Introducing the Seiko Astron Giugiaro Design Limited Edition, ref. SSE121

It looks like Seiko didn’t reveal all of their 2017 goodies at Baselworld last month. For this summer, Seiko is gearing up a new—and somewhat familiar—addition to the Astron family. Based on a wild motorsport-inspired Giugiaro design from 1983, the Astron Giugiaro Design Limited Edition offers a modern take on the 80s-era concept packed with a full array of technology that is standard within the Astron line. (To learn more about Giugiaro, his philosophy and his contribution to the world of watch design, click here.)

The watch is powered by Seiko’s GPS 8X82 caliber, a solar-powered chronograph chock full of functions and add-ons. It measures elapsed time up to six hours and is precise to one second every one hundred thousand years (if it’s receiving a GPS signal, otherwise it’s accurate to +/-15 seconds a month). It also has a perpetual calendar programmed until the year 2100. And like all Astron watches, the movement allows you to adjust to your local time anywhere in the world with just the press of a button. So from a functional perspective, at least, there is a lot to like here.Aesthetically, the design pulls a bit from its supposed inspiration, namely through the positioning of the offset case and the touches of red. But beyond that, the modern interpretation feels less like, well, a modern interpretation, and more like its own beast. It’s bigger and meaner than the watch that inspired it, and it unfortunately loses some of that quirky ‘80s charm along the way. And given its dimensions, it likely wears quite large. Now, with all that said, once you disassociate this watch from its historical counterpart, the Astron Giugiaro Design becomes a much easier pill to swallow, and it’s not hard to see how it might have some commercial appeal.

The Seiko Astron Giugiaro Design is limited to just 3,000 units and will retail for $2,900. Expect it to hit leading retailers this July. Seiko

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