60 years of Seikos diving for time

TIME TICKS forward for Seiko’s diver’s watches as the company releases its 60th anniversary diver’s watch, a tribute to several pieces that they have developed since they made their first one in 1965.

Timeplus Corp., which brings Seiko to the Philippines, showed off the first in a series of three new watches for the anniversary in an event at the SM Mega Fashion Hall on May 16. The new watch, the Seiko Prospex 1965 Heritage Diver’s Watch 60th Anniversary Limited Edition, has a pattern of waves on its silver dial. The watch is now available in the Philippines, and two more sibling timepieces are expected to arrive in either June or early July, according to Karl Dy, president and chief executive officer of Timeplus Corp., in an interview with BusinessWorld.

The watch has an automatic driving system with a frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour (that’s six beats per second), with a power reserve of 72 hours. Powered by the 6R55 caliber, it’s encased in stainless steel with a super-hard coating, with a matching bracelet of the same material. It has a curved sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating on the inner surface, and Lumibrite on the hands and indexes. A limited edition, there are only 6,000 pieces in the world.

Its siblings, yet to arrive in the country, are the Seiko Prospex Marinemaster Professional Diver’s Watch 60th Anniversary Limited Edition, and the Seiko Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver’s GMT Watch 60th Anniversary Limited Edition. On the surface, they’re differentiated from each other by their face’s colors: deep blue (almost black) for the Marimemaster and a brighter blue for the 1968 model.

However, the new Marinemaster is powered by Caliber 8L45, boasting a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (eight beats per second), a power reserve of 72 hours, and 35 jewels in its make. It’s also encased in titanium, and there are only 600 pieces available, matching its water resistance at 600 meters.

The blue 1968 Heritage Diver’s watch is made of stainless steel as well, like its silver sibling, but is powered by Caliber 6R54, with a frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour (six beats per second), and a power reserve of 72 hours, a GMT function, and an independent 24-hour hand adjustment function. It has a water resistance of 300 meters.

As we’ve mentioned, while Seiko made its first diver’s watch in 1965, they reached true technological advancement in 1975 with the first professional diver’s watch with water resistance at 600 meters, protected with a titanium case. The steps to 1975 started with a professional diver in Hiroshima writing a letter to Seiko explaining that watches available then only held up for down to 300 meters.

Since then, they’ve made more strides. As Mr. Dy told BusinessWorld, “Some watches are able to go to around a thousand meters already.”

Mr. Dy explained the importance of these watches to the market, diver or not. “The most famous watches that we’ve had so far are actually diver’s watches, in the Philippines. Because of our beautiful oceans, beautiful beaches, we really think that celebrating the 60th (anniversary) diver’s (watch) now, here, at least one of the first globally, is actually a testament to Filipinos and their love for the Seiko Diver’s.”

On a personal note, we asked if he does go diving with a Seiko diver’s watch. “I’m just an open diver. I’m a 100-meter diver, that’s it. I’m really fully recreational,” he said. However, he did say: “I’ve been using the same Seiko watch for over 15 years.”

“It’s really a testament to the quality, and of course the performance of the diver’s watch.”

Timeplus Corp. is opening five more stores in the country next year, he told BusinessWorld. — Joseph L. Garcia