The Seiko Type II Quartz holds a unique place in the history of three watch companies: Seiko, Citizen, and Bulova. How’s that? And what does “Type II” mean? Two Japanese quartz watch fans provides clues on Japanese-language watch blogs. The story begins in 1975, according to Mr. Teruo Isozaki, watchmaker and owner of Isozaki Watch [...]

Seiko released information and photos on its Japanese Web site about four of its Grand Seiko designers. They are, from left, [Nobuhiro] Kosugi, Toshiro Matsubara, Eichi Hiratani, and Shinichiro Kubo. This post features Kosugi.   Kosugi is a designer of both the Grand Seiko Classic Line, and the Grand Seiko New Line. The Grand Seiko [...]

The Fall issue of Antenna magazine is chalked full of G-Shocks, including the new Spike Lee collaboration model DW-5000SL-1. The watch is slated for an August/September release. The article says Spike is a long-time G-Shock fan who featured G-Shocks in his 1995 film “Clockers.” There’s also an interview with artist Eric Haze, who created a [...]

One of Seiko and Citizen’s strong points is they sometimes take classical designs by European brands and put a twist on them. I’m always on the lookout for Omega Speedmaster and Tudor chronograph homages, and I recently found both in Seiko models SNAA45P1 and SNAA41P1. Both watches come with Seiko Quartz movement 7T62. It’s a [...]

Steel is one of the most common materials in the world today, but steel-cased Seiko 8F56 Perpetual Calendar Quartz SLT077 is a hard watch to find. With its +/- 20 seconds per year accuracy, 10-year battery, and independent hour hand adjustment — it has a blend of elements needed to smelt one sharp instrument.   [...]

SNAA41 Seiko Chronograph arrived on Saturday, and I’m glad it did. I wrote about the black-dialed version, SNAA45 Seiko Chronograph, a few weeks back. Like Lee® with his Alba Riki Watanabe Automatic, after the black-dialed one arrived, of course I had to have the white-dialed one too. The hands on watches with white dials tend [...]

Tokyo in 1963 was a dark forbidding place, ravaged by storms and haunted by dinosaurs and giant monkeys. There were however a few havens of tranquility in this mayhem. One of these being the Seiko Wako department store in the middle of the Ginza district. The store was founded as a sales outlet as a [...]

The life of our recent college graduate and our story have moved on from Tokyo to Nagano as a decade has passed. Nagano is located in the middle of the Japanese Alps about a two hour train journey from Tokyo. Nagano is the Japanese heart of making and eating Soba; a noodle made from buckwheat [...]

SBPG001 is another Seiko Spirit watch I want. Lately many of the new Seikos I’d like to see on my wrist are dreamed up by the designers in the Power Design Project – it’s exciting to see the ideas of the design team in production and for sale. The watch features the best of both [...]

Found some real-life pictures of Seiko Spirit Power Design Chronograph SBPP003. Check the black Arabics subdial layout at 12 o’clock & 6 o’clock, the black bezel on a white dial, the easy-grip-crown, the simple pushers, and especially the bracelet. Yes, the watch is about “design.” Seiko quartz chronographs have always been competitors. This one’s a [...]

The Receptor was a message watch produced by Seiko in the United States allegedly taking four years to develop. It was introduced on July 16, 1990. When it was introduced, the Seiko Receptor was a breakthrough in personal communications but not in package design. The full packaging set included the watch, manual, service area maps, [...]

Out-and-about in Japan, walking down a city street, in a department store, waiting at the train station—when you look up to see what time it is you’ll likely be looking at a large Seiko clock. The same things we love about Seiko watches are evident in the clocks. Conservative design. Highly legible. Dignified. Distinctly Seiko. [...]

The watches that made up the Seiko Power Design Project 2008, created by Naoto Fukasawa and his design team, were inspired by “Tokyo.” Each of the 12 watches was named after a different area of Japan’s largest city. For example, the watch pictured above was inspired by the Yoyogi district, located in northern Tokyo, a [...]

The 1950s was a very interesting period in the history of the Seiko wristwatch. It was the decade when Seiko started as a simple manufacturer, big in the Japanese market, whose watch designs and production methods were based on pre-war Swiss and American manufacturers. By the end of the decade, Seiko had become one of [...]

