Le SBCM023 Seiko est une montre trompeuses. À première vue, si vous regardez la lunette, le boîtier, bracelet et le cadran, il apparaît à la grêle de leur ligne de plongeurs SKX mécanique. La couronne surveillé à quatre heures de position, les mains SKX, et de Lume épaisseur tout conspire à tromper. Un examen plus attentif à la ligne avec son "calendrier perpétuel" texte raconte l’observateur averti que ce n’est, en fait, un mouvement à quartz inhabituelle.

Commençons par l’impressionnant et quelque peu inhabituel spécifications:

    * 316L en acier inoxydable et le bracelet.
    * Couronne Screwdown et caseback.
    * Étanche jusqu’à 200 m (660ft) - plongée sous-marine-évaluée selon ISO6245.
    * Lume LumiBrite sur les mains, marqueurs, et de la lunette à pépins
    * 8F35 mouvement à quartz: 192 kHz, une précision de 20 secondes par an.
    * Classe de cristaux minéraux.
    * 12mm par 39mm, 140g.
    * Calendrier perpétuel.
    * La batterie à 10 ans.

S’il vous plaît lisez ce qui suit pour l’examen complet et photos.

Mm-comparo-anglePictured ici à côté de l’44mm SBDX001, les différences de la série SKX sont plus apparentes. Il est 5mm plus étroit, a une mince lunette, et est un peu mince pour démarrer. Le reste de la série sont SKX 44mm, rendant le SBCM023 très inhabituelle Seiko effet. Vous pouvez également le voir sur cette image que le cadran est en fait un gris foncé, pas noir, mais la différence est assez subtile.

Haut-droit La chose vraiment intéressante à propos de cette montre est le mouvement. quartz normale gère un 32kHz, et est précis à 15 secondes par mois, ou 180 secondes par an. Le 8F35 dans cette montre fonctionne à une 192 plus rapidement et est neuf fois plus précis à 20 secondes par an, soit moins de deux secondes par mois! A titre de comparaison, le quartz le plus précis, vous pouvez acheter le Chronomaster Citizen, à 5 secondes par an. Cette Seiko est à portée de voix de cela, et les coûts d’un dixième du prix. Seiko ne s’arrête pas là, mais - c’est aussi un calendrier perpétuel, si la date est toujours correcte, et la batterie est évalué à un extraordinaire dix ans. C’est tout un exploit.

Profil du Saint-Si vous allez à la recherche d’mouvements à quartz super-précis, vous remarquerez que beaucoup d’entre eux sont mis en montres semi-formelle comme les citoyens. Le SBCM023 est un plein sur la montre de plongée avec une lunette unidirectionnelle 120-cliquez sur la couronne screwdown, extension bracelet de plongeur, note 200, et de Lume super brillant. Combinée avec la faible hauteur et d’un bracelet excellent, vous avez l’un des plus polyvalents de Seiko montres jamais fait. Cette montre peut aller du bateau de plongée pour le costume bleu avec une facilité sans effort comme si c’était un portrait plus précis Submariner. Il ne sera pas la preuve de votre revenu comme un pourrait Rolex, mais pour l’homme (ou femme, d’ailleurs) qui veulent une seule montre qui fait tout, le SBCM023 est un très bon choix.

Retour-br Le bracelet est excellent: des liens solides, des boutons poussoirs double avec fliplock, extension plongeur de longueur fixe, le bien et uniformément brossé avec flancs polis et fermoir en biseau. Les liens sont tenues avec les habituelles pin-et-cols, et la boucle a quatre généreuse micro-ajustements. Les liens sont creux fin, que je considère comme un effet négatif mineur. Foré pattes 20mm sangles faire changer ou bracelets plus facile. Boîte et bracelet sont finis et d’une surface à un niveau sensiblement plus élevé de la qualité que la série SKX, très agréable à porter.

