This amazing beast of a watch is something of a milestone, with the three front buttons being an overt nod to Seiko’s first digital watch, and is not so much a sartorial accessory as a tactile experience and conversation piece. At a hefty 131g, this is the heaviest watch here, but wears quite well despite the weight – probably due to its wide and flat profile, and beefy solid-link bracelet adding balance. This imposing slab of alpha-sapphire and DLC SS enclosing a solar-powered, radio-controlled module rocking a 300dpi electrophoretic display is some rather fancy business, from 2010; it’s 3/4 of the way to vintage status at the time of writing. This is not a smartwatch; as a digital watch, let alone one with a high resolution screen, it’s actually rather basic, menus aside – in addition to the solar and radio convenience, there’s a rather nice world time function, a sidelight from two white LEDs, and a somewhat quiet alarm. The three alarms can each be set to either daily or one time, and the radio function keeps a record of the last successful synchronisation. The watch can receive signals broadcast in Japan, Germany, the UK and US, or a phone app can be used to simulate the signal by generating audio calculated to leak the desired radio from the analog signal path.

But this watch is all about that striking e-ink display – there are five ways to show the time (three if you don’t count the negatives of two of them), or six if you include the excellent world time page. The display is getting a little tired, so the menu screens and the negative um, ‘sensible’ time screen don’t look as good as they once did, but all the rest look great. The slow response of the EPD screen means the watch only displays seconds in the time setting mode, and it necessitates a noticeable delay in the UI before a subsequent button press is heeded, which may be vexing at first but becomes tolerable with familiarity. The power cell has just been replaced in this example, and should last until 2035 or more if it’s not left to go flat in a drawer for too long. The lovely bracelet with its milled folding clasp (maximum wrist 17.5cm) continues the theme of the case perfectly, exuding a sense of uncompromised quality. The case, crystal and bracelet are in fabulous condition, with the only obvious blemish being on the caseback. This is a very special watch, and a definite statement piece.

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