Seiko Announce Their 50th Anniversary Solar GPS Seiko Astron Watch!
Baselworld 2019 has seen a whole range of new products from Seiko watches, including the new Prospex LX range and the Grand Seiko Elegance too, and now, we have a brand new Astron GPS too! This new Seiko Astron watch has been released 50 years on since the first Quartz Astron was first released, offering a new option at during the quartz revolution. The first quartz Astron changed the way that we told the time, with an astonishing accuracy of +5 to -5 seconds per month, and so played a huge part in shaping the future of the electronics industry. It is definitely more than fair to say that Seiko’s quartz technology that we first saw in 1969 has impacted the lives of nearly the whole population of the world, and still today plays a central role in this ever growing world. Now, 50 years on, Seiko have decided to pay homage to this iconic piece, with a brand new Astron GPS Solar 5X series, with a small hint towards it’s historic predecessor, just with a different type of technological advancement powering it!
This new series shares a number of different design aspects of the 1969 quartz Astron, but with it being so much more technology based (GPS, Solar etc.) Seiko have had to be smart about how they featured these similar design elements. The first, and most obvious is the shape of the case, similarly to the original, it has a curved, almost rectangular case, which is then supported with the same wider case lugs and much thinner bezel. However, like I said, it is hard to stay true to the original and include all of this tech, so, the increased power of the GPS module allowed Seiko to use steel rather than the ceramic that would have been used for the bezel and the watch delivers increased performance while nevertheless being smaller and slimmer than ever.
Seiko’s 1969 achievement opened the door to five decades that brought precision timekeeping within the reach of all and that have contributed to the lasting popularity of the wristwatch as the world’s preferred way to tell the time. With the continuing development of Seiko’s GPS Solar technology and with this new design series that is slimmer and easier to use than ever, the revolution that started half a century ago continues, with, as ever, Astron at the forefront.
There are four new models in this collection, one of which is a limited edition piece with only 1,500 pieces set to be available. This limited edition version is all black, with a Zirconia ceramic bezel whose fifty facets commemorate the anniversary of the Quartz Astron. These new models are set to be released in September 2019, so we will be updating you closer to the time for availability!
The Astron’s GPS Solar 5X Caliber
Since the launch of the first GPS Solar Seiko Astron watch, seven years ago, the Astron range has been able to take the art of electronic watchmaking to new heights, now with even more impressive tech than ever. The Astron is accurate to one second every 100,000 years, and its ability to connect to the GPS network, paired with simply being powered by light and its automatic adjustment to every time zone on earth, the Seiko Astron GPS Solar has become a favorite with those who are fans of extreme accuracy and those who love to travel the world!
This new 5X Astron collection now features a Chronograph, Dual-Time, World-Time and Big-Date versions and not only this, but the 5X53 dual time caliber that powers this new series adds even deeper ability and refinement to this already fantastic watch. The caliber 5X will automatically connect to the GPS network up to twice a day to maintain extreme precision, and it will also self adjust to DST (Daylight Saving Time) when necessary, and when the time zone is manually adjusted it is as easy as pressing a button and the hands will correct to the local time, which is now faster than ever before thanks to it’s new system of independent movement.
Overall, this is an extremely exciting collection that we are really excited to check out when it’s finally available in September. We are looking forward to finding out more on this new Seiko Astron Watch, and if you want to find out more too, just ask! Call us on 01926 298499 or email at info@firstclasswatches.co.uk and we will be sure to help as best we can!
