Seiko Power Design Project Watch Releases
Several Seiko watches designed by Naoto Fukasawa’s Seiko Power Design Project in 2006 will go on sale in Japan next week. The watches are representative of Seiko tradition — an interesting blend of the conservative and the daring. The emphasis with these is on readability and practicality, with Seiko SPBP003 (pictured above) featuring Seiko’s 7N quartz movement, found in many Seiko Spirit models. Moderately priced as part of the Spirit line, it has some wrist presence at 40 mm across in size, and 12.3 mm tall.
From Seiko Japan’s Web site:
You can see all three models released — one square, one round, and one military-styled — (each model has both a black- and a white-dialed version) at a Japanese vendor’s Web site by clicking here.
According to information written in Japanese on Watch-Tanaka’s Web site, it takes about eight months for the Seiko Power Design Project team to come up with their designs each year. This is the first time project watches have actually been manufactured and offered for sale since the Seiko Power Design Project began in 2002.
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January 16th, 2008 at 5:36 am
Well I have to say that I’m lukewarm on this one. There have been some fantastic designs shown by the Power Design Project in the past, (most notably that 300M diver that was posted all over the internet) and this one never jumped out at me in the past. That said, I think it’s pretty promising that Seiko moved beyond producing prototypes to display at an annual show to production on this one. Perhaps it’s a sign of things to come.
January 16th, 2008 at 7:13 am
I think I’m a bit more positive about the design than you are Pete, as I prefer three hand, no day/date designs. Good ones are hard to find in the mid-price range. The negative with this particular release for me is the 7N quartz movement. At this point, unless it’s a complicated chronograph movement, it’s unlikely I’ll purchase a Seiko quartz watch that costs over $150 but only keeps time to +/- 15 seconds per month.
If Seiko had outfitted Seiko SPBP003 with an 8J, 5E, or 4J quartz movement, found in Dolce models and all of which keep time to +/- 10 second per year, or an 8F quartz movement at +/- 20 seconds per year, I’d be interested in purchasing one. That said, I appreciate that these watches are all about case/dial/crystal design and admire them on that level.
They remind of a stylized version of this Lord Quartz (below) from the 1970s, which of course featured a high-end quartz movement.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I agree 100% with the 7N comments. I will say that the 7N watches I’ve had (two) were very accurate, but there was some slop in the gearing on each of them.
Okay, just for fun, here are some simple time only PDP watches that I would love to see released:
January 16th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I like the Sallaz (below) — case reminds me of an early ’70s King Seiko, the version that was re-released with a 4S movement in the Year 2000 Historical series.
I echo your comments on the 7N movement. Good workhorse movement, but a little slop in the gearing when setting. Right. The accuracy on ones I have is better than specs, but doesn’t rise up to the +/- 10 seconds to +/- 20 seconds per year that I demand from Seiko quartz at this point in my watch-collecting career. As noted above, exceptions are Seikos under $150 or so, and Seiko quartz chronograph/complicated movements.
May 4th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
[…] Some watches we categorize as “fun to wear,” and that is what Seiko Spirit SBPB001 looks like to me. The watch is all about style — sleek and modernistic. But it also has a utilitarian, easy to read dial. […]