A watch acquaintance offered me 900 dollars for my alpanist. The guy is not an idiot and has many better watches than I do. I actually just pick up the little treasures that bore him. Now that would have included the uncle seiko BOR I have for it, I think that cost me 70 bucks.

If memory serves me right I got this alpanist for 340 usd. I did not get it with the thought of it increasing in value. I just really liked the look of the watch. It’s a decent movement but nothing special. I know seiko did DC them but they were made for years there must be quite a few floating around. I was reading an article about one of the seiko designers who came up with it (this and several other alpanist) he said he wanted to prove that green dials can sell well. I guess seiko has found they have not in the past.

So IMO it’s not a “special watch” but it was a watch I knew I wanted to get the first time I saw it. I politely declined his generous offer as if you really like a watch and want to keep wearing it it seems they are not getting cheaper and become hard to replace. I saw a completed sale on Reddit for 1,200 but it came with a significant amount of NATO’s.

I just find it a bit odd as I personally describe the watch as nice looking and cool. Screw down crown, the compass you can actually use hiking and what not but I really don’t see it as anything special. Winding and auto (with date) hacking which is a cool feature but doesn’t really mean much. When not priced crazy they sell they day they are listed but of course now I’m seeing some at 1,400 and up, that’s just silly.

So I’m hanging on to mine maybe my buddy will offer a trade of interest. I’m just puzzled as to the increase. “Sarb017 bubble?. I’ll put up a few pics since I’ll talking about it but it’s artificial light as the sun has set. I have it on an Archer strap handmade in cali might change it to the BOR tomorrow just curious if any hip to the alpanist scene plus I’m bored at the moment.

 

The same has happened to 033 035 037. The explanation to price increase is straight forward, supply - demand balance, but why some folks are willing to pay such prices to collect them is vague. Appreciate if you ask your buddy, what's the motive?
I like all of these releases by the way, they were great for money at the time for both design and functionality, discontinued (replaced with other series like Prospex, Presage etc) now.

 

Wearing mine today ,

 

Those Alpinist watches have often tempted me, but may I ask what’s the difference between the different references? They all look the same to me

 

Did your friend offer no explanation for the sudden desire to pay a high price?

 

There are a lot of fakes, be careful forum members. By the way, enjoy it

 

Yup. He just asked if id sell it with BOR because he never got one and liked the look. That was about it.

 

Love it, one of my first automatics. Paid $425 (which I thought was way too much at the time), and will never sell it. The 6R15 movement is erratic for sure. The case finishing beats many Swiss offerings above $1,000 IMHO.

 

Mostly it's different text/fonts/colors, and some have a cyclops. I do not like the current Prospex X logo on the dial, nor the cyclops.

 

I agree with you I do like much of the prospex line but that X on the dial annoys me.

 

Some of the Alpinist models remind me of the Oris Big Crown

 

I paid $900cnd for mine about 6 months ago with a bracelet and stock strap. My first mechanical watch. I liked the green dial and gold numbers. Preferred it over the Prospex Alpinist due to colour, no cyclops and price.
The new ones cost more as Seiko really raised the price and they don't look as good to me. So the price is justified.

 

Me too.

 

Well I guess if you really like something and feel it’s worth the money and you aren’t into it to make money but to enjoy it the price is justified. Now I always thought that leather makes the alpanists dial pop a bit more but you guys have made me decide to put the uncle seiko BOR back on I just gotta adjust the links it’s tight and I don’t have the links dispersed properly. I do still have the original band as well but I found it to be the short cut seiko took on the watch. I do hear once broken in it feels better

 

Ok didn’t even touch the lugs with the tool. I can add the links later it’s ok to wear

 

Quite sure I've seen them go for around 600€ not long ago if I'm not mistaken...
Always kinda liked the look of the watch but never really pulled the trigger

 

This thread might have played a role in what I wanted to wear today.

 

n/a

 

I actually prefer the newer one (SPB121) over the SARB017 primarily for the anti-reflective coating. I was iffy on the cyclops at first, but I got over that pretty quickly as I felt it matched the watch's "utility" theme. The SARB017 is based on the 90's Alpinst which had a cyclops anyway.

 

I like many of them including the baby alpanist with the textured dial and numerous others and I didn’t mean to imply the price is increasing like a Rolex or other top brand but it just seems they were sitting at 300-350usd forever then just seemed to double and triple very rapidly. TBH I’m just going by completed sales I saw locally, on Reddit and the one offer I had for my watch maybe they are coming down again.
Despite many of the others being great watches that surpass the 017 mechanically the sarb017 has always remained my favorite but if my resources were unlimited I’d probably have every model.