SEIKO SBCM023 Review
My rating: 9/10. Brilliant watch. High-quality accurate movement.
Today I’m doing a Seiko SBCM023 review. While it looks similar aesthetically to the Seiko SKX 007 there are a few noteworthy differences. Firstly the SBCM023 is smaller than the SKX model. The Seiko SBCM023 has a case diameter of 39mm while the SKX 007’s case is 42mm. Another major difference is the type of movement. The Seiko SBCM023 features what is called an HAQ movement, or high accuracy quartz. Whereas the SKX 007 featured an automatic style movement.
Hopefully, you enjoy having a read through of this detailed SBCM023 review, it’s an extremely popular watch and well sought after, but these days it can be hard to find. Near the end of the review, I’ll try and give you some suggestions on where to find one if you’re looking to buy it.
Click here to check availability on Amazon
SEIKO SBCM023 Technical specifications
Firstly let’s take a quick look at the main technical specifications of the Seiko SBCM023. This just allows you to get a quick grasp of some of the most important details of the watch before we later have a look in more detail at some of its features.
- Model Number: SBCM023
- Crystal Material: Hardlex crystal
- Case Diameter: 39mm
- Movement: 8F35 quartz movement. High accuracy movement accurate within 20 seconds per year.
- Extra Features: Perpetual calendar, 10 year battery life, and Lumi Brite lume.
- Water Resistance: 200m / 20 bar. Diving rated according to ISO6245. Features screw down crown and case back as you would expect.
- Strap Material: Black canvas fabric
Seiko SBCM023 Design And Build Quality
I really love the look of this Seiko SBCM023, it has the traditional Diver’s style to it that’s obviously fairly popular, whilst still adding in a ton of features. As with many other Seiko watches the SBCM023 is built to a high-quality finish. Let’s take a closer look at the different parts of the watch below.
SBCM023 Dial
I really like these uncluttered dial designs. The main hands and the markers have an almost boldened effect given to them. The dial has this easy to read design and I love how they’ve added the lume on the watch. Unlike other watches where lume is just painted on, if you look closely you’ll notice the lume on the SBCM023 is slightly raised. While the dial may try and play down the seriousness of the watch, the ‘scuba 200m’ and ‘perpetual calendar’ markings prove otherwise.
I mentioned above that this watch features a perpetual calendar and I thought I would quickly go over what that means for those who don’t know. A perpetual calendar automatically adjusts for the varying amount of days in each month, they even allow for leap years. So whereas on a basic calendar, you’d find yourself adjusting the date after some months to correct them, on a perpetual calendar there isn’t any need for this. It’s a pretty handy feature to have on a watch.
SBCM023 Sizing
The Seiko SBCM023 has a case diameter of 39mm, this is fairly modest and a size I’m quite happy with. Even though 39mm may not be a fashionable size at the moment, I reckon this would be a popular size as it’s neither too small or too large really. The case is 12mm thick which again seems rather standard. The lugs are 20mm drilled, which would make a strap change quite simple.
SBCM023 Crystal
When you look at the overall quality of this watch it would have been great to see them go for sapphire glass on this model. Sadly, however, they stuck with their Seiko Hardlex glass. Hardlex glass is still good, I just feel they could have gone that extra mile. Hardlex glass is Seiko’s own take on mineral glass, it’s specially hardened to be more resistant to scratches and knocks. You’ll often find Hardlex glass on Seiko, Pulsar, and Lorus watches.
SBCM023 Strap & Clasp
Unlike your standard watch strap, this one from Seiko has some useful features for those budding divers among you. It features a Prospex diver enhancement strap, this allows you to easily change the size to fit over a wetsuit when you go diving. The clasp is also very nice, double pushbuttons with a flip lock to finish it off. The clasp has four micro-adjustment positions available as well which is useful too.
SBCM023 Water Resistance
This Seiko SBCM023 has a very good level of water resistance. It features 200m Diver’s quality water resistance which qualifies for ISO6245 rating. 200m and 200m divers are very different and if you’re serious about diving I always recommend a diver’s rated watch. 200m Divers are suitable for scuba diving at depths not suitable for saturation diving. Other features you’d expect on a watch with this rating are the screw down crown and case back, both of which this Seiko features.
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The SEIKO SBCM023 Movement
I love the movement featured on this watch. It’s an 8F35 high accuracy quartz movement. It’s pretty interesting, to me at least. Whereas a normal quartz would run around 32kHz and be accurate to about 180 seconds a year. The 8F35 movement is much more accurate, running at a faster rate of 192kHz and is accurate to within 20 seconds a year. Just so you know, some of the most accurate quartz watches available are accurate to 5 seconds a year but cost a hell of a lot more.
The 8F35 movement also features a perpetual calendar as I mentioned earlier, I won’t go into describing that all over again, just check out the ‘SBCM023 dial’ description if you want to know more.
With a combination of the extremely accurate timekeeping and the perpetual calendar, this is definitely a very high-quality movement that’s great to see featured in this watch.
Seiko SBCM023 Pros & Cons
Now we’re going to take a quick look at some of the pros & cons of the Seiko SBCM023 and put them in an easy to read format for all you skim readers out there. Enjoy.
Seiko SBCM023 Pros:
- High-quality stainless steel design
- Very good luminous LumiBrite hands and markers to make it easier to read in dim lit conditions
- Features an extremely accurate 8F35 quartz movement
- The perpetual calendar automatically adjusts for the varying amount of days in each month. Saving you that annoying altering.
- Hardlex crystal offers a fairly good level of protection from scratching and knocks.
- The battery has a life of up to 10 years which is superb
- The lugs are 20mm drilled which means you can change straps around
- 200m divers water resistance that qualifies for ISO6245 rating
- Screw-down crown and case back as you would expect for a highly rated divers watch
- Diver enhancement strap to easily enlarge strap to fit around a wetsuit
Seiko SBCM023 Cons:
- It would have been nicer if they had featured sapphire glass instead of Hardlex
- Due to it being discontinued it’s fairly hard to find them at the moment
A final Word On The Seiko SBCM023
The Seiko SBCM023 is simply an amazing watch. I love the design of it, and I love its useful features. The movement is incredibly accurate and I’m sure many Seiko fans will be very pleased to see such a movement featured in this watch. The diver’s quality water resistance rating is also a great touch, it’s a fairly affordable high-quality divers watch, the only problem is finding one of them. Hopefully, after having read through this detailed review you can get a good idea of what the Seiko SBCM023 is like and how good it is.
I really do recommend the Seiko SBCM023, it’s a very great watch. Having taken everything into account I’m very happy to award the Seiko SBCM023 a 9/10 from us at The Watch Blog.
Click here to check for availability on Amazon
Where To Buy The Seiko SBCM023
This is a pretty tough one, due to it being discontinued the Seiko SBCM023 can be a little hard to find. I have the links to Amazon for when it is available but to be honest it’s unlikely to appear. Your next option would perhaps be eBay or failing that asking around on the watch forums.
Thanks For Reading
I hope you enjoyed having a read through of this extensive Seiko SBCM023 review. As always let us know in the comments what you thought.
What to read next:
Are there any other watches similar to the Seiko SBCM023 by the same brand? I like what I hear about this watch but I’m not taken completely on the style of it? Could you suggest any other diving watches by Seiko?