BY DHANANJAY PATHAK
In 2019 Seiko revealed the sporty and revitalized Seiko 5 watch collection. Since then, the Japanese brand has been working towards expanding the Seiko 5 collection, adding fun and intriguing watches such as the Brian May special edition and the Street Fighter limited edition watches. Recently Seiko unveiled the Seiko 5 Sports Custom Watch Beatmaker 2021 Limited Edition, the winner of the Custom Watch Beatmaker campaign held between October 2020 and January 2021.
The campaign provided participants with the opportunity of creating their own Seiko 5 sports watches, offering a highly personalized experience, allowing participating members to select everything from the bezel insert to the strap from a wide variety of options. And the watch that garnered maximum attention and finally made it to production is now in front of us.
Featuring a golden sunburst dial with a blue and red bezel, this new watch is reminiscent of the famous Seiko Pouge chronograph from the 1970s. Complementing the exciting ensemble of colors are familiar aesthetics.
Starting from the dial, you get applied hour markers with well-proportioned bold hands, both of which have been deeply filled with Lumi Brite, Seiko’s proprietary lume formula to provide a bright and long-lasting glow in dimly lit situations. The minute track has been printed on the flange and in this instance has been presented in black to offer a nice contrast to the golden background. And finally, at the 3 o’clock position is the hate it or love it day and date display.
Like the dial, the case maintains the overall design and dimensions of other Seiko 5 family members. Crafted from stainless steel, the housing measures a modern 42mm in diameter and exhibits a unique asymmetric geometry thanks to a combination of the offset crown and protruding crown guards. Sitting on top of the case is a uni-directional dive time bezel that features a red and blue aluminum insert. The case is water-resistant to 100 meters, which is good enough for some light swimming.
Ticking inside the watch is Seiko’s in-house workhorse calibre 4R36. An automatic movement, the 4R36 beats at a low frequency of 3 Hz and offers an autonomy of around 41 hours. The movement can be viewed through the hardlex exhibition case back, but there is not much to write home on the decoration front as it bears a very industrial finish. That said, looking at the hard-working internals of a mechanical watch is never a bad sight.
The new Seiko 5 Sports Custom Watch Beatmaker 2021 is limited to just 2021 examples. The watch would come mated to a stainless-steel bracelet and would retail for USD 295.
