VIDEO: The Seiko Presage Style 60’s is a slick everyday watch with a dapper edge
Thor SvaboeThe new Seiko Presage Style 60’s range may be initially confusing. The inspiration lies in their 1964 Seiko Crown Chronograph, except that this new imagining doesn’t have a chrono pusher or a stopwatch function at all. Instead we have a slim, stylish interpretation in a three-hand elegant 40.8mm case, and all the right vintage cues. Add a slim 60 minute bezel reminiscent of a vintage Seamaster 300, and it’s much more than a mere homage.
If you are a vintage Seiko expert you might still be confused, but personally I feel they have simply picked the best case and dial from their mid-sixties sports line-up and added exactly the right details with a heartfelt love for their own horological history rather than their marketing department.
The Presage range used to be focused on pure dress watches like the very successful Cocktail Time range, but in 2020 they gave us a clue to the future with the Sharp Edged series. Vintage and sports watches are what we often crave, but sometimes it’s more about the feeling than the functionality.
The blue-dialled SRPG05J1 has pinpointed a versatile dark navy for its dial and, paired with a thin aluminium bezel, it just seems right. At 40.8mm with a slim 12mm height, the Presage range keeps reducing diameters towards the sub 40mm mark that’s ideal for many people. In this stylish case with narrow, angled lugs they’ve nailed the proportions. It sits smooth on the wrist, on a pared-down, three-link brushed bracelet, offering a clean-cut match for the case design. The case itself is brushed with a slight chamfered edge, and polished sides to dial up the dressiness.
Gilt markings on the slim bezel have a warm sixties feel, with a balance of sports and elegance that frames a charmingly busy dial with cream touches of lume. For many Seiko fans the dial makes the watch, and the Style 60’s doesn’t disappoint. The vintage touch is even more pronounced in the black dial SRPG09J1, with a dark version of the silvery scene from 1964.
The formal twin indices are bevelled and polished to the point of reflecting even a sliver of light to give us a strong family tie to the hand-polished Grand Seiko references, such is the value proposition of this new range. A tidy framed date window might have been more elegant with a matched background, but is sharp in white and looks balanced on the navy blue background.
The black dialled SRPG09J1 has got a colour-matched date black date window, and on a comfortable NATO strap is the more sporty of the two. While my inner strap-a holic can tell just how nice this will look on a wide array of leather and suede, the image on a black NATO whispers “secret agent”, without mentioning three-figure numbers ending with a 7. You’ll need the light and sturdy NATO to keep you agile, should you be required to ditch the suit jacket and make a run for it, or perhaps engage in a bit of parkour.
The style is an amalgamation of well-chosen vintage cues. Even the box crystal with its slightly distorted reflection brings with it a sense of another age, while sharp sword hands and small square lume plots evoke a sense of early sixties savoir faire and make us long for a bygone age.
The reliable 4R35 movement is a sturdy movement with a 41 hour power reserve that’s made in a 100% in-house production. This makes it a perfect, suited up sports watch with a taste of the sixties. What at first might have seemed confusing comes together in a very tempting package and one that I can’t seem to take my eyes off.
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Made in partnership with Seiko. However, the opinions expressed in this article are our own in accordance with our Editorial Policy.