Seiko the timeless

There are things you love, because you saw them in the movies. You saw it, it played well and it put a spell on you. Alarm watch was one of these deep engraving things for me. Note, when I was young I had manual wind soviet watch from the 60-s (now I think I was a cool, clean design and I wish I kept it!) which was not so desirable as digital or quartz one.  The thing is alarm was one of the cool things to have, because it was before you had it in any possible thing around you. Alarm usually came separate and rather table top. You could play a white rabbit and carry huge one in your bag. But as 1984 goes, I had no idea it is possible to have one in watch, so when I saw one I got excited.  Not because it could wake me up in the days, but because it made watch more special….

I actually got the watch from the movies. It was manual wind Poljot watch. You had to wind alarm for 2-3 minutes just to have miserable 20 seconds of buzzing.  I got rid of the watch and switched to more prominent digital watch with alarm, stopwatch, date/day. It was a smart move at the time. Till today, unless I really want to look at the watch as collectable on my wrist or certain statement, I will wear digital (95% it Casio) watch. They nice, they bulletproof and can have any function you need and cost you very little. Yet, fascination with the watch equipped with hidden function exists in me. 

This Seiko have few boxes checked:

First, design is elegant, modern, timeless and functional. It takes no time to tell a time. Watch is dressy but not boringly classic. On the hand watch seats perfectly. Both crowns are hidden well by designer and under no circumstances will bother you. Hour marks are not flat and it plays well when you look at the watch both straight and at the angle. I can tell time without problem at the hand’s length, as easy test of readability goes for me. For advanced examination distance is 3 meter and I still can tell the time. Hands have “heroic sward blade” profile. Hour and minutes hands are white and dark and thinner closer to the center, thus creating illusion of hands floating above the face of the watch.  Seconds are usual reflecting silver hand. “Seiko” and “SQ” logos are reflecting silver ones and “quartz” is mate. This makes watch face more sophisticated and nice to look at. Both reflecting elements play well when you look at the watch at different angles. Rotating bezel dubbing as alarm set point is neat feature serving both as alarm and count down bezel. In normal 12 o’clock position it serves as minutes marks. Small window above “Seiko” can change from dark grey watch face color to dark blue sending subtle signal “alarm on”. Seiko produced balanced and thought through esthetics and ergonomics.

This Seiko is almost perfect watch. Almost because it an old scratched one. But it almost perfect in a good way, like Japanese vase which should never be perfect. I love design, function and simple elegance of the design. It reminds me of the early 90-s Japanese cars: reliable, little on the dull design side yet packed with good engine and capable of driving you to the Alaska in a manner of taking your thought to the road and off the car. You are sure about bulletproof abilities of your car.

I have encountered in the past and was wearing many watches. Among them there are these which interesting due to their elegant non-usefulness, there are these which upfront attractive, there are comfortable and these loaded to the gills with functions. I not going into directory of luxury watches, since they are judged by brand and materials, fit and finish and serve as statement equally as a watch. Any watch is a statement. Watch can tell a lot about person who wears it. It will be interesting to guess what statement this watch was making in 1979, when it was sold. This Seiko was stark departure from everything what came before. It was modern design clean functional without sideburns and fur cladded waistcoats. Seiko told you have style, new different style. It also told you like some extra function, you like quality and hassle free things so you can concentrate on doing things you best at. I would imagine owner of this Seiko as honest, smart, dependable and future oriented person with subtle yet sharp sense of style.  This watch is a tool and dependable companion.  If asked about association of this watch with other tools I would say it SLR camera. I can see it as a photographer’s or journalist watch.  Also I can see it on the hand of the person in charge of IBM ThinkPad design. 

Some vintage watches are evoking sentiment of belonging to that time, time watch was new. If you wear 1954 watch you can imagine some post war world with all you associate with it. Late 60-s can be walk on the moon and Psychedelic vibe… or maybe not. This Seiko has none of these connections for me. It is vintage watch but, on other hand, it modern one.   It lives here with me.

Concluding. This Seiko is clean, elegant and stylish beyond aging. Yes, I love it!