Montres-profil dans la photo de profil, vous pouvez voir comment les lignes des pattes courbe vers le bas autour du poignet alors que la courbe de retour au côté assure même confort.

Sur mon 7,25 "du poignet, la montre semble la taille idéale en raison de la largeur réduite lunette. A 39mm, il est plus petit que la plupart des montres à la mode, mais il est vraiment parfaitement équilibrée: le jour même lisibles ou de la nuit.

Je ne souhaite que le cristal de saphir ont été au lieu de Hardlex, et un revêtement anti-reflets serait aussi une belle touche. Le cristal est en retrait en dessous de la lunette inclinée, elle a donc une certaine protection contre les dommages, mais de soins est encore justifié.

Luminosité et performances de chronométrage sont à la fois exemplaire. Le lume est bien visible après 8 + heures, et après un mois, je montre moins d’une seconde d’erreur. Une montre souple et sans chichis, c’est parfait pour les amateurs de précision qui ne sont pas à portée d’une montre radio-set.
Face-2
Liste des prix sur le SBCM023 Japon seulement 31.500 yens, soit 350 $ US à partir du 11/09. Le prix public est de moins de 250 $, ce qui rend cette valeur un très bon.

Après avoir porté ce pendant un certain temps, vous aurez probablement vous demander pourquoi vous avez besoin de porter quoi que ce soit plus grand ou plus lourd. polyvalence exceptionnelle, le mouvement ultra-précis, la date correcte toujours-, et une batterie de dix années de faire de ce diable un tueur d’une montre. Toutes ces fonctionnalités, et un style qui est unique Seiko. Hautement recommandé.

UST a annoncé à Bâle est une avance intéressante de Seiko: un affichage bitmap en niveaux de gris E-ink avec 80.000 pixels et 300 points par pouce, comparable à une bonne imprimante laser. Prétendu être un produit réel et pas seulement un concept, il a promis étonnant pour programmable, affiche lisible. moonphase Photo-elles exactes? Graphiques du crépuscule? Nous avons aimé les montres E-ink, nous avons vu si loin, si cela est extrêmement intéressant, et nous serons à la recherche d’une date de sortie et le prix.

Il faut également souligner le fait que chaque pixel peut afficher quatre niveaux de gris - ce qui est nouveau sur les montres, bien que le Kindle et de ses semblables ont eu pendant un certain temps.

Sans donner le nombre, Seiko affirme qu’elle utilise 1% de la puissance nécessitaient auparavant, alors j’espère que la vie de la batterie sera au moins un an. Je ne suis pas fan de montres, j’ai pour recharger chaque semaine.

Par Paul Hubbard

Si vous êtes un régulière Watch Report lecteur, vous savez combien j’aime la combinaison de atomiques et solaires, qui signifie habituellement Casio. Il ressemble Seiko devient sérieux leur atomiques collections solaires toutefois et a annoncé la première montre atomique qui Works Worldwide. Naturellement, "mondial" signifie partout où il ya une horloge atomique, qui est Japon (Fukushima et Kyushu), Allemagne (Francfort), et le US (Fort Collins, Colorado). En revanche, la casios atomiques J’ai seulement travailler au Japon et le US (et malheureusement, Casio rend abondance qui travaux seulement au Japon).

Initialement, le montres sera ajouts à la ligne Seiko Brightz, qui J’aime. Caractéristiques comprendra:

    * Worldwide calibration radio-contrôlée temps atomique (Japon, Allemagne, et É.-U.).
    * Solar powered. Lorsque complètement chargée, la batterie tiendra assez de puissance pour fonctionne continuellement 6 mois, ou 1,5 ans en utilisant la puissance salvifique fonction.
    * Fonction recevant Manuel (qui signifie vous pouvez calibrer la montre sans attendre son temps calibration classifiées qui est milieu du nuit).
    * Fonction syntonisation Affichage résultats (qui signifie la montre vous ferons savoir qu’elle a succès étalonné).
    * Heure mondiale en 24 fuseaux.
    * Ajustement main Automatique. Si le mains deviennent misaligned (comme mains parfois ne due au magnétisme ou choc), il sera automatiquement eux réaligner.
    * Boîtier en titane Bright et bracelet.
    * Etanche à 10 ATM (c’est 10 BAR, 100 mètres, ou 330 pieds).

