This is my SPB155J1 or also known as the Baby Alpinist. I know there’s a lot of love for the “Original Alpinist” and it’s internal rotating compass etc. Personally I found it too busy and too distracting from the actual dial.

I bought this watch for the dial and also the 72 hr power reserve.

I have some thoughts on this watch after about a year of owning it!

Pros

1. It has a beautiful fume dial that I absolutely adore. Seriously, in person it’s astounding.

2. The 38mm case diameter makes it a dream to wear on my 6.4 inch wrist and I would recommend it to most people with smaller - mid sized wrists.

3. This is my own personal caveat and that is I attached this watch to the first trip I took with my current girlfriend who I will one day make my wife so this watch is never leaving me. I named it Ionah which is Hà Nội spelled backwards which is where we took our first trip.

Cons

1. The 6R35 movement is terrible at timekeeping. It varies between being 15 seconds slow or 30+ seconds slow depending on how I set the watch in it’s resting position. Having read that Seiko underpromises and overdelivers on movements I was quite disappointed

2. It is a Top Heavy watch with minimal micro adjust. Even with the points of micro adjust I wasn’t able to get the perfect fit on it and I live in a country where temperatures are high and I’m more often than not in an air conditioned room so my wrist swells and contracts so that sucks.

3. Lume is meh

4. Retail price imo is definitely on the higher side and I would recommend buying it pre-owned

Conclusion:

A robust watch with lots of character but is lacking in terms of precision and accuracy.

6.5/10