Rocking horse rare

The price is 4,300. Seiko Steve paid £5,100. Steve showed me his email to Seiko asking how many were allocated to the UK, and only 15 came. Fifteen. You literally can't find one for sale anywhere. He paid way over the odds, but it was definitely worth it, and he wouldn't lose any money if he sold it, which he definitely won't be doing.

The beast

New 8L45 movement, automatic with hand winding, tolerances tightened to minus 5 to plus 10 a day, 72-hour power reserve, which they like to remind you of on the dial. Not necessary, really. 35 jewels, four hertz, hacking, date at 3:00. Titanium case and bracelet, all of it, and it's a beast: 45.4 mm wide, 16 mm thick, 50.4 lug to lug, 22 mm lugs tapering to 18 at the clasp.

With all links in it weighs about 174 g, where a steel Marinemaster would be nearly 200. And the finishing: they've got titanium to such a high lustre, and it's normally a very dull material. The transition work is incredible. Quite mental.

Bezel, dial, pinion, bracelet

The bezel action is probably the best I have ever experienced on a Seiko. Stainless steel insert with DLC, not ceramic, no lume on the markers, just a beautifully shrouded pip. I'm a purist, I normally like a plain dial, but this gradient abyssal blue with the wave patterns fading darker towards the edge under thick lacquer is stunning.

Then the seconds hand has a capped pinion. You don't get that on an SLA Marinemaster. This is sort of Grand Seiko territory. A small detail, but one that Geth has noticed. Expertly done by Seiko. It's just unreal. And the bracelet is, for once, as it should be for this price: rounded links, a three-piece that's actually five link thanks to the high polished shoulders on the centre link, and light because it's titanium. Fantastic.

What even is a Marinemaster?

It references the 6159, which was released in 1968, not the 62MAS from 1965. For me a Marinemaster is defined by the monoblock case. The new ones don't have that, but Seiko can define them however they bloody like because they make them. It also has a strange bezel locking system, a black DLC piece that holds the bezel on. Not too sure about it.

Verdict

It's a shame it's a limited edition, but 600 really is limited, not your usual Seiko limited. I'd imagine something based on this comes out as a non-limited run, since the SLA Marinemasters are all discontinued and they haven't replaced those monoblock cases yet. Thank you, Seiko Steve, you absolute legend. It's just a high quality piece. Absolutely unreal. It is for the beach. Never give up, bros.