Seiko plans commencer rendant ces montres disponibles au Japon en Septembre de cette année, puis en Europe en certains point dans l’avenir. Oui, le US est manifestement absent de leurs plans, mais ne t’inquiète pas - fois qu’ils êtes disponible, je plupart définitivement obtenir mes mains sur un (J’ai déjà un voyage en Asie prévu pour Novembre), et je veillez à post un couple sources fiables.

Update (9/3/2005): J’ai reçu beaucoup de email sur cet post (il semble être beaucoup d’excitation environ cette montre) long avec les corrections suivantes et renseignements supplémentaires:

    * Je État précède que la horloges seulement atomiques sont au Japon, Allemagne, et le US. Nick Collingridge écrit dans me laisser sais qu’il ya une horloge atomique dans Rugby, Angleterre, ainsi. Le Ruby horloge atomique transmet un signal temps environ 1500 kilomètres (937.5 miles) qui couvre tous des îles Britanniques. C’est pas clair si cette montre sera calibrer avec l’horloge atomique dans Rugby toutefois j’ai rencontré plusieurs autres montres qui ne. Thanks, Nick!
    * Daniel Webb écrit dans me laisser savons que le Casio WVA-440 synchronise amende avec moment signaux transmis tant du UK et Allemagne. Thanks, Daniel! Il ne ressemble ces montres sera calibrer aux É.-U. ou au Japon, quoique.
    * Dirk Schillmoeller écrit dans me laisser savons que réclamation Seiko à être le premier à offrir une montre monde atomique est effectivement incorrects. Il s’avère Junghans a déjà moins deux montres qui calibrer dans le US, Japon et en Europe. Leur site est entièrement en allemand, mais j’étais pouvoir lire assez pour confirmer Dirk est correct. Très intéressant! J’examinerai approfondir cette. Thanks, Dirk!

Unfortunately, I don’t own this watch, and even more unfortunately, it’s likely I never will. There were only 1,500 made world-wide, and only 400 of them found their way to the US. It’s a shame because I think this is an absolutely fantastic looking timepiece, and I’ve always had a soft spot for Seiko ever since I worked for them at their world headquarters in Japan for the better part of a year. This was some time ago, however, and unfortunately, all I left with was an inexpensive stainless steel Chronograph (which I still really like), and a few of those funky Alba Spoons which people in Japan were falling over themselves trying to get back then.

The Sportura, as the name implies, is a sports chronograph, which means it’s primary function (aside from looking very cool) is to time events. If you’re an Olympic track coach, you’re still going to be better off with something in the digital realm with multiple splits, etc., but if you just need to time the occasional yacht race or something, the Sportura will work, and look, just fine.

Features and specifications

    * Kinetic rechargeable quartz movement. That means it’s a quartz watch, but you don’t have to change the battery. It’s stores energy like a watch with automatic movement (an oscillating weight rotates in response to wrist movement, generating energy), but it uses that energy to actually power a quartz crystal as opposed to winding a spring. The watch can keep time up to a month on a full charge without being "recharged".
    * Chronograph which goes up to 12 hours, 6 minutes, and 12.2 seconds in 1/10 second increments.
    * Separate date window display. This is not a perpetual calendar watch, though, so you will have to fix the date after a month with 30 days or after a leap year.
    * Solid stainless steel.
    * Sapphire crystal (anti-glare treated).
    * See-through case back. Observe the guts of this watch while it’s in action.
    * Double-locking, push button release, solid stainless steel band.
    * Water resistant to 100m (330ft, 10 ATM, 10 BAR).

