Seiko "Arnie" Review: A Look at the Recently Discontinued Icon

Before getting into the Seiko "Arnie," I must discuss the man who made it an icon on the big screen. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a guy who knows watches. Or he is at least a guy who is very clear and consistent about the types of watches that he likes.

In terms of impact on the watch industry, few celebrity enthusiasts have been as huge (pun intended) as Schwarzenegger, the former “Mr. Universe” from Austria who dominated the big screen during the 1980s and ‘90s in high-testosterone blockbusters like Conan the Barbarian, Predator, Commando, Total Recall, End of Days, and the Terminator series. Along with his fellow iconic action star, Sylvester Stallone, Schwarzenegger helped bring Panerai and its hypermasculine, military style to the attention of millions, kicking off a fascination with large, bulky watches that more or less defined the early 2000s.

He also played a significant role in taking Audemars Piguet’s boldly styled Royal Oak Offshore out from under the shadow of the original Royal Oak and into a pop-cultural milieu all its own, famously donning a specially tailored model for his 1999 thriller, End of Days. From this, one can make the assumption that Arnold, who also went on to become the governor of California, loves big watches with mechanical movements from historic Swiss maisons. But in at least two of the movies listed above, he turned instead to a Japanese watch with an analog-digital display — still plenty big, but at the time priced in a range that almost any moviegoer could afford.

Credit: 20th Century Fox

The Original Seiko "Arnie": H588-5000

That watch was the Seiko Ref. H558-5000, introduced by Seiko in 1982. Coming in at nearly 46mm in diameter, and descended from the “Tuna” family of dive watches that launched in the 1970s, the watch was actually somewhat historic before it gained a measure of silver-screen fame: it was the first dive watch with an analog-digital display that incorporated both a chronograph and an alarm. It was also noteworthy for its hybrid-like design, not only combining a digital readout with analog hands on the dial but covering the majority of the stainless-steel case in a plastic “shroud” for extra durability and shock resistance. It was water-resistant to 150 meters and boasted two of the go-to features we associate with serious dive watches, a unidirectional ratcheting bezel and a screw-down crown. Seiko had always intended the H558 models (the quartz movement inside them was also called Caliber H558) to be used for serious outdoor adventuring; it was tested to extreme temperatures from -40º C to +60º C, and worn on military missions and to the top of Mount Everest, as well as on expeditions to both the North and South Poles.

All of which made the Seiko H558-5000 the perfect watch for the massive wrist of Arnold Schwarzenegger — playing the improbably named lead character, John Matrix, in 1985’s Commando, the first film where the watch made an appearance. Schwarzenegger wore the same watch again in 1987’s Predator, portraying Major Alan “Dutch” Schaeffer. It’s unclear whether the production teams of either of these movies first provided the watch to the actor, though Schwarzenegger’s well-established taste for huge timepieces — and his undeniable clout as the biggest box-office star of the era, which likely enabled him to wear whatever he wanted — would seem to indicate it was a personal favorite. Needless to say, Arnold’s legions of fans took notice of the chunky timekeeper that he sported during these action-packed hits, and the watch gained the enduring nickname “Arnie.”

Credit: 20th Century Fox

(As an aside, these Arnold Schwarzenegger characters were not the only silver-screen action heroes to wear this particular Seiko dive watch in a movie. Roger Moore, during his tenure as James Bond, wore a H558-5000 model for several scenes in A View To a Kill, which came out in 1985, the same year as Commando. In fact, the same watch can be seen on the wrist of one of Bond’s adversaries, a KGB agent, in the same film. For a thorough rundown of every watch worn by Bond in the movies, including Seikos, click here.) 

“I’ll Be Back:” Enter the Seiko "Arnie" SNJ025

Despite all of its accolades, the lifespan of the Seiko H558 was ultimately about as short as one of “Arnie’s” foes in one of the era’s movies. Seiko discontinued the model around 1990 — right around the time, presumably, that Schwarzenegger, at his most financially flush, was being lured by the siren songs of Swiss luxury watchmakers like Audemars Piguet, with whom he partnered on several special editions in the coming years. The techie, ana-digi look popular on watches of the 1980s was also on the verge of falling out of favor, with analog making a comeback and heralding a return to mechanical watchmaking after years of quartz dominance. However, the Seiko “Arnie” retained its name and its cult-classic status among collectors in the ensuing decades, no doubt kept alive by easy access to repeat viewings of those Arnold classics on VHS, DVD, and eventually streaming.

