Seiko Prospex wins the Sports Watch Prize

Seiko Prospex wins the Sports Watch Prize at the 2018 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.

The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève is the industry’s most coveted honor and the annual award ceremony is widely seen as the watch industry’s “Oscars”. On November 9, the 2018 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève award ceremony took place at the Théatre du Léman in Geneva. There were twelve prizes for specific categories and five other prizes were also awarded for a range of other horological achievements. From a short list of six in the sports category, the jury of 29 watch and luxury experts selected the Seiko Prospex 1968 Diver’s Re-creation as the best sports watch of the year.

The 1968 Automatic Diver’s Re-creation Limited Edition

In 1968, just three years after Seiko’s first diver’s watch was made, Seiko’s engineers raised the bar with a hi-beat diver’s watch with 300 meter water resistance that was one of the foundation stones on which Seiko’s future diver’s watch development was based. It had a 10-beat high precision automatic caliber, a one-piece structure, screw-down protection crown and unidirectional rotating bezel.

The 1968 original was for air diving while this new re-creation is specified for saturation diving. Like the original, it features a one piece case construction and a flat case back. It incorporates Caliber 8L55 which was specially designed for diver’s use and is made by Seiko’s skilled craftsmen and women in the Shizukuishi Watch Studio in Morioka in the north of Japan. Every detail is of the highest quality; Zaratsu polishing gives the lug sharpness and beauty, a dual curved sapphire crystal ensures high legibility and the strap is made of the latest high strength silicone. The markers have polished edges and those at 12, 6 and 9 are also different in design to ensure that time is read without error even 300 meters down.

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