This is a great looking, very unique watch, and as long as you don’t need overly sophisticated timing functionality (the stopwatch works almost identically to my $270 Chronograph — the Sportura SLQ017 retails for $3,500), it’ll perform just fine for you. Of course, the trick is going to be getting your hands one of the 400 in circulation, but as we all know, where there’s a will, there’s eBay.

If you’re looking for a moderately priced, high quality, very cool, and totally unique looking watch to surprise someone with this holiday season (or even to surprise yourself with), you might want to check out something from Seiko’s new Sportura collection. The inspiration for the Seiko Sportura design was high performance sports cars, and each watch clearly has the feel of a complex but exhilarating dashboard in the type of car I will probably never be able to afford.

The Seiko Sportura collection consists of four models (SLQ017, SNL015, SNJ005, and SNA451), each with its own unique look and feature set, and each in a different (but relatively affordable) price range. All the watches in the Sportura collection start off with the following set of features:

    * Jet black dials.
    * Scratch-resistant, anti-glare sapphire crystals.
    * Screwdown casebacks and crowns.
    * Stainless steel bracelets (also available in leather, however).
    * Double-locking clasps with push-button release.
    * Water resistant to 100 meters (10 BAR, 10 ATM, or 330 feet).
    * Japanese quartz movements (though only two of the pieces in the collection actually require batteries).
    * Very bright luminous hands and markers.

Now that we know what all the watches in the Seiko Sportura collection have in common, I’ll cover each watch individually, starting with the least expensive.

Seiko Sportura SNA451

The Sportura Alarm Chronograph (SNA451)

At $575 retail (assume all these watches can be had for 20-25% less than retail), the Alarm Chronograph is the most affordable member of the Sportura quartet, though it still has plenty of nice features:

    * Battery powered Quartz movement.
    * 12-hour alarm.
    * Second time zone display. The alarm face at the six o’clock position can be set to a different time zone.
    * Chronograph capable of measuring up to 60 minutes in 1/5 second increments.

The Alarm Chronograph is definitely the most conventional looking of the Sportura collection. In terms of functionality and layout, it is very similar to the Seiko Chronograph I have in my collection (and in fact happen to be wearing right now). Both are great watches.

Additional resources:

    * Sportura Alarm Chronograph product page.
    * Operation guide (PDF).

Seiko Sportura SNJ005

The Sportura Large Screen Analog-Digital (SNJ005)

Second in line in terms of price ($650, retail) is the Analog-Digital Sportura. The look is very similar to that of the Alarm Chronograph except for the large black LCD behind the analog hands which gives this watch a high-tech look the other watches in the line don’t have. Features include:

    * Battery powered quartz movement.
    * Digital alarm.
    * Digital stopwatch. Measures up to 100 hours in 1/1000 second increments. (No, that’s not a typo — I verified it with my own eyes. Someone should let Tag Heuer know that the Microtimer has competition.)
    * World time (28 cities around the world) with digital city name display.
    * Fully automatic calendar.

If you’re shopping for someone who is a frequent traveler, this is probably the one to consider, although if all they need are dual time zones, both this and the Sportura Chronograph are possibilities.

Additional resources:

    * Seiko Sportura SNJ005 product page.
    * Operation guide not available.

Seiko Sportura SNL015

The Sportura Kinetic Chronograph (SNL015)

The Kinetic Chronograph contains a quartz movement, but interestingly, no battery. The idea of Seiko’s Kinetic technology is to capture the best of both the quartz and automatic worlds: the accuracy of the quartz movement with the convenience of an automatic watch (no battery). Seiko kinetic watches generate their own power by an oscillating weight rotating in response to wrist movement, then they use that energy to power a Japanese quartz movement. Very innovative, and very high-tech.

