Finally found a decently priced Seiko 5 Sports 55th Anniversary Limited Edition (Re-creation of the first 5 Sports) watch!

When Seiko announced that their Seiko 5 Sports 55th Anniversary Limited Edition Re-creation (SRPK17) of the first 5 Sports watch was going to be ‘limited’ to 15,555 pieces, I scoffed at such a statement, thinking that there would be plenty of these watches to be found – HOW WRONG WAS I?!

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved the watch upon seeing it in the press release, but I thought I’d have time to check it out before making the decision to add one to my modest watch collection.

I had plenty of opportunities to buy the SRPK17 watch at AU$595 (Australian RRP), which I thought was reasonably priced by Seiko. After much deliberation, and without seeing the watch in the flesh, I decided to buy one. Well, this is where I got the surprise, remember how I thought 15,555 was a large pool of watches, well, those 15,555 limited edition watches were no longer available from authorised dealers in Australia – they were all snapped up by smart and savvy watch collectors.

With my tail between my legs, I started hunting for this watch overseas. I was surprised that a number of “grey” watch dealers had stock, but their prices (in USD) were a tad more than I thought was fair (which excluded the exorbitant shipping fee). The next port of call was hitting the online marketplaces, on Facebook, eBay and Gumtree. Seeing scalpers selling the SRPK17 at almost double its retail price should not have surprised me – where there is limited quantity and eager collectors/buyers, then there is opportunity for a scalper – which is unfortunate. I really wanted the SRPK17, but I told myself I would not buy one over its retail price.

Facebook (FB) cops a lot of flak, some of it justified, but there are pockets of great groups on there, especially in the Australian watch community. While wowing and hitting the like button at fellow watch addicts’ posts in one of those FB watch groups, I came across a sales ad for the SRPK17. The seller was another group member and was honest that he probably wouldn’t wear the watch, so he offered it to fellow group members at $50 below retail! Yep, you read that right, for AU$550, I could purchase this unicorn which was hardly used and still had its blue sticker on the caseback.

I am not a frequent FB Marketplace buyer (so many horror stories), but when a fellow group member is selling their watch in a private watch group, it is a safe bet. To my surprise, no one else snapped up this watch (perhaps everyone that wanted one, got one), so I was quite chuffed when it was confirmed that it was still available. With some back and forth private messaging, we worked out a time and place to do the exchange. Speaking of which, the exchange was so smooth, I wish I had more time to chat to a fellow watch addict about watches – alas, we both had to head back to work.

It is great to have this watch in the collection and I am so glad that there are genuine sellers out there that aren’t price gouging their fellow watch collector friends.