ces couronnes

visser elle est etanches jusqua 200 metres,elle a un look extra,la taille
est parfaite pour ce type de montres.Avec une fabrication digne dune montre beaucoup plus cher.Jai cette montre depuis un mois et je lui trouve
aucun defauts et en plus elle est beaucoup plus belle en realité que sur

photo.Je vous conseille fortement cette merveilleuse montre de qualité

pour le prix dune fausse montre.

by: John Nelson (North Carolina)
on: Friday, 2-January-2009

I just received my Flight Computer Chrono today, and my first impressions are excellent. I was looking for a large, Breitling-like watch, and that is just what I received. If are seeking a heavy, attention grabbing watch, this is definitely the one. Frankly, the picture doesnt do the watch justice. It looks much more impressive, and has great presence on the wrist. The price seems to have gone up substantially since I ordered, which made mine even more of a steal. Kudos to World of Watches for very quick shipping.