New Arnies

[Chester01]

So, it’s hard to wrap my mind around the new Arnie Divers. The SNJ037 apparently is supposed to be the 40th anniversary of the hybrid divers, but in some ways it’s not. The H558 was released in 1982 and the current releases appear to pay homage to the H601, which was from what I understand was release in the late 1980's and less robust than the H558.

I understand the push for solar and that the solar may be behind the slightly larger and thicker proportions in the recent arnies. However, why did they not stick closer to the original and release something akin to the 1986 35th anniversary tuna which stuck closer to the original. Seiko still does use quartz movements with batteries and could have given us a closer homage to the H558 or released an anniversary model with the orange dial and did not. I mean it’s hard to understand because they have released like a dozen Willard’s at this point which are pretty close to the original, same for the turtles but are not really hitting the mark with the Arnie’s as they seem to be more reinterpretations than recreations.

I also feel that the lume near the digital display is oddly cut off with these new versions, which did not happen on the H558 or the 2019 SNJ models.

I guess these are leaving me disappointed and feel that they missed the mark here. How are others feeling about these?