I bought this watch for 4  reasons: 1) I have had nothing but good experiences with all my Seiko watches. 2) It was a great price. 3) Its resemblance to the watches I wore when I was in the Army 4)Its elegant simplicity.

I have never owned an auto-winder and I admit, leaving it for 2 days and coming back to find it had slowed/missed a day/date change sort of put me off.  Now I know why those airline magazines that sell obscure stuff offers a watch-winding box for auto-winders that aren't being worn for a few days.  Still, that is a small inconvenience for a basic, simple watch with all the things I like and none of the things I dont.  Watches may be my only fashion statement but in that, I like them to be basic, functional and sharp.  My big, rugged, obnoxious watch is reserved for backpacking/diving/paddling when I need my digital compass, etc.  I like the old-Army look on this watch but with the added day/date.  I wish it was treated with tritium-3 so it would illuminate the hands, etc., like my old Army watch, but the occasions calling for low-light time-reading out here in the civilian world are few and far-between.

Im an old-school kind of guy and this is an old-school kind of watch.  For me, thats exactly what I wanted and what I got!