18 Nov 2013

Seiko Astron - My dream watch 1

One of my friends recently asked me what my "Grail Watch" was. This term is used among watch enthusiasts to describe a watch you really desire, in other words, your dream watch. My friend's (and mine) grail watch is the legendary Moon watch - the Omega Speedmaster Professional. A really good looking classic watch and definitely on my wish list. But not really my dream watch.

Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional 42 mm (Steel on steel)

I thought long and hard but I realised that I did not really have a grail watch. I have to admit that I really liked the Tissot T-Touch when it first came out but I am quite happy with my old Tissot PR50. Most of the watches I have owned are digital and I guess that I like watches with lots of functions with buttons you can push, as compared to the boring analog watches.

Anyway, I told my friend that I wanted a watch which was accurate, tough, waterproof to at least 100m, long lasting battery (at least 10 years before changing the batteries) and last but not the least, with World time.

Why World Time? Because I hate the feeling of flying long distances and having to get down at a foreign airport for a connecting flight and not knowing the local time. I always get worried that I might get the local times wrong and miss the connecting flight.

That's why I was delighted when I found out about the Seiko Astron. It is the World's first Solar powered GPS watch which automatically adjusts to the exact local time in all the 39 time zones on earth, with the push of a button. Other features includes a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, water resistance up to 100m and power save function. It is solar powered which means that you do not have to change the battery - ever. Moreover, they have a perpetual calendar that is correct until February 28, 2100.

Kintaro Hattori Special Limited Edition

As you might have expected, the watches do not come cheap and price of the models under this brand range from £1495 to £2995 for the Kintaro Hattori Special Limited Edition (named in honor of Seiko's founder and limited to 5000 pieces). This is on the Seiko UK site. The Omega Speedmaster Professional, which retails at £2880 is actually cheaper than the limited edition Seiko Astron model. Meaning that it is definitely a watch for hardcore Seiko fans I guess.

I found out that you can get the Astron watches slightly cheaper on Amazon. The cheapest was £1,159.86 for the SEIKO Astron SAST009 [Japan import] which costs £1495 on their official UK site. The Seiko Astron definitely ticks all the boxes and is my grail watch for now.


Click image to buy the Seiko Aston on Amazon UK


2 comments:

Rujen @ http://www.bestgpswatches.org/ said...

These kinds of wristwatches ought to be calibrated in your running. These are less accurate like an excellent gps watches enjoy but they finish the same job and so are not necessarily near because heavy.

David said...

Good choice. Seiko Astron is the most technological advance watch.