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Traksa Seafarer
The Traska Seafarer has been updated-actually, all of the Traska lineups have been updated and refined and will be available Sunday, November 3, at 11 am for purchase. If history is any indication, most of the inventory will sell out very quickly as Traska has made quite a name for itself in the microbrand space in just over 6 years. With all the competition these days, that is no small feat. The brand has quite the following, and it’s easy to see why. Clean, understated designs and a never-satisfied attitude keep Traska at the top. Each year or so, they overhaul their models and make slight changes, and the same has been done to this Seafarer. It’s mostly the same, but upgrades such as raised printed markers, a screw-down internal bezel crown, and some new finishes around the case and bracelet make what they refer to as the best Seafarer yet.
Specifications:
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38.5mm Hardened Stainless Steel Case
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46mm Lug to Lug
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20mm Lug Width (Bracelet tapers to 16mm)
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11.3mm Thick, including domed sapphire
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Weight 130 Grams
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Box style Domed Sapphire Crystal
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Screw Down Crowns
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150m Water Resistant
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Miyota 9039 Automatic Movement
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BGW9 SuperLumiNova
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Hardened Steel Bracelet
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On the Fly Adjustable Clasp
Price $665 USD
https://www.traskawatch.com/collections/seafarer
The Traska Seafar is a vintage-inspired piece, much like all of the Traska watches are. They all take cues from watches from the 60s and 70s, yet they use all modern materials and parts. I think what is unique with Traksa, unlike a few other brands that do vintage pieces, is that they are inspired by but are not cloning vintage models. They have developed their own look and style, especially within the past 2-3 years, as they continually update their lineup. The Seafarer is very much inspired by Super Compressor watches of the past.
This time around, the 2024 Seafarer got a few more changes than I initially realized. The biggest ones are the printed raised dial indices and the 2 o’clock crown, now being a screw-down crown. It wasn’t until I started searching around on Google that I found pics of the 2023 collection and realized that the colors have been updated as well. The latest version comes in stone grey, as shown in this review, black, salmon, and blue. Gone are the mint dial and the salmon dial gets a black inner bezel.
My big takeaway from looking at the Gen 2 Seafarer is that all but the black dial has a contrasting bezel color on the dial, and that makes me wonder why they did away with that for Gen 3. The Stone Grey dial I have in hand is very monochromatic with a matching grey dial and bezel insert that I feel would look better with some contrast, like last year’s models. The only version to retrain a contrasting internal bezel color is the salmon dial.
Another thing I need to point out is that the dial color does look different in person than it does on the Traska website. The current pictures on their website depict what a darker grey dial and while you can see in some of my images that it can look darker, in most lighting, this is a pretty standard grey color. Now I don’t feel there is anything wrong with the grey hue that is used on these new models, but if you were looking for a dark charcoal dial, this isn’t it.
One of the bigger updates to the Traksa Seafarer is the use of printed indices. The Seafarer started its life with printed indices, then Gen 2 switched to applied, and now we are back to print, though the lume plots are different. They are ever so slightly domed and raised off the dial, so it gives just a little bit of depth to an otherwise very understated dial. I feel this grey and white is somewhat plain, and with a matte dial and similar textured bezel insert, could use some pop either with a contrasting color or texture. Normally, I am all about matte and less bling, but this one feels a touch too muted.
The case retains a lot of Gen 2, but there are some subtle changes. The outer top bezel area is now finely machine-brushed, and the sides of the external bezel now have a polished chamfer. The case sides are still convex and very highly polished, though I have found that the scratch-resistant hard coating does help reduce fingerprints and smudges.
I believe all of the current lineups from Traska have the hard coating applied. I know the Freediver I reviewed did, and like all of these hard coating processes many brands are using, it will not make your watch indestructible, but it will hold up well to small bumps and knocks. Both crowns now screw down, and the time crown has the Traska logo, and the internal bezel crown has the famous cross-hatch design. Both crowns operate smoothly, with just a touch of finesse required to lock the internal bezel in place when screwing back down.
At 38.5mm with a 46mm lug to lug, I find the Traska Seafarer just a little on the small side for my 7 1/2 inch (19.05cm) wrist and while I have been pleasantly surprised with some smaller watches in the past 2 years and the dual crowns do help to add a little extra width, I generally just prefer a watch 40mm or larger. That is just my preference, but you may love it at this size and judging by the popularity of Traksa, many of you do.
The bracelet is pretty much the same as on the Freediver I reviewed earlier this year, with refined end links, links that use screws and are fully articulated, and the latest clasp with a push-button release and an on-the-fly tool-less extension. The watch should come with 3 extra links, and without those links, I can still get the watch on with the extension all the way out, but adding one link gave me the perfect fit. If your wrist is larger than 8 inches, you’ll probably want to request a few extra links.
While the lume on the dial and hands has been upgraded and has a strong glow that will last a few hours, the internal bezel does suffer from some weak lume. The lume is thinly printed on the bezel, and as such, it’s not going to last long. I am not sure how to get better lume on the internal bezel. Maybe they can look into adding those raised lume plots in numbers for future generations, but as it is, I wouldn’t rely on that bezel in the dark.
Traska is constantly working on their watches, and it is nice to see a brand that wants to refine and alter their models each year. While I don’t know if I would be buying one from each generation, it’s nice to see that the brand is always wanting to improve. For me, most of the improvements on the Traska Seafaer Gen 3 are welcome, but I feel they took a step back by ditching the contrasting bezel color on all but one colorway. I just want to see some sort of pop, at least on this grey dial. Some may love this monochromatic look, though.
Yes, I wouldn’t mind a 40 or 41mm variant, but these days I am probably in the minority. I won’t dispute that it is a comfortable watch on my wrist, and I am sure if I started wearing 38mm watches on the regular, I would get used to it, but I just don’t want to. 😉 Build quality and finishing are amazing on this Traska, though, especially for a watch that is under $700. Not sure how much they can improve on that in future generations, but one thing I know is Traska doesn’t settle, and I look forward to a whole new gen of Seafarers next year.
Traksa
