From stopwatch to wristwatch at the Seiko Museum

One of the more interesting displays at the Seiko Museum in Ginza are the stopwatches they developed for timing various sports. It was cool to see this one in particular, which inspired the SRQ035/SBEC007, and notice just how many details were cleverly incorporated into the watch's design, from the obvious aspects of the dial layout and typography to the more subtle detailing of the handset (both the stopwatch hands with the diamond-shaped counterbalances and the alpha-style subdial hands) and even the crown and pushers. When so many limited-editions are little more than a variation on the dial color or texture, it's nice to see how Seiko stepped it up on this iteration of the Speedtimer.

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I've been looking at this Seiko Speedtimer for several weeks and it's interesting to see the similarities to the original Seiko stopwatches as you say. I like the simplicity in the same way as I like old pocket watches with uncluttered faces. Georg Jensen Koppel watch is another (take a look). I love that design and reluctantly bought one for my daughter after I gave her a couple of options for a birthday. I say reluctant as it's a fashion quartz and I wanted her to have a Longines automatic for the same money but like the Speedtimer you've mentioned here they both share a minimalist stopwatch type design that I'm keeping being drawn to. I've currently got a SEIKO SRQ041J1 in my basket at £1722 which is heavily discounted at the moment with a couple of UK sellers, especially considering the 400 limited worldwide release from Seiko. It definitely moves away from the stopwatch minimalist design but I guess has a modern take on the original. The SRQ035 and SRQ041 are special Seiko's especially with the 8R46 caliber but each time I go to pull the trigger I look again at those massive pushers and wonder if I could live with them, or if I'm honest if I could live with the comments from my buddies 😳

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One of the coolest watches with historical legacy, Japanese aesthetic touch, and great function. I wear it to work often.

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dazarichards

I've been looking at this Seiko Speedtimer for several weeks and it's interesting to see the similarities to the original Seiko stopwatches as you say. I like the simplicity in the same way as I like old pocket watches with uncluttered faces. Georg Jensen Koppel watch is another (take a look). I love that design and reluctantly bought one for my daughter after I gave her a couple of options for a birthday. I say reluctant as it's a fashion quartz and I wanted her to have a Longines automatic for the same money but like the Speedtimer you've mentioned here they both share a minimalist stopwatch type design that I'm keeping being drawn to. I've currently got a SEIKO SRQ041J1 in my basket at £1722 which is heavily discounted at the moment with a couple of UK sellers, especially considering the 400 limited worldwide release from Seiko. It definitely moves away from the stopwatch minimalist design but I guess has a modern take on the original. The SRQ035 and SRQ041 are special Seiko's especially with the 8R46 caliber but each time I go to pull the trigger I look again at those massive pushers and wonder if I could live with them, or if I'm honest if I could live with the comments from my buddies 😳

Hadn't seen the Koppel watch--great design!

As far as the pushers on the Seikos go, it honestly never occurred to me that they are oversized. It is a thick watch, however (though no thicker than automatic chronographs from IWC and Breitling that cost 3-times more), which initially put me off but now I find kinda fun and chunky. Definitely try it on first but I've been super happy with mine.

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Yes, and also at the museum you can see the small jump from pocket watch to the first Seiko wristwatch, the 1913 Laurel. Almost the same watches. The pocket watch crown was rotated from 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock and lugs put on the case. Add a strap and voila you have a wristwatch.