Seiko Prospex SpeedTimer Solar Chronograph SSC995

Russell Sheldrake

The World Athletics Championships will be held in Tokyo from September 13th to 21st, bringing the world’s best athletes to Japan’s capital. To mark this opportunity, Seiko has released a limited edition of the SpeedTimer Solar Chronograph, featuring a soft lilac dial to match the game’s official colors. Let’s take a closer look at this watch. This watch is designed to take on both athletics and field events.

Dial

The official colour of the World Athletics Championships is the rich colour that leads to Tokyo’s historic name Edo, and is a rich colour chosen by people around the world for their elegance and fame that has long been associated with the shade of purple. In the game’s organized body language, the traditional color “Edo Purple” derived from “the old name of Tokyo” symbolizes “Tokyo” and “the unique championship of Tokyo.” And, although Seiko has previously seen using a rich purple colour on the dial, they wanted a softer lilac tone that feels more inspirational and directed from Edo Purple.

The rest of this dial is as expected from this retro-inspired line, with the triple register 3-6-9 subdial panda configuration being dark and almost black tone. Within these registers, solar energy is captured and powers this watch. The rest of the dial furniture is finished in black with the Seiko and Prospex “X” logos, with hand and facet time markers mounted in the center. The hands, cardiac hour time markers, and subdials are all covered in Lumibrite to aid in vision during late night races and training sessions. All this is put together on a dial that creates a comfortable contrast that supports your vision without distracting from the special colors used.

case

Within the Prospex Speedtimer family there are two case sizes, the slightly smaller 39mm version, which is a good move for the Japanese market, which always prefers smaller sized watches. This limited edition has not changed much compared to standard production. It has a black coated stainless steel cutimeter bezel, with an angle engraved, allowing further separation of the engraved numbers and markers.

There are circular particles above the lug and case, and the case band and underside of the lug are very refined. When you flip the watch you will find a closed caseback in a special engraving that not only has the game logo but also the limited edition number of the watch you own. This individual numbering is something we’re used to seeing only on watches with far shorter runs, so it’s a great feature of a watch with such a limited run. The back is screwed and the well-designed crown and pusher gives this watch 100m water resistance.

Movement

This watch features the solar-powered V192 movement. This chronograph caliber is a cable that holds a full charge of six months of power, and as mentioned above, this charging is obtained through three sub-dials. What’s interesting about this movement is that it does not perform “standard” chronograph functions. As you can imagine, the chronograph seconds are provided as a 9 o’clock register as a running seconds, a counter for 6:60 minutes, E and F markings on the power reserve, and 24 hours (AM/PM) indicator at 3 o’clock. Its final feature is certainly useful for athletes who travel long distances into the game, with a little lack of time zone changes and not knowing whether it’s morning or evening. But unfortunately it doesn’t work as a second timezone indicator.

This movement is accurate within ±15 seconds per day, and if you leave it in the dark for long enough, the hand of seconds will start jumping at 2-second intervals, warning that the power is low. It can be charged with natural and artificial light, so if you need to give a quick boost while you stay inside, there’s no need to worry.

bracelet

The watch is located on the outside, brushed to match the case finishing touches three link steel bracelets with highly polished central links. The end links fit well with the case, and each link is completely clear, so they drape nicely over the wrist. The clasp is three times more structured with easy-to-use push buttons. This means you can’t take this off just before you start the race. There was something tweaked here, but considering this price range, if you already pack many other features here, it would always be a compromise.

verdict

It’s always a good thing to have an individually numbered limited edition with a cost of less than 1,000 euros. And because the run is so big, minimizing non-watch branding here means you open yourself up to a much larger market, you don’t just appeal to people who love the World Athletics Championships. And given the soft lilac tone of this dial and the well-thought-out proportion, I can see this being snapped by many different people. This is an incredibly thought out watch that checks out a lot of boxes for me, and it certainly feels like a worthy companion for upcoming games.