SpotlightAn Ode To Past Glory: The New Seiko 5 Sports Edition Watches

Japanese watchmaker Seiko first unveiled the 5 Sports segment in 2019, under its SKX collection of integrated stainless steel dive watches. This year, Seiko extended this collection with two new sporty chic steel variants, SRPL03 (silver brushed dial) and SRPL05 (matt black dial). Both versions in largely brushed steel bodies are referred to as the Seiko 5 Sports Heritage Design Re-creation Limited Edition, for drawing inspiration from a 1960s Seiko SKX version.

Looking Back At The 1960s Seiko 

Design wise, the new Seiko 5 Sports iterations appear almost identical to the late-1960 version, as displayed on the official brand site. There’s a long list of similar design traits. A number of dial elements offer instant recall and instantly jump at you: the graphic minute track comprising blocks, baton hands, red lollipop seconds hand, oversized rectangular day-date aperture, vintage-era LumiBrite on the bezel, hands, and indexes, and more. Even the brand logo, category of ‘Sports’ in blue, followed by the number of jewels and water resistance, are featured in the same font and place.

Elements similar to the Kamen Rider include the graphic minute track comprising blocks, baton hands, red lollipop seconds hand, oversized rectangular day-date aperture, vintage-era LumiBrite on the bezel, hands, and indexes

The robust screwed caseback spefies engraved elements such as the brand name, water resistance and watch model number

The New Seiko 5 Sports: A Compact Case

Similar elements on the case and body include the stainless steel case and short lugs, rotating bezel in half-minute increments with triangular metallic insert, and a robust screwed caseback. Both the 2024 5 Sports variants come in 38.5mm case size, and with lug-to-lug measurement goes upto 44.8mm. This compact case size together with the sturdy crown at four o’clock and curved Hardlex crystal top, plays a role in the watch’s overall water resistance of 100m. The design and technical tweaks are ever so subtle, such as the knurled bezel and Powering the SRPL03 and SRPL05 versions is the in-house automatic manual winding movement Calibre 4R36; offering 3Hz frequency, and 41 hours of power reserve.

The Seiko 5 Sports Heritage SRPL03 and SRPL05 are available in limited editions of 9,999 pieces each. Both the Seiko 5 Sports Heritage versions feature the brand’s trademark single-link stainless steel bracelet with folding clasp and push button release. Accompanying the watch is a complimentary rally-styled black leather strap and watch box.