Seiko Day-Date Style Anthracite

Grey, yet anything but dull: the dial of the DAY MOD - ANTHRACITE is a mid-grey with a sunburst finish that sends fine rays from the centre across the surface. Pale baton indices in steel-toned frames mark the hours, and unlike on its two nearest relatives the baton hands are dark grey, the thin seconds hand likewise. The weekday and the date both advance, with the weekdays shown in English. The steel-toned case in 316L stainless steel comes to 40 mm, the bezel is fluted, the link bracelet counts three rows. The NH35 automatic takes care of the drive, and at 3 o'clock the date sits beneath a magnifier.

This grey is neutral in the strict sense: no blue cast, no green undertone, no drift towards brown. What it has instead is range. Under a ceiling lamp it reads like soft charcoal, in daylight it lifts and reveals its finish, at dusk it moves up close to black. On this page it is the preset among the dial colours you can pick, and a click on another swatch trades the grey away.

Sunburst, strokes, dark hands

The sunburst is what divides this dial from a merely grey surface: depending on the angle, a bright wedge wanders over the grey. The baton indices are pale inside and framed in steel tone; luminous material keeps them readable when the light fades, without the contrast ever turning harsh. The dark grey hands stay tone-on-tone with the dial and set themselves apart mainly through their shape. The date window sits tidily at 3 o'clock, and the magnifier above it enlarges the numeral.

40 mm of steel on a three-row bracelet

316L stainless steel forms the 40 mm case: enough presence to be noticed, and enough restraint to slide under a shirt cuff. Around the grey lies the fluted bezel, steel-toned like case and bracelet. Three rows with a polished middle make up the link bracelet and give the grey one a dressier line. The sapphire crystal absorbs what a desk edge and a car door hand out. The crown screws down.

A watch that stays on the arm

A grey dial asks the least of anything you can wear. It joins navy, olive, denim and brown without a thought, which is why we see the grey one as a watch that remains on the wrist for a week at a stretch instead of being swapped out. Its two nearest relatives have smooth dials with no finish and steel-toned hands: one in red-brown on the same three-row bracelet, one in black on a bracelet with five rows. So the grey one is the only one of the three whose dial works with the light.

Inside the grey one

• Movement: NH35 automatic with date display behind the grey sunburst
• Crystal: sapphire, with the magnifier above the grey one's date built in
• Back: exhibition case back, through which the grey one's NH35 stays in view
• Crown and water resistance: screw-down crown, 5 ATM

The NH35 draws its energy from the motion of your arm, accepts extra winding by hand and halts the second as soon as you pull the crown out for setting.

Hand-assembled by MedoMods and tested before shipping. Free worldwide shipping with tracking.

Mid grey with rays: Anthracite between white, green and sand gold

Despite the name, the dial is not a deep anthracite but a mid grey, across which a sunburst finish draws fine rays from the centre to the edge. Depending on the angle it brightens or darkens without changing colour. Light bar indices in steel-coloured surrounds stand at every hour except 12 and 3 o'clock, where two windows take their place, the right-hand one with a magnifier over the date. The hands and the thin seconds hand are dark grey and so sit close to the tone of the dial, which keeps the watch calm. The bezel is fluted, while the case and the three-row bracelet with polished centre links are steel-coloured. The fluting of the bezel sets a coarse relief against the smooth field of rays. Against a light shirt the grey stands out clearly without emphasising anything.

Day Mod White is the bright answer, with a creamy white smooth dial, steel-coloured indices without fill and dark hands with a light fill. Day Mod Deep Green shares the dark grey hands but has a smooth dark green dial with no brushing, which looks almost black indoors. The sunburst finish is something the watch shares with Day Mod Sand Gold; there colour alone decides, a light, champagne-coloured golden yellow. Of the four dials, the grey one sits in brightness between the creamy white and the dark green, while sand gold stays lighter than grey but darker than white. Case in 316L stainless steel, bezel, bracelet, sapphire crystal, 40 mm and the NH35 automatic movement are the same for all four.

Similar models: Day Mod - Basalt Roman, Day Mod - Chestnut, and Yacht Mod - Grey.

Further reading: NH36 Movement Explained: Day-Date, Specs & Mod Compatibility.