As the 21st century dawned, however, watch enthusiasts and movie buffs who were eager to lay their hands on a pre-owned H558 were often shocked at the sticker prices — upwards of $500 or more for a quartz watch that sold at release for a fraction of that cost. It would be several years before any other option existed. The foundation was laid in 2013, with Seiko’s modern-day re-branding of its various sport- and dive-related models under the name Prospex — a portmanteau of "Professional" and "Specs." (While this year marked the debut of the Prospex branding, Seiko still insists on retroactively dating the genesis of the sub-brand back to 1965, when the Japanese watchmaker introduced its first dive watch, which is of course long before the name “Prospex” was coined.) The success of the Prospex series opened the door to many of Seiko’s beloved but long-discontinued dive watches — many of which, like the “Arnie,” were selling on the secondary market for many times their original MSRP — making a return to the market in contemporary form. 

Perhaps Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most famous line of dialogue came in 1984’s career-defining The Terminator. In his titular role as the killer cyborg from the far future, he drily promised a recalcitrant police desk sergeant, “I’ll be back,” minutes before ramming a vehicle into the station and initiating one of the movie’s most memorable scenes of mass carnage. Arnold’s favorite watch from the 1980s would also “be back,” though it would take much longer. In 2019, Seiko finally gave the hordes of anxious “Arnie” fans what they wanted — a revival of the famed movie watch under the Prospex umbrella — with the new Reference number SNJ025 and a steep but not overly intimidating MSRP of $525 — and a few bold changes that undoubtedly polarized fans but would almost certainly have made Arnold proud.

Seiko "Arnie" Case and Strap:

First of all, as disarmingly big as the 1980s model was, this watch is bigger — a full 47.8mm in diameter, 50.5mm lug to lug, and almost 14mm thick. The two-part case carries forward the design of the original, with its case-and-shroud construction. The case, bezel, crown and lugs are all made of stainless steel, with a polished finish that is somewhat off-brand for such a tool watch, while the shroud is made of matte-black plastic. The crown, caseback, and push-buttons on the side of the case all screw down securely into the case to achieve a water resistance of 200 meters, besting the original’s depth rating by 50 meters. The SNJ025, in fact, meets the ISO international standards for dive watches, an important distinction for many purists. 

Also echoing the 1982 model, the SNJ025 covers its analog-digital dial with a flat crystal made of Hardlex, a Rolex-proprietary mineral glass that some might grumble is inferior to the sapphire used on other watches at this price tier, but is actually superior in terms of being antireflective — important when you’re dealing with reading a digital display beneath it. The unidirectional rotating bezel, printed with a dive scale and operating at a precise 120 clicks, has an insert made of aluminum. It’s worth noting that the use of plastic for the case’s shroud, rather than the steel or ceramic used in other versions of the “Tuna,” makes this unmistakably large watch lighter on the wrist than you might expect. Also, the lugs are fairly short, making for a more condensed look overall that won’t necessarily overwhelm the wrist. 

Another feature of the SNJ025 that is recaptured pretty faithfully is the black silicone strap with a “wave vent” texture, which carries forth the muted “stealth” aesthetic of the black case shroud and culminates in a sturdy, blackened steel buckle. The lug width is a reasonable (for this case) 22mm, and Seiko has added a stainless steel keeper as an upgrade from the 1982 model. 

Dial and Functions:

In terms of dial design and functionality, the SNJ025 is a fairly note-for-note re-creation of the groundbreaking H558, except for two small but key elements: the always-controversial (for hardcore vintage Seikophiles, anyway) Prospex “X” emblem and, directly below it, the world “Solar,” both printed in white on the matte black surface. We’ll be getting into the story behind the latter in just a bit. The chapter ring has a pronounced slope to it, leaning into a printed minute track and another interior ring hosting a 24-hour scale — a visual nod to military field watches that is surely a plus for wannabe Commandos.

The handset consists of a minute hand in a bold “broad arrow” style and a minute hand that could be described as a Fat Sword. The seconds hand is thin and lance-like, with a bubble-shaped counterweight. The indexes are classic “dive watch” in their execution, consisting of a combo of large round dots, soft-edged batons, and an inverted triangle at 12 o’clock, all coated with a generous helping of Seiko’s proprietary LumiBrite luminous substance. The use of LumiBrite, which Seiko first used on a watch dial in 1995, after the retirement of the original H558 “Arnie” model, is another small but significant upgrade for the newer watch. Based on the same compound used for the more ubiquitous Super-LumiNova paint — strontium aluminate — LumIBrite adds europium and dysprosium to achieve a substance that, Seiko claims, absorbs light faster and glows for a longer duration after being activated. This substance is also used on the hands. 