Features of the Sportura Kinetic Chronograph include:

    * Automatic power generation (when fully charged, the watch should run for about five months).
    * Chronograph capable of measuring up to 45 minutes in 1/5 second increments.
    * Energy depletion warning.
    * See-through caseback (you can actually see the weight rotating as it generates power).

As you can see, the Sportura Kinetic Chronograph is where the design of the Sportura line really diverges from the mainstream. Personally, I think this watch has an amazing, very bold look that is sure to draw not just glances, but plenty of comments. Keep in mind that this is a fairly large and especially long watch, however. I actually had one sized for my wrist the other day just to get a good feel how big it really is, and I found that it extends slightly past the top and bottom of my wrist at its narrowest point. Admittedly, my wrists are a little on the skinny side, so I think the watch would sit just fine on most men’s arms, but this is definitely something to consider before buying. Retail for the Kinetic Chronograph is $995.

Additional resources:

    * Seiko Sportura SNL015 product page.
    * Operation guide (PDF).

Seiko Sportura SLQ017

The Limited Sportura Kinetic Chronograph (SLQ017)

At an MSRP of $3,500, this is by far the most exclusive watch in the Sportura line. Even if your significant other is worth the $3,500, you may have a difficult time finding this model since only 400 are being shipped to the US, most of which need to be special ordered. It’s a superb looking timepiece, though, and clearly a great addition to any watch enthusiast’s collection (no, unfortunately I don’t own one myself — at least not yet). I actually wrote an entire article on this watch a couple months ago, so check it out for all the dirty details. If you’ve already written this one off based on price and availability, but are still interested in glancing over the features, here’s a quick summary:

    * Automatic power generation (when fully charged, this watch should run for about one month).
    * Stopwatch that measures up to 12 hours and 6 minutes in 1/10 second increments.
    * Energy depletion warning.
    * See-through caseback.
 

Getting caught up on my gadget news this morning, I noticed that my pals over at Gizmodo got the scoop on a new E-paper watch that Seiko exhibited at Baselworld 2005. It actually looks more like a bracelet than a watch, but since it tells the time, I guess that makes it a watch. The concept is very interesting. It contains a curved sheet of high-contrast e-paper (electronic paper) which displays both the time and a constantly changing mosaic pattern. Here’s what Seiko has to say about their creation:

    "We aimed to develop a new type of watch that has never existed before. Then electronic paper caught our eye. Through the utilization of its curvable property, innovative designs have become available. As this is the first watch ever that uses e-paper in the industry, we believe that the industry will be strongly interested in it."

I believe they are right, at least in Japan. The coolest Japanese watches never seem to make it to our shores, except through super secret Japanese contacts we Japanese watch fanatics maintain. Anyway, the Seiko e-paper watch may be available in Japan as early as this year.

With its impressive world time functions, the SNJ005 is the Sportura for the world traveler. It stands out among its three brothers because it is the only Sportura that is digital as well as analog. It manages to retain its family resemblance, however, thanks to the inverted LCD (white on black rather than black on white) which blends in almost perfectly with the rest of the face and gives it the same jet-black dial as the other Sporturas. And like the rest of the line, the SNJ005 is all stainless steel with a sapphire crystal, screwdown caseback, and double locking clasp.

Features of the Seiko SNJ005 include:

    * World time. Quickly and easily check the time and date in 28 different cities.
    * Time transfer function. (See below for an explanation.)
    * World time alarm. (More on this feature below.)
    * Automatic calendar (up to the year 2050).
    * Stopwatch with a resolution of 1/1,000th of a second (no, that’s not a typo!). The maximum time is 100 hours.
    * Water-resistant to 100 meters, or about 330 feet.

The SNJ005’s world time feature is probably its primary appeal. It allows you to easily check the time in one of 28 different cities, and to watch two time zones simultaneously. I really like the way you select cities with the SNJ005, as well. All 28 cities are abbreviated around the bezel of the watch starting with GMT at the 12 o’clock position, and whenever you are prompted to select a city (in time set mode, world time mode, and world alarm mode), you press a button to advance the second hand until it points to the desired city. In case you’re not sure what the abbreviation stands for, the full name of the city scrolls across the top LCD.

