A Week on the Wrist – Alpina Seastrong Heritage

Welcome to the first edition of our “Week on the wrist” review and opinions.

For the first watch we are going to review, I chose my latest acquisition the Alpina Seastrong Heritage model: AL-525S4H6; The remake of their 1969 “Alpina 10” Dive watch. Many people may not be familiar with Alpina watches, but they have been around since 1883. The original watchmaker actually started the Swiss Watchmakers Corporation (“Union Horlogère Suisse”).

A brand like Alpina is rich with history even though they are not well known everywhere in the world like Rolex, Omega, Tag Heuer or Brietling.

The Rubber strap is a nice touch as it dresses down the watch just enough without making it a sports watch. The other nice touch is the tang buckle hugs the sides of the strap instead of only sitting on top of. I am honestly not sure if this helps the integrity of the strap but I like the extra touch to detail.

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So a little bit about the watch before anything else. The Seastrong Heritage Diver is a 300M dive watch with a Boxed Sapphire crystal, Date complication, Inner rotating bezel with independent Screw Down Crown; and a not to sporty rubber strap.

Technical Jargon.

• Alpina AL-525 Automatic Movement: in house modified Sellita SL200
• 26 Jewels
• 28’800/h Frequency (8 beats a second)
• High Grade Stainless Steel case
• 21-18mm Rubbe strap
• 38 Hour Power Reserve
• Alplied Indexes
• 2 Year Warranty

On the Wrist.

I picked up this watch for myself before Christmas, I knew as soon as I saw it on our order it would be mine. I am a sucker for vintage styled watches. The details on the watch are quite impressive, the small details on the crowns to the almost iridescent white of the dial..

The case is 42mm, not my biggest or smallest watch by any means but one of my most comfortable. It wears smaller then a 42mm, which might be in part the 21mm strap instead of a 22mm, this is also accented by using an 18mm buckle so the strap has a nice taper on the bottom of the wrist.

The rubber strap is quite comfortable as it has a nice texture underneath to let the wrist breath from sweat or moisture. I enjoy the white stitching that they added to the rubber to dress it up a bit while keeping it casual. I wear mostly business casual every day so the watch work perfectly while it also performs as a stylish weekend watch.

The other option is to switch to a leather strap, it changes the look from sporty dress to dressy. It is an easy switch and lets you change the feel of the watch while sticking with the same one. Now it is a dive watch but I never take my watches in the water, not that I wouldn’t but I don’t have the opportunities. This means a leather band works out perfectly on this dive style.

I also enjoy the inner rotating bezel compared to the classic external bezel, I find it adds a touch of interest and vintage feel while keeping the clean lines and simplicity of the style.

Comfort and Time.

The watch also runs at a nice 8 beats a second, this give the second hand a beautiful smooth sweep. A lot of Swiss watches have the same beat but I find when I compare the Alpina to others, it runs smoother.Automatic watches are not as accurate as battery watches, but I prefer them. This watch is one of my more accurate mechanical pieces. It averages about 30 Seconds a week for accuracy, so about 2-3 seconds a day.

The fit on my wrist is also like it was meant to be. Even bundled under winter jackets and gloves, the watch is comfortable and never noticeable as some other watches can be. The rubber strap never feels like it is trapping moisture and has a nice curve to fit my wrist. The way they angled the 2 crowns also keeps them from digging into the wrist.

I like the way they added the date complication just off the 3:20 marker. I enjoy the slight off set as it matches perfectly with the crown at the same position. The hands are true to the original 1969 version of this watch adding to the vintage feel. They offer a good Lume at night but it could be brighter in my opinion.

Alpina is also known for it’s Red Triangle logo, they add this at the 12 O’clock as well as on the screw down crown as an accent. They kept the Triangle silver to not take away from the feel of the design.

All and all the detail on this watch is impressive. Including the presentation box it comes with. The standard Alpina has a nice box, but the Heritage collection gets special treatment.

This watch has taken over as my daily wear for many reasons, including the fact that I just enjoy looking at it.

Thanks for taking time time to read the first instalment of A week on the Wrist. I hope you enjoyed and look forward to continuing this in the near future.