Seiko have introduced GPS Solar Chronograph technology to the Prospex range for the first time. It’s essentially a fusion of their Astron collection and Prospex range, using the technology of the former and the style of the latter. There are three references being introduced, two standard editions ref. SSH167 and SSH165 in black and white and a third 100th anniversary limited edition ref. SSH169 with a splash of gold.
I suppose we should start by answering the question, what is a GPS Solar Chronograph? Starting with the solar part, that’s a reference to the fact that it’s a quartz movement where the battery is charged via light absorbed through the dial. There are plenty of solar chronographs in the Prospex range already like the recent Pogue reinterpretation. GPS means that the watch connects to satellites in order to automatically set the time and adjust to local time zones with incredible accuracy.
Fellow Japanese watchmaker Citizen recently took their GPS technology to the next level with the Wave X the fastest GPS satellite watch in the world. The Seiko Prospex GPS Solar Chronograph is equipped with the 5X83 calibre, a staple of the Astron collection. It has a 6-month power reserve at full charge and has an accuracy of +/- 15 seconds per month without satellite correction. It also features a lot of functions but rather than list them ambiguously, let’s take a tour around the watch’s dial.
Around the circumference of the dial is a 60-minute scale with facetted hour markers just inside. At 12 o’clock is the 1/20th second chronograph subdial, mirrored at 6 o’clock by a 12-hour chronograph timer that doubles up as a second time zone indicator. At 9 o’clock is a days of the week subdial, which can also be set to display a power reserve indicator or satellite connection status. Opposite that and offset towards 4 o’clock is the AM/PM indicator for the second time zone and between 4 and 5 o’clock is the date.4
As part of the change from an Astron style to a Prospex one, Seiko have tried to simplify the information presented on the dial so that it’s presented in a cleaner, clearer fashion. The most evident example of this is the fact they’ve moved the UTC time zone scale from the inner flange of the display to being on the exterior of the bezel, a very unusual position for a scale. It operates in the same kind of way as a worldtimer bezel, displaying the world’s time zones simultaneously.
It’s time to narrow in on the three references and their individual colour schemes. First is Prospex GPS Solar Chronograph SSH167J, which follows Seiko’s traditional sports chronograph colours with a black dial and bezel paired with bright yellow hands, inspired by a 1972 chrono and similar in concept to the 2022 Speedtimer World Athletics edition. Ref. SSH165J1 is then a panda interpretation with a white dial and black accents similar to the iconic colourway. Last is the anniversary edition which has a black coating on its case to match the black dial, although it’s not a stealth watch as it has gold coloured rims to the subdials, hands, pushers and crown.
At the moment this is very much the Astron and Prospex collections colliding. It works well because the pared back tool aesthetic of the Prospex looks better than the Astron in my opinion. Plus, these watches are slightly more accessible at £1,960 for the standard editions and £2,140 for the 1,000 piece limited edition – whereas the Astron 5X series is £2,240. It makes me wonder about the future of the Astron as a standalone collection, could it be subsumed by the Prospex in time?
Price and Specs:
More details at Seiko Boutique.