The ISSEY MIYAKE brand TO Automatic designed by Tokuji Yoshioka and made by Seiko Japan is yet another example of a quality that makes many Japanese watches special — tradition melded with modernism. This Seiko automatic a big, high-quality design.   Model SI-SILAS002 One of my favorite features of this watch is it has no [...]

Looks like reports from Japan that you’ll need to sink big coin into a new 300m or 1000m Seiko Professional Quartz diver’s watch aren’t all wet. Yesterday Seiko Japan announced model SBBN00E will come out in April and retail for ¥420,000. Sure this Robert F. Marx limited edition model of 300 units is bound to [...]

The Alpinist name is, at least for collectors outside of Japan, one of the most recognizable Seiko brands. As you know, Japan is a land full of mountains. The outdoorsman culture is heavily ingrained in the Japanese mind. In his classic article on the Seiko Alpinist — here reprinted with permission at Yeomans site — [...]

It’s been a long time since I’ve worn the same watch for 2 weeks straight, but that’s exactly what I’ve done with this Seiko Direct Drive Scuba. Although I enjoyed wearing the watch over this period, my primary reasons for doing this was to both see how long it would take the watch to naturally [...]

Opening up a vintage watch for the first time can be a little unnerving. No matter how nice the watch looks on the outside, there is always the chance that the inside has been butchered from a previous service. So when I saw the second hand on my beloved 9943 Grand Seiko started doing its [...]

I’ve been on the lookout for a clean military styled Seiko quartz chronograph. I guess I’ve had a soft spot for military styled watches for a long time. When I was in elementary school, I always admired a friend’s older brother’s watch. It had a classic military black and white dial. It looked simple and [...]

In 2000, the release of the limited edition Seiko Historical SBDX005 barely created a ripple in the worldwide watch collecting community. At the time, there was not a Seiko watch discussion forum in existence, and knowlege about Japan only Seiko releases was very limited among most watch collectors outside of Japan. My, how things have [...]

I often see questions on various watch forums from posters asking if there are any books available about Seiko watches. To address this, I’ve put together a listing of the Seiko reference literature that I have along with a few other books containing notable references to Seiko watches. Hopefully this will serve as a good [...]

The recent influx of Spring Drive watches in the Grand Seiko lineup has raised speculation about Seiko’s dedication to high end mechanical movement production. However, the just released SBGH001 & SBGH003 GS watches with a new 36,000 Beats Per Hour (BPH) 9S85 caliber undeniably demonstrates that Seiko has not abandoned high end mechanical watch production. [...]

I was surprised to learn Mr. Ikuo Tokunaga, designer of so many Seiko masterpieces in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s, is selling some duplicate pieces in his collection through Mono Online in Japan (here). I was also surprised to notice he had a hand in the design of the Seiko Quartz Flightmaster. I’ve always been [...]

Despite it’s folded link bracelet that rattles when worn, it’s mere 100m water resistant rating, and it’s lack of a screwdown crown — Seiko SKX031 has been a favorite for over 15 years. It just plain looks good on the wrist.   Sure it’s a “Sub” knockoff, but with a distinctly Seiko twist. It’s a [...]

Dime, a Japanese Fashion Magazine, recently commissioned Seiko to make a special edition 300M diver. The controversial result is pictured above. While some collectors are appalled that someone dared to dress up such an iconic sports watch, others appreciate the whimsical changes imparted upon this classic Seiko design.   The marketing blurb for this watch [...]

Seiko recently released the Astron, a limited edition high end quartz watch. This is the first time in Seiko’s history that they have sold a 9F based quartz watch worldwide. Traditionally, Seiko has reserved the 9F movements almost exclusively for their Grand Seiko models. Prior to this watch, I believe they have only made one [...]

I found it intriguing that Seiko actually pre-picked a nickname for this special edition diver. Perhaps they haven’t been too impressed with the nicknames folks have come up with for their other watches. I’m not much of a watch namer myself, but I have to say, this one really reminded me of something edible when [...]

The picture shown above was posted on Seiya’s blog in a post discussing a new Grand Seiko being released this year to commemorate Seiko’s 130th anniversary.  While the GS looked great, the two watches barely pictured in the lower quadrants really caught my eye.  Looks like a diver chrono and also some sort of blue shrouded diver.  Maybe if [...]