Best Of

Today I'm wearing the Fossil Del Rey CH2952. While I'm not usually inclined to wear Fossils, this one is particularly interesting in that it uses the TMI/Seiko VK64 "Mecaquartz" movement. The Seiko VK Series utilizes quartz for all timekeeping functionality, which seems pretty unextraordinary at first blush.

(How quartz works: a battery is connected to a quartz crystal regulator, which resonates at a specific predictable frequency. Additional electronics counts the vibrations and tells a motor to move the watch's hands every X number of vibrations to keep time.)

The Seiko VK64 begins to depart from most quartz watches when the chronograph is engaged. First, the central chrono seconds hand is connected to a stepper motor that ticks at 5 times per second, evoking the smooth movement and accuracy of a mechanical chrono. As the CH2952 pays homage to the smooth-sweeping mechanical racing chronographs of the 1970s, this behavior is both functionally and emotionally satisfying. The minutes accumulator, the 9:00 subdial, behaves similarly with gearing that allows silky smooth sweeping around its respective dial.

The VK64 really departs from most quartz chronographs when you reset the chrono with the bottom pusher. The minute and second accumulators are physically disengaged from the quartz movement and snapped back to zero through a mechanical assembly taken straight from Seiko's range of mechanical chronographs. You can feel the "thunk" in the watch when the chrono hands whip back to their neutral position at the top of their dials. This, too, feels extremely satisfying.

The Seiko VK Series comes in many configurations from its movement subsidiary, and has been surprisingly successful at finding common ground between quartz and mechanical diehards in 2014 and 2015. That's no small accomplishment, given that these two camps are usually quite binary and political about their preferred class of movement. In addition to the Del Rey line, the runaway success of mecaquartz has recently been fueled by attractive designs from boutique brands Helgray, Vratislava, Autodromo, and Melbourne Watch Company. Naturally, Seiko has also been in the game for a while with its own watches like the SSB003.

There are so many little details to love about the Del Rey beyond the soulful movement: the champagne sunburst dial, the Gulf Oil coloration on the chrono hands, the pie pan subdials, the orange ticks along the chapter ring, the soft leather band, the chamfered date and the perfect dial printing are a few of the high points. Fossil's designers were firing on all cylinders when they put this one in the pipe.

What you know about some Seiko 5?