Seiko Spacewalk — June 11 Update
On June 11, Richard Garriott reported on his mission blog about his Seiko Spacewalk. Garriott is a video game programmer and son of a NASA astronaut, and will be the sixth private citizen to travel to the International Space Station. He’ll use the specially-designed Seiko watch that uses Seiko’s Spring Drive technology during an October 2008 mission.
I have had the Seiko watch with me for a couple months now and this is what I can tell you about it. I visited the Seiko factory in Japan in early March. During this visit I meet the amazing team that created this watch. In talking with them, and learning about what they went through in designing the watch, my enthusiasm and respect for Seiko grew immensely. My knowledge of what goes into making fine watches grew, and with that, my faith that the watch would perform very well in the unusual and extreme environments of space…. more »
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June 15th, 2008 at 7:08 am
i heard the price is $25k+
but it’s nice, for sure
June 15th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Hi ptolemy,
Wow, $25,000+? I hadn’t heard that…
Regards,
Bryan
June 15th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Hi Bryan and ptolemy
I’ve seen this high list price quoted on a number of forums, but I have not yet seen it confirmed by Seiko. This price could be just an internet legend right now.
It’s a shame that the actual spacewalk part of Garriott’s mission has been cancelled. I know many of us (Seiko fans and Seiko engineers) were curious as to how the Seiko would perform.
I did see in Garriotts blog that another watch (not Seiko) that he had been wearing failed some tests.
petew
June 16th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Hi Pete,
I was also disappointed to read that Garriott’s space walk was canceled. Not as disappointed as he is, I bet. Anyway, I’d be surprised if the Spacewalk sells for $25,000. The only Seikos I’ve ever seen go that high were handmade Credors made with precious metals and jewels (diamonds/rubies).
Where did the “$25,000″ number come from, anyway?
Regards,
Bryan
June 16th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Hi Bryan,
I first saw the $25k number posted on the SCWF right around Basel time. Seiko still however hasn’t officially released a number either through their website or a press release. I too would be surprised to see it go that high, but I guess we’ll find out sometime before the end of the year.
Seiko, if you are reading this, we would love to have a Spacewalk Chrono on loan for a long term review.
petew
December 7th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I recently talked to a Seiko dealer in Colorado (arizona fine time), and was quoted a msrp of $25,000. They have five coming, two sold already. The person I spoke to said Seiko was delaying the release until the watch had actually been used for EVA.