BY JOVAN KRSTEVSKI
Brian May, the iconic guitarist from the mega-hit rock band “Queen,” has always been a Seiko devotee. When he first visited Japan in 1975, he purchased a Seiko 7548 diver. Given Brian May’s renowned prominence in music, it seemed as though Seiko had wasted a golden opportunity for a brand ambassador of this stature until Seiko ultimately corrected that mistake in 2020 with the debut of the Seiko 5 Sports SRPE83K1. It was a huge hit and now Seiko comes back with a second collaboration with Brian May in the form of Seiko 5 Sports Brian May Limited Edition SRPH80K1.
Dial, like the last iteration, is based on Brian’s Red Special guitar, which was made entirely by hand by Brian and his father in the early 1960s. It’s made to look like the legendary guitar of Brian May named “Red Special” and sometimes referred to as “The Fireplace” or “The Old Lady”. Using wood out of an old fireplace for the neck, buttons to indicate the frets, a sixpence coin as a pick, used blockboard for body and coated with a mahogany veneer that Brian stained and polished himself. Brian May did, in fact, contribute to the design of the dial. The curvature on the left-hand side of the dial, and the gritty texture in the red section imitate his guitar’s woody texture while LumiBrite, a proprietary Seiko product, is used to treat the hands and indices. The aluminum bezel is anodized and the numerals on it are of matching golden color as with the case.
The dial rests on a matte gold casing, a nod to Brian May’s recently released Gold Series. With 100 m water resistance, it has the dimensions of 42mm x 13mm with 46mm length. Flip the SRPH80K1 over and the backside of the watch has a red glass with Brian May’s signature and the phrase “Limited Edition” in gold paint. Enclosed inside the case is Seiko’s in-house automatic calibre 4R36 which features stop-seconds and a power reserve of 40 hours. Another nod to the guitarist is the special presentation box, shaped like guitar case and that includes the lucky sixpence coin as well.
The Seiko 5 Sports Brian May Limited Edition SRPH80K1 watch is priced at EUR 620 and will be available in March 2022.
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