Not ones to overlook an anniversary, Seiko has unleashed one other tetrad of fancy-dialed Presage watches upon the world. To have fun its one hundred and tenth 12 months, Seiko has launched two pairs of watches, every with totally different dial supplies. Although it would hardly be a shock, these usually are not the one watches Seiko has launched to have fun this decidedly unimportant anniversary. It’s already shared a Prospex diver, a King Seiko, and one other enamel-dialed Presage as a part of its commemoration. Whereas Seiko capitalizes on each single alternative for inspiration and jubilation, these Presage watches don’t current fully new fashions, however reasonably intriguing (and restricted) new dials for 2 current fashions.
The 4 new fashions all function what has grow to be the traditional Presage case. With a mix of polished and brushed surfaces, these are hardly the dynamic circumstances of a few of Seiko’s dive watches however are elegant of their relative simplicity. A plain spherical case with comparatively straight lugs, the one actual adornment is the polished chamfer that expands alongside the lugs. A easy and seemingly well-sized crown has an ‘S’ embossed, whereas the screw-down caseback has a sapphire crystal placing the motion on show. The retrograde day and date fashions are 40.2mm in diameter with a peak of 12.8mm and lug-to-lug of 48mm, whereas the sub-seconds fashions run 40.6mm, 14.1mm, and 49.1mm. The watches are all paired with 20mm padded leather-based straps coordinated to the dials, with folding deployant clasps. Whereas Seiko doesn’t actually make an enormous deal of it, I feel it’s price noting that the leather-based for the straps is sourced from Leather-based Work Group-certified tanneries, making certain that it’s responsibly made and sustainable. The watches all function double-domed sapphire crystals and 100 meters of water resistance.
The vary of the 4 dials is de facto what captures the attention right here. As talked about, the dials are available in two variants, all of which share the identical handset and alternating roman numeral and baton indices (the crimson and blue dials each function utilized white markers, whereas the opposite two are printed). The primary variant affords a triple retrograde show of the day, date, and energy reserve, whereas the second affords a subsidiary seconds and a retrograde energy reserve indicator. For the previous, you’ll have the choice both the traditional white enamel SPB393 with fantastically sunken retrogrades and blued arms; or the extra thrilling crimson Urushi lacquer dial SPB395 with white arms; based on Seiko, the colour of the lacquer is impressed by the streetscape of Kanazawa, a city well-known for the lacquer craft. With the opposite variant, you possibly can select both the creamy Arita porcelain dial SPB397 with black arms and gold accents, impressed by the stone discipline within the city of Arita; or the blue Shippo enamel dial SPB399, with white arms, gold accents, and added texture, all reportedly impressed by oceans. (Not a selected one, simply all of them, or possibly the overall thought of them.)
The watches are all pushed by Seiko’s venerable 6R sequence, seen by the show casebacks. Frankly, I’d’ve foregone the sapphire casebacks if it could’ve saved some thickness (particularly on the sub-seconds fashions, however right here we’re. The day-date fashions run the unusual 6R24 and the sub-seconds fashions run the 6R27. Each function at 28,800 vph with energy reserves of 45 hours, although the 6R24 boasts two extra jewels than that 6R27 (31 versus 29). All of them are regulated to -15/+25 seconds per day, which is what it’s, I suppose. This complete household of actions has been round for a while, and whilst you might not see these two variations as usually as others, you may be assured that they’re simply as dependable.
The Shippo enamel is the watch that basically stands out right here for me. Whereas its inspiration is shockingly broad for a model that appears to have the ability to discover very particular inspiration for very generic colours, the added rosette dial texture and the mixture of blue, white, and gold simply do it for me. Whereas another current releases have seen value jumps relative to their related forebears, these watches truly keep proper on monitor with beforehand launched variations. The white enamel SPB393 is priced at $2,000 USD and restricted to 1,500 items; the crimson Urushi lacquer SPB395 is priced at $1,850 USD and restricted to 1,500 items; the cream Arita porcelain SPB397 is priced at $1,850 USD and restricted to 1,500; and The blue Shippo enamel SPB399 is priced at $2,050 USD and restricted to 800 items. All 4 fashions can be out there in June of 2023. For extra info, please go to the model’s web site.