It’s no accident the 1982 Hollywood movie Blade Runner featured a recurring scene showing space ships zooming past a gigantic electronic billboard projecting the image of a Japanese woman in traditional makeup and kimono. Part of Japan’s unique appeal is its disorienting ability to combine the old with the new.

Photos: ©2006 Seiko Corporation

The two watches featured above are good examples. They are prototypes that came out of Seiko Japan’s 2006 Power Design Project, led by Project Director Naoto Fukasawa of the Plusminuszero Design Studio.

Seiko created radical new watch designs and technologies in the 1960s and ’70s. Examples are numerous, with their mechanical diver’s watches, and digital quartz watches, being representative of the trend.

The 300 meter-rated diver’s watch shown here features a solid one-piece metal case. The movement is accessed through the top of the watch after removing the crystal—there is no removable caseback. This Seiko innovation (the first use of a monocoque case for a Japanese diver’s watch) dates back to 1967’s automatic movement caliber 6215-7000 300m Professional diver’s watch. Along with doubling the 150m water resistance of early models, the 6215 pro diver was powered by a chronometer-grade movement used in top-tier late-’60s Grand Seikos.

Photo: ©2006 Seiko Corporation

It’s interesting the hands on the 2006 prototype are similar to ones used on some current Seiko diver’s watches, like the so-called titanium “Samurai” (model SBDA001). The rubber strap is similar to one used on the 200m Alba diver’s watch (model AL4009X). The crown shape design appears to be a new.

Photo: ©2006 Seiko Corporation

As for the digital watch, it’s almost identical to ones sold by Seiko in the mid-to-late 1970s and early ’80s, but with newer high technologies like atomic clock radio wave signal synchronization. It also appears to have a nicer bracelet than vintage models.

Naoto Fukasawa | Photo: ©designboom.com

The designer, Fukasawa, who is 51, was educated in art schools in Japan and began his career working at Seiko-Epson in the 1980s. He worked at a small design studio in San Francisco for eight years in the ’90s, and then returned to Japan. After his return, he opened his own studio and designed products for major Japanese brands like Sanyo, NEC-Mitsubishi, Matsushita, KDDI, and MUJI.

Both watches shown above are interesting for how they combine traditional Seiko designs with current styles and technologies. Fukasawa said in a recent interview on designboom.com that the combination of traditional designs and modern tastes is important, because no design is “good forever.”

There is no such thing as a design that is ‘good’ forever. The claims ‘I want something new’ and ‘I want something I’ll never get tired of’ are contradictory and structurally conflictual. You need both things because the world has two opposite sides: serious design and fashion, they look at each other and they both become better. What lasts is what is in harmony.

Both watches featured here, and in fact all of Fukasawa’s 2006 Power Design Project prototypes, would probably be big hits with Seiko fans if put into actual production.

Perhaps that bodes well for Seiko’s prospects, while no doubt causing a little consternation for Japanese watch fans wishing to purchase these harmonious designs now. Ones that blend the traditional with the present, and have eyes toward the future.

The coy look of a Japanese woman from the movie based on Philip K. Dick’s

novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Photo: Wikipedia

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 at 10:13 am and is filed under Seiko. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.