Power Wheels Magazine A Notch Above
From today, Wednesday, until Friday (September 23-25, 2026), we will be featuring two nearly identical Seiko timepieces from our collection. The first of our “twinning” pair of watches from our Timepieces collection are these so-called “Vintage Military” Seiko 5 wristwatches – a 7009-316A from February 1992 and a 7S26-3160 from September 2000. Despite the 8-year age difference, the case design (316A vs 3160) and dimension of these two watches are almost identical.
The 1992 Seiko 5 7009-316A is powered by the Caliber 7009 automatic mechanical movement that was in production during the 1980s and 1990s. The 7009 movement is fitted with 17 jewels, pulses at 21,600 beats per hour (BPH), and has roughly 43 hours of power reserve. Pushing the crown in sets the day while rotating it sets the date. The 36 mm stainless steel case is 41 mm long lug-to-lug, 10.27 mm thick, and weighs 88 grams with the integrated steel bracelet.
The 2000 Seiko 5 7S26-3160 is powered by Seiko’s in-house Caliber 7S26 automatic mechanical movement and features 21 jewels, pulses at 21,6000 BPH, and has around 40 hours of power reserve. The 36mm stainless steel case and matching integrated bracelet has gold accents for a modern two-tone look. The day and date are set by turning the quick-set crown. It has the same 41mm length and 88-gram weight as the 1992 Seiko 5 but it is a bit thicker by around half a millimeter at 10.78 mm.
Both watches feature a white dial with polished stick indices, 24-hour markers printed on a white outer ring, lume-lined pencil-style hour and minute hands, a thin sweeping seconds hand, and a day/date window at the 3 o’clock position. The flat crystal is made of durable Hardlex, the slightly recessed crown is at 4 o’clock, and the integrated steel bracelet has small but thick 10mm lugs, making it difficult to change the bracelet with a leather strap.
These two Seiko wristwatches epitomize the idiom “Similar but not the same”. They may have similar dimensions and identical dials but, their difference is inside. The 34-year-old 7009-316A may look a bit plain while the 26-year-old 7S26-3160 looks a little fancier with its gold accents. When these two “Vintage Military” watches were in the market, we thought that we could choose just one. We ended up buying both.
After all, why break a twin-some winsome pair?
Model: Seiko 5 “Vintage Military”
Reference No.: 7009-316A / 7S26-3160
Month/Year of Manufacture: February 1992 / September 2000
Type: Dress Watch
Movement: Self-Winding / Automatic
Caliber: Seiko 7009 / 7S26
No. of Jewels: 17 / 21
Diameter: 36 mm
Thickness: 10.27 mm / 10.78 mm
Lug-to-lug Length: 41 mm
Lug Width: 10 mm
Weight: 88 grams