The SNJ005’s time transfer function is a natural fit with world time mode. If you want to quickly reset the main time of the watch to a different time zone, just navigate to world time mode, select the desired city, hold down the upper left-hand button for two seconds, and the current time in that city is "transferred" to the main time. Not only can you easily track the time in multiple cities, but you can very easily reconfigure the watch’s main time, then change it back once you’ve returned home.

The alarm on the SNJ005 allows you to specify a city in addition to a time. Let’s say, for instance, you need to know when it’s 11:00 AM in Tokyo. Rather than figuring out the time difference and setting your alarm relative to local time, you can actually set the alarm for 11:00 AM and specify Tokyo as the city. Very slick. The 20-second tone is nice and loud, and sounds a little like a cell phone ringing which is much more distinctive than the typical lame beeps most digital watches emit. (Note that you can sample the alarm in time mode by holding down the two buttons on the right. Note also that pressing the two buttons on the right toggles button tones on and off.)

Although the SNJ005 contains some fairly complex world time functionality, it’s actually not difficult to set. You can either synchronize the analog and digital readouts, or you can intentionally set them to different times if you want to be able to see two time zones at once (which you can already do with this watch, so I wouldn’t recommend it). Once it’s set, you won’t have to worry about it for a long time since all the world time offsets are preprogrammed, as well as daylight savings and the watch’s calendar. And since Seiko is known for their extremely accurate quartz movements, you really can set it and forget it.

There are only two things I don’t like about the SNJ005. The first is the fact that you can’t navigate backwards when setting things like the time, or the alarm. The lower right-hand button is used to advance the time, the upper right-hand button is used to advance your place, and upper left-hand button is used to take the watch in and out of set mode. That means the lower left-hand button isn’t being used for anything, so why not use it to let you decrement numbers so you don’t have to loop all the way back around if you pass the intended time? (It should be noted that this is a very minor point, but when you’re as obsessed with watches as I am, you notice little things like this.)

The second thing I don’t like about the SNJ005 actually has more to do with something I don’t like about me, and that is my skinny wrists. The SNJ005 is too large for my wrist. I don’t mean that it simply overpowers my wrist because it actually doesn’t. What I mean is that it literally overshoots my wrist on both the top and the bottom so there’s a noticeable"crease" in the bracelet as the links turn too sharply back around the curve in my wrist. If I had just slightly thicker wrists, the flow of the links would be smoother and the issue would be completely unnoticeable. The problem is actually not the size of the watch itself, but the fact that the first link attached to each lug is not actually hinged, even though it looks like is, which essentially extends the practical size of the case by almost an entire inch. It’s a very strange design, but only something that you’d notice if your wrist is as narrow as mine. If you have skinny wrists, I highly recommend trying this watch on before actually purchasing one.

The Sportura line is one of the few very cool Seiko collections that we’re lucky enough to have easy access to in the US. In fact, three out of the four watches in the Sportura line (the SNA451, SNJ005, and the SNL015) can be found in just about any decent sized mall or jewelry store. (For an overview of the entire Sportura line, see my article entitled The New Seiko Sportura Line.) The SNJ005 retails for about $650, but is typically discounted at least 20-25%, so expect to pay between $480 and $520, or even less.

If you’re a frequent traveler, and your wrists are big enough to accommodate the SNJ005, you can’t go wrong with this timepiece.

Seiko continues to build amazing watches on top of their innovative new Spring Drive system. One of the latest is the Seiko Marinemaster GMT. I almost posted nothing but a picture of this watch because I think the mere sight of it says it all: it is big, beautiful, durable, and simultaneously both modern and classic.

