Seiko is playing the oldies, bringing back four new models that honor the 1960s.
The original Seiko 5 collection launched in 1969, 55 years ago. To celebrate, Seiko has four new models that revive that original collection.
They don’t use the modern Seiko 5 case, but instead use a case design much closer to the original. The old Seiko 5 shield is back, instead of the modern logo that was introduced in 2019.
The limited edition SPRK17 is the closest to vintage, with just a few text differences on the dial and bezel font being slightly different than the original (24 jewels vs 25 jewels on the original, 10 BAR vs WATER 70 PROOF on the original.)
The case also uses vintage proportions: 39.5mm in diameter, and 12.5mm in thickness. While numbers don’t tell the whole story, the watch should wear very comfortably based on those numbers.
The packaging it comes in also pays tribute to the original Seiko 5 Sports.
That’s the limited edition model. The other three models are not limited, but also aren’t quite as faithful to the 1969 watches. These other 3 watches use the modern SKX / SRPD case. That’s the familiar 42.5mm diameter, 13.4mm thick case.
Here, the tribute to vintage models is a dial/hands/bezel play.
Instead of the traditional SKX/SRPD hands, the hands are batons like those found on vintage models. The dials are silver, orange, or black, and bezels have a round lume dot at 12, followed by either a silver/black racing bezel, a red, black and white bezel with colored minute chapter ring atop the dial, or the usual fully marked black and white bezel.
Let’s break that down:
- SRPK11 is a bright orange dial with a black horizontal stripe through the middle. The chapter ring is orange with blocks of black at 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, and 55. The bezel is fully marked. $350 USD MSRP
- SRPK13 is a black dial with a black bezel, marked in red and white. The chapter ring is blue and green. $350 MSRP
- SRPK09 has the rally, or racing bezel in silver and black, on a brushed silver dial. $350 MSRP
The silver surround around the day date window is hexagonal, with the top and bottom borders peaked in the middle.
All of these three use baton applied markers on the dial and baton hands, for a less diver-look than the usual triangle-at-12-circles and bars dial with big arrow hands we’d expect.
The SRPK17 is the real jewel of the bunch, with an MSRP of $415. While a limited edition, it’s going to be made in 15,555 examples. If you want one, it should be possible to get. As the high school kids used to say, if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.
