Few Seiko references command the reverence and admiration afforded to the “Rally” sport divers of the late 1960’s and ‘70’s. The 7S36 is a throwback to the late 1960s/1970’s competition between Seiko’s Suwa and Daini divisions, which resulted in some of the most memorable watches Seiko ever produced. Namely, bright 1970’s era colors on large (for the era) and unique case designs.
Among these legendary watches, Seiko’s Sports Rally line has remained at the top of the list for collector’s – so much, in fact, that Seiko re-released the 1960s/1970s-era rally watches in the late 1990s, and this 1997 Seiko SBSS017 (7S36-0070) is one of these, with its original bracelet and unique box.
Seiko designed the Sports Rally series as 70 meter diver watches aimed at “light” water sports that gained widespread popularity during the late 1960’s and 1970’s; however, these did not feature diving bezels. Seiko made literally hundreds of Sports diver variations during this time period, with the Suwa and Dani factory seemingly in competition with one another to see which could devise the most compelling models.
Of course, the late 1990s re-issues are borderline “vintage” in their own right, and accordingly difficult to find given Seiko only produced them for two years, 1996-97 – it doesn’t help these were Japanese Domestic Market (JDM)-only.
The re-issued rally watches came in a number of colors, to include Seiko’s fantastic “deep blue” and the silver sunburst dial here, which features applied luminous markers contrasted with black tips on the indices. The hour and minute hands are slender batons with polished edges and black striping through the center. The sweep is a sharply tapered bright red orange that adds a nice pop of color to the mostly monochromatic layout.
A great throwback to its 1970s namesake is the Seiko 5 badge and bright blue “Sports” on the dial, as well as the JDM-required Kanji and English day language variants. And of course, the quite atypical perfect black and silver checked insert. Seiko took some slight liberties with the case, leaving it somewhat more contoured than the original 1970s one, but retained the more or less same brushed finish.
This Seiko comes with its original stainless-steel bracelet, nylon strap, and atypical box. It also comes with a hard plastic travel case and springbar tool.
1997 Seiko SBSS017 (7S36-0070) Rally Automatic Diver, w/Box & Bracelet
DIAL: Crisp and flawless black Seiko 5-signed dial, with outstanding blue highlights on the hour indices, and a likewise colorful red seconds hand. Day and date function at the 3 o'clock position works as designed, with Japanese Kanji/English day variants. Naturally, lume shines very brightly.
CASE: Stainless-steel case measures 41mm x 44.5mm, with sharp lines. Iconic black and silver rally bezel insert - with intact lume pip - is nearly flawless.
CRYSTAL: Hardlex crystal, with several small scratches but no cracks.
BAND: Original "razor blade" stainless-steel bracelet, with an engraved “5 Sports” deployant style clasp, which will fit up to an approx. 7.75 inch wrist. This Seiko diver also comes with a nylon strap.
MOVEMENT: 23-jewel Seiko 7S26 mechanical automatic movement, manufactured in April 1997.
CROWN: Unsigned stainless-steel crown.