Ever since it released its first diver’s watch in 1965, Seiko has created many watches that have found favor among sportsmen including professional divers to explorers. Among these many creations, the 1968 Seiko Professional Diver’s watch struck a special chord with successive generations of sports watch enthusiasts, thanks to its robust design and high functionality.
Today, the spirit of this classic sports watch is expressed anew in a line of watches for sport on land, in the sea and in the sky. The line’s name, LX, hints at the Latin word for light and is a subtle nod to the way that light is reflected in the broad, flat surfaces of each case.
The design of the Prospex LX line strikes an unusual balance. On the one hand, it is true to its heritage and its overall appearance reveals its strong link with the 1968 professional Diver’s. On the other, it is thoroughly modern in its execution. The center of gravity of the case is lower so that the watch sits comfortably on any wrist. The upper side of the case is set at a more pronounced angle to allow the Zaratsu-polished surfaces to shine more brightly.
Most of all, the contemporary feel of the LX line is revealed in the use of Seiko’s advanced 5R Spring Drive caliber, which offers one-second a day precision alongside high levels of shock and temperature resistance. With these attributes, 5R is the perfect caliber for use in all types of sporting and adventure environment; it has been worn successfully both in space, when it travelled to the International Space Station and was worn on a space walk and at the top of the world, when Yuichiro Miura wore a Spring Drive watch on his third successful ascent of Mount Everest.
The LX line was developed in collaboration with Ken Okuyama Design. With his international experience in the design of automobiles and other high-profile products, Ken Okuyama brings his own special creativity to Prospex LX. At the Baselworld launch, he said ‘’My aim was to take the unique inheritance and integrity that Seiko has built in sports watches over the decades and to bring them alive in a design that has simplicity, harmony, power and presence. The Prospex LX is a true Seiko with a thoroughly contemporary feel.’’
All watches in this first collection have the robustness, legibility and reliability that every sport or adventure demands but different functions have been incorporated for three specific activities. The land version has a GMT hand and a compass bezel for direction finding. The sky version also has a GMT hand and a bi-directional bezel for showing time in a third time zone and the sea version has a uni-directional bezel to indicate the length of diving.
