Cool and quirky quartz Seiko

This is a watch that probably has a small audience – it’s quartz, with asymmetric day/date, which most WIS find less appealing. It’s got a bit of the high-legibility look of the ‘old man retirement watch’ e.g. Timex Easy Reader:

In this case, it’s interesting to me in a couple of ways – it’s a tribute by Seiko of their 1929 railroad pocket watch:

Secondly, I actually like day/date and like how this looks on the dial. Seiko managed to just not clip the ornate ‘3’. Lovely!

Also, I like solar powered quartz. Accurate, eco friendly, it’ll have the correct time if left idle for a week or a month. Lastly, I love 38 by 9.5mm size. Super wearable.

This is arguable, but I think it’s also a Seiko version on the Tank Must SolarBeat, where Cartier carefully hid the photovoltaics inside the Roman numerals:

The bad news – as plus9time explains, this watch bears no Seiko reference number and isn’t shown on their site:

These models are produced for customers directly and are not for sale via the Seiko websites. The models have Seiko branding on the dial and case back and sometimes have Seiko style model numbers, but some models may not publicise the model number or provide the company’s own model number. Often these models are produced as a limited edition with a set number of units and other times retailers may offer the unit for presale and then once a number of orders have been received the model will then be ordered from Seiko and produced to match the demand.

https://www.plus9time.com/blog/2021/7/4/2021-first-half-seiko-releases

In this case, the vendor is ‘Japanese shopping club LightUp.’ The collaboration is to celebrate their 50th anniversary, the product page is here. (In Japanese, though Chrome does OK translating it.)

You can only get this watch in Japan. LightUp only delivers to Japan. What’s more, since Seiko won’t sell it to you, I don’t know if stalwarts like Seiya or Higuchi can get it for you either.

I begged a favor from family and they came through – the person living there will order and cross-ship it to me here. I hope it’ll be worth the expense (~$480) and hassle. Something about that dial and font, man, I couldn’t resist. Leave a comment if you order one and let people know how you did it!

The family wasn’t able, as LightUp was apparently difficult to order from. Seiya was happy to buy and ship one:

Hello from Tokyo,

Thank you for your inquiry.

This model is sold at limited stores so I would purchase it at the below shop if the estimate is acceptable.

45,000 Yen -Seiko Solar
783 Yen -- Domestic shipping fee
3000 Yen-- Shipping fee
3600 My commission 8%
1833 Yen -- PayPal commission 3.5%

54216 << Yen
US$491

I’ve had it a few weeks now and will try and post about it. It’s as hoped – low key, super wearable and I really enjoy wearing it.