Seiko Builds A Watch for Space

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 7th 2008 at 9:02AM

The Seiko watch company has a compelling story behind their latest watch the Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk launched at Baselworld. The watch has been engineered to withstand the extreme environment of outer space and will be worn on the wrist of Richard Garriott, the sixth private-citizen space explorer, when he takes his trip this fall. Garriott, a video game designer and the son of a NASA astronaut, will pay $45 million for his trip and plant to viisit the International Space Station and become the first private citizen to do a space walk outside of it. He will be wearing the Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk outside of his spacesuit and so the watch has to be able to survive zero gravity and an environment where temperatures can get as low as negative 22 degrees Celsius. Battery-powered watches aren't viable for space and the spring drive was chosen over a mechanical watch for safety and accuracy. The watch was designed to be light and recesses on the sides of the case save weight. It also has a dial with a Lumibrite treatment for readability. The case is air tight and made of high-intensity titanium. The watch is a limited edition of 100, three will go with Garriott on his October adventure and the other 97 will be available in December and will retail for $25,000.

Gallery: Seiko Spacewalk

Tags: baselworld, richard garriott, RichardGarriott, seiko, spacewalk, watch

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

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Andrew Apr 7th 2008 12:53PM

It's a really nice watch, but in all honesty, who's gonna buy a seiko for 25 grand? if i'm gonna spend 25 grand i'd rather buy a Rolex, Cartier, or another more prestigious brand. not saying i don't love the watch and how cool it is, i'd just rather not spend all that money on a brand i can get at Macy's for under 500 bucks.

Deidre Woollard Apr 7th 2008 4:39PM

I was thinking that too Andrew. It's such a cool watch in terms of what it is made to do but anyone who saw it on your wrist would think, oh look, a cheap Seiko, unless they knew what exactly it was.