I have an old Seiko titanium Kinetic Scubamaster which is one of my favorite watches in the world, and one of the things I really like about this family of watches is the amount of functionality Seiko packs into them. The Marinemaster has a 24-hour hand for tracking time in a second time zone, but rather than putting the hours for the second time zone on the bezel like most GMT watches do, the numbers are actually inside the bezel, around the perimeter of the dial. This leaves the bezel free for your standard dive time functionality, which means you get a GMT and a diver all in one. Of course, this makes the watch slightly less flexible purely as a GMT watch since the hours are typically marked on the bi-directional rotating bezel so that you can easily check times in other time zones (rotating the bezel clockwise takes hours off the second time zone while rotating it counterclockwise adds hours), however if you don’t need the additional GMT flexibility, it’s nice having the diver functionality, instead.

Features of the Seiko Marinemaster GMT:

    * Spring Drive movement accurate to about 15 seconds per month or better with a 72 hour power reserve and automatic winding.
    * 24-hour hand for GMT functionality.
    * Date.
    * Power reserve indicator.
    * Bright titanium construction with a screw-down caseback.
    * Titanium bracelet with a double locking clasp and diver extension.
    * Sapphire crystal.
    * Water resistant to 600 meters (almost 2,000 feet).
    * 45mm in diameter, 17mm thick.

The bad news is that you can’t waltz down to your local mall to pick one of these beauties up (unless you live in Japan). The good news is that you can still get them for about $2,950 from some Japanese retailers who are willing to ship to the US.

I was in New York for a conference last week, and I ran into a girl wearing a big, dorky (in a cool way), very intriguing watch which turned out to be a Seiko AirPro. I’d never seen one before, and when she told me she’d bought it in Japan, my first thought was that it was a GSM mobile phone watch that had somehow slipped passed my Japanese wrist technology radar. But instead of being a speaker or a microphone, the big contraption below the face is actually a pump which can be used to inflate a small chamber under the case to make the watch fit snuggly against your wrist, kind of like the old Nike and Reebok basketball shoes. I’m not exactly sure why it’s useful (the girl wearing it was a designer, and I think she was more attracted to its unique looks than its functionality), but I suppose if you were running, or playing tennis, or otherwise engaged in the type of activity that would send your watch bouncing up and down your arm, it might be nice to cinch it down by pumping a little air into it.

I can’t explain why, but for some reason, I liked the watch enough to do a bit of research. I don’t know if Seiko is still making the AirPro, but I do know for a fact you won’t find one at your local authorized Seiko retailer. I found references to the Seiko AirPro as early at August of 1999, so we’re definitely talking vintage technology here. I even found references to a version which actually spoke the time which I’m sure wouldn’t get old for your co-workers and cube-mates at all.

Features of the Seiko AirPro include:

    * Inflatable band.
    * Shock resistant.
    * Temperature tolerant to 122° Fahrenheit.
    * Water-resistant to 100 meters, or 330 feet.
    * Stopwatch with a resolution of 1/100th of a second, and 99 laps.

If you feel like you just have to have one of these vintage gems, I’ve seen a few crop up on eBay.

This one isn’t atomic like the Seiko Ignition Takuma Sato, but it is a solar Ignition, and it is most definitely a beautiful watch. Features include:

    * Titanium case and bracelet.
    * Seiko’s own "Hardlex" crystal (used in many of Seiko’s divers because it is especially hard).
    * Solar-powered with a 6-month reserve and overcharge prevention.
    * Quartz accuracy of ± 20 seconds per month.
    * Double locking clasp with "one-push" diver extension (to go over a wetsuit).
    * Water-resistant to 200 meters, or about 650 feet.
    * Rotating bezel for dive timing (not sure if it’s uni- or bi-directional).
    * Screwdown caseback.

This watch does not appear to be available in the US, so the best way to get more information is to do a Google search, and click on some "Translate this page" links. And of course, you can always count on a translated version of Watch-Tanaka for good information and nice pictures. It looks like this watch should go for about $450.