Seiko Day-Date Style Chestnut

Chestnut, on the DAY MOD - CHESTNUT, means a red-brown dial, smooth and entirely free of numerals, whose hours are marked solely by pale baton indices in steel-toned frames. The hands are steel-toned batons with a pale filling, and the seconds hand is one thin line in that same steel shade. Around them lie a fluted bezel, a 40 mm case of 316L stainless steel and a three-row link bracelet with a polished middle. The weekday and the date both advance, with the weekdays shown in English. Behind the dial ticks the NH35 automatic, and its date shows up at 3 o'clock beneath a magnifier.

Brown with a copper core

The tone is a rich red-brown that stays quiet and reserved in the shade. Only when light falls in at a slant does it go coppery and make plain that brown is meant here, not black. Since the dial is smooth, that shift happens with no brushing effect at all, purely through the colour. Chestnut is the preset on this page; the swatches hold the remaining dial colours on offer here, should another tone appeal to you more.

Strokes where others carry numerals

You will look for figures on this dial in vain. The hours receive baton indices, pale inside and framed in steel tone, and luminous material lets these marks stand cleanly against the dark ground even in weak light. The baton hands pick up the same scheme: steel tone outside, pale within. The date sits where the eye searches for it anyway, namely at 3 o'clock, and a magnifier in the crystal enlarges it.

Three rows of steel

Made from 316L stainless steel, the case measures 40 mm; that size works on slim and broad wrists alike without pushing itself forward. The fluted bezel is steel-toned like the case. On the bracelet three rows of links run side by side, the middle one polished, which looks broader and calmer than a fine-linked band and suits the plain front. The crown screws down. Flip the chestnut one over, and the exhibition case back opens the view onto the movement.

• Movement: NH35 automatic, which also advances the date of the chestnut one
• Crystal: sapphire, showing the dark brown tone without tinting it
• Lume: on the baton indices, bright against the red-brown
• Crown and water resistance: screw-down crown, 5 ATM

As long as you wear the chestnut one, its NH35 winds itself; the crown lets you add turns by hand, and during setting the seconds hand stands still.

What it goes with, and what sets it apart from its nearest kin

To us, chestnut is the quietest way of wearing a coloured dial. With brown leather, denim, corduroy and each earth tone it gets along by itself, beside grey and navy it provides the warm counter-note; at the office it sits as naturally as on a Saturday. Of its two nearest relatives, one shares the entire construction yet shows a mid-grey sunburst dial and dark grey hands. The second is black and smooth like the chestnut one but hangs on a bracelet with five rows instead of three.

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

Similar models: Day Mod - Mahogany Roman, Day Mod - Deep Green, Day Mod - Anthracite, and Mariner Mod - Gray Lightning.