Hi All,

Bought my first automatic (Seiko 5),. I love Seiko.

Anyway, if I don't wear it everyday, it goes dead...

Is a winder the only answer?  I really don't want to spend more money on this..

Regards

wearing it is the answer.

Wear it every day or get used to resetting the date and time.  Mine has about a 30 hour reserve.

Winders are a pain in the ass.
The cheap ones don't last and the expensive ones are freaking EXPENSIVE.

Either wear it everyday or just get used to winding and setting it when you put it on.

This is why I wear a Citizen Eco-Drive now. It can sit for months and keep perfect time.

Thanks for the replies.  I saw a double winder on Amazon for $40.  It almost seems like more of a pain to set it up in a winder every damn night.  I guess I should just wear it every day.  Two questions..

RE the Seiko 5 with woven strap.  How do you keep the strap from getting nasty if you wear it every day?

Second, once fully charged, what is the reserve?

Thanks

If it's a 7S26 movement, which I'm guessing it is, reserve should be around 40 hours.

As for the strap - good luck. When the military went thru the rigger styled webbing straps back in the 70-80's we quickly learned that woven materials will soak up all sorts of noxious fluids, much less the continual sloughing off of dead skin cells. Those quickly become fed on by an increasing number of bacteria which all excrete odorous scents.

In other words, if its a fabric strap, it gets skanky. Sometimes less than a week out in the field, and once it goes sour, nothing keeps it from returning to that state with perspiration and long hot days. I've tried alcohol, peroxide, and other cleaners. The best success I've had is with non alcoholic hand sanitizer. However, no matter what - it's going to go sour again if you soak it in sweat and feed it skin cells.

Nobody makes silver oxide or anti fungal treated straps, and likely never will - it would be a spike in the heart of their business model. Of all the woven straps I have tried Perlon seems the most resistant. I never had major odor issues with one. Probably because it's more loosely woven and dries quickly.

This is why G Shock's are the #1 selling watch in the military - resin bands don't stink. And why strap makers push their product line and it's variety - they are expendable.

Nylon web straps do get pretty funky after a few days in the field. Whenever the strap on my issued watch got too bad, I took it off, fastened it around a belt look and ran it through the washing machine. That was usually good for a few weeks or until the next trip out.

Ditch the fabric strap for a rubber one.  I do that with any watch I have that has a fabric strap.  You can get a factory Seiko rubber strap like they use on the 007 line for under $10 on ebay or amazon.