Seiko SPB315J Slim Willard

Made as a reinterpretation of the Seiko 6105-8000 which came out in 1968, and made famous thanks to the movie Apocalypse Now, where the character Captain Willard is seen wearing it. The Seiko SPB315J was released in 2022 to honor the 6105-8000 especially it being the first iteration of the Seiko “turtle” case.

The case still has the “turtle” case shape, while remaining at 41mm which is typical and a lug to lug of 47mm, but what’s different is this reinterpretation of the watch is called “slim” for a reason, because it has a thickness of 12.3mm which for a Seiko diver which is usually at 14mm. An aluminum bezel in black with gold-colored indices, with a monodirectional 120 click rotation. The black dial maintains the gilt finishing the watch, especially with the gold hands, and surroundings of the indices. The indices and the hands all have lume to ensure visibility when diving, or just when it’s dark, because let’s be honest, we rarely go diving with watches. The dial seems like it’s black, but from what I’ve seen it’s more of a super dark grey.

The watch being a dive watch, it has a water resistance of 200m, but it also has a date function located at the 4:30 marker. Powering this beauty is the Seiko movement 6R35 with a 70-hour power reserve, making it a good option for a weekend watch.

Regardless of how iconic the Seiko “Turtle” is this watch called my name because of the bracelet. Everyone and their mother loves a Five-link bracelet. I mean the jubilee bracelet is one of the most renowned examples of that. The Slim Willard comes with this different approach to five-link bracelet, with the links larger than normal, it’s as if they’ve been supersized.

The only thing that pissed me off about the watch is the same thing that made me get the watch, the bracelet. Yes, it was unique BUT it’s something that Seiko sadly does with their bracelets, and that’s not tapering them, the whole bracelet was 22mm and that really annoyed me. It just didn’t set well with me, so I sold it back to my friend literally three months later, I think you can see it on his wrist from time to time on his Instagram account @ae.kix If you’ve got a bigger wrist than mine, then you wouldn’t really have an issue with a watch’s bracelet not tapering but for a wrist like mine it’s annoying.