The all-important digital display, which both roots this model charmingly in the 1980s and also provides the bulk (no pun intended... I guess) of its appealing multifunctionality, spans the top of the dial between 11 and 12 o’clock. Its multiple modes of information delivery include the local time, the date, chronograph readouts, dual-time display, alarm setting, and power reserve. To go along with the luminous elements on the analog elements of the wide dial, this rectangular window also features a backlight that allows its digital display to be read easily in the dark. 

Seiko "Arnie" Movement and Setting:

As mentioned above, the expanded case size has been hit-and-miss with enthusiasts. For the first few decades of the 21st Century, it had been fairly common, when launching a revival of a watch from an earlier era, to make it a bit bigger than its predecessor, but going bigger on a watch that was already known for its girth was bold, especially considering that the pendulum had already begun swinging back toward more modest and even period-appropriate sizes. (If you need a movie metaphor, let’s say it’s sort of like the Schwarzeneggers and Stallones giving way to the Rami Maleks and Timothée Chalamets of the world.) Part of the reason for the expansion, possibly, was the accommodation within the case of a movement that is similar to, while still substantially different from, the one that preceded it in the ‘80s version.

The in-house, quartz Caliber H851 that powers this watch’s analog and digital displays uses a solar cell to charge its battery, hence the “Solar” reference on the dial. A full charge, through the solar cell incorporated into the expansive dial, takes about 10 hours in direct sunlight — and quite a bit longer under indoor fluorescent lighting — and should give the SNJ025 just enough juice to run unimpeded for six months. Wearing the watch for the rugged, outdoor activities for which it is clearly designed — including diving — is a much easier choice when you know that it will be constantly charging and recharging while you have it on. Also, as fans of Citizen’s Eco-Drive-powered watches and Casio’s “Tough Solar” G-Shock models have long been aware, a solar-powered movement means no annoying battery changes and as a result is more environmentally friendly, since it also means fewer lithium batteries in landfills. (The watch’s namesake runs his own Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative, after all.) 

Setting and operating the “Arnie’s” numerous functions is the job of the (count ‘em) three easy-grip fluted crowns, two on the left side of the case, one on the right. The crown at 10 o’clock turns on the backlight display, controls the built-in stopwatch, and works in tandem with the 8 o’clock crown to set the alarm. Pressing the latter crown allows the user to toggle between modes on the display, from stopwatch to date to alarm to standard time, the latter of which aligns with the analog indications of the hands. After the 8 o’clock crown has been set to the digital time display mode, pulling out the largest crown, at 3 o’clock, enables the wearer to adjust it by rotating it backward and forward. When the desired time has been reached, pushing this crown back in instantly sets the hands in motion to match the time displayed on the digital readout. It’s a high-tech tableau on the wrist that would have been perfectly placed in one of the ‘80s sci-fi movies that helped make Schwarzenegger’s career. 

The Future?

Despite its very successful second run, Seiko has discontinued the SNJ025 model as of 2025, perhaps ensuring that the reference is headed for an afterlife on the secondary market that rivals that of its ancestor in popularity. After famously promising he’d “be back” in the first Terminator film, Schwarzenegger’s iconic cyborg warrior returned not just once but for five more films in the long-running sci-fi franchise. All things considered, the Seiko “Arnie” could follow suit, and return in a slightly different form in the future, most likely in another iteration from the Prospex series — perhaps even returning to its original size and a non-solor quartz movement? Or maybe this time the retirement of the model is real, and fans of the ‘80s icon need to bid a reluctant farewell using another legendary Arnold line: “Hasta La Vista, Baby.”

Ana-Digi Alternatives to the Seiko "Arnie" SNJ025:

If you’re intrigued by the analog-digital, ‘80s-vibe look of the SNJ025, and want to expand your horizons beyond the polarizing and now somewhat hard-to-get “Arnie” model, there are a handful of alternatives on the market now that offer versions of the style for mostly very accessible prices. From Timex, there is the recently released Q-Timex 1982 Ana-Digi ($179), which has a much more modest, rectangular 33mm case and a retro monolink bracelet. Casio offers ana-digi options galore within its “CasiOak” collection, starting at just over $100 and quartz-powered, which are notable for their octagonal bezels and the dynamic and unusual arrangement of their hands, subdials, and digital windows on the dials. And Japan’s other big-time watch manufacturer, Seiko's main competitor Citizen, makes some very robust and multifunctional dive watches in its Promaster Aqualand series, including a model with a built-in electronic depth meter, which pushes the price envelope to $795. And to learn more about Seiko's offerings, you can go to seikowatches.com.