By Carl Scutt
For anyone that may have read my posts in the past or yet to discover my blog, the main point of all my work is luxury and value; in short, I am always looking for luxury at affordable prices. Time and time again this is found in truck loads with the big Japanese brands offering highly polished production processes and bleeding edge technology to bring top-end products that don’t break the bank.
Presage Cocktail Watch
If you were working in design you would no doubt take inspiration from where ever you could, after all ideas don’t grow on trees do they? Just like many a tired professional seeking solace in a Cube Libra or Tequila Sunrise at the end of a tough day, Seiko may have found their inspiration for the new Presage model in the trendy bars of Tokyo city, to introduce the Sakura Hubuki and Starlight cocktail watches.
The Original Cocktail Time
The original SARB065 Cocktail Time watch was officially sold only in Japan but developed an international following, and interestingly, it’s generally accepted Seiko never officially name their watches but, letting their faithful followers do it for them.
New Addition to Cocktail Watch Collection
Always keen to keep ahead of the curve Seiko are releasing two new limited additions to the cocktail collection of watches, said to be based on Japanese cocktails called Sakura Hubuki and Starlight. In an attempt to clarify which is which, the white version is named after a drink called Sakura Hubuki, and the blue version is for a drink called Starlight.
Seiko Presage Cocktail Time power reserve models SSA361 in blue and SSA363 in white
Seiko Presage Cocktail Time and Date SRPC01 in blue and SRPC03 in white
The white version is for a drink called Sakura Hubuki
The blue version is for a drink called Starlight
What’s New?
Well, each version is 40.5mm wide in steel, water-resistant to 50m, anti-magnetic to 4,800 A/m and comes on a blue or brown calf leather strap, so far, so good. They also have a display case back to view the all important movement, the Seiko 4R57 in the SSA (power reserve) and the 4R35 in the Date – Date models, topped with box-shaped Hardlex crystal.
Changes mainly lie in the dial updates where the original was undoubtedly a sublime piece of art the new models have added nice new elements. The white dial ultra-fine guilloché in a cherry blossom is a beautifully realised design in both the SSA363 and SRPC03. The blue dials of the SSA361 and SRPC01 also offer a fibrous feel to them on closer inspection. Apart from this the power reserve models offer a seconds sub dial at 6 o’clock, whereas the non power reserve has a date window at 3 o’clock.
A nice addition to the classic time-and-date automatic movement models that operate at 3Hz is a power reserve of 41 hours, and a hand-winding and hacking option. With this you will never find yourself out of power.
The Final Analysis
With my bias already out there you know I’m going say these pieces are super nice and great value for money, but what can I say? If the cap fits, wear it. Japanese steel can rarely do any wrong in my view and these pieces are not changing my opinion on that point. If you are more interested in a Swiss name then don’t sweat it, these just won’t rock your boat. On the other hand if you are more interested in top quality and a fraction of the cost then you could do worse than gives this collection a second look.
Availability looks like this:
Blue models will be limited to 1,300 pieces each and available from November 17, 2017
White models will be limited to 1,000 and available from January 12, 2018
But what are the numbers? Well, it seems a little complicated but the Seiko Presage Cocktail Time power reserve models SSA361 in blue and SSA363 in white will have a retail price in Europe of €550, or $641. The Time-and-Date models SRPC01 in blue and SRPC03 in white will retail for around €420 or $489 making them truly affordable. For more info, please visit seikowatches.com
