The Seiko Astron: an ongoing history of innovation and evolution

The Quartz Astron was the world’s first commercial quartz wristwatch, a revolutionary development in timekeeping that offered convenience and accessibility with an accuracy far beyond that of any mechanical watch. In 2012, more than 40 years after the initial release of that ground-breaking model, Seiko released the world’s first GPS Solar watch, a stylish update on the original that showed the accurate local time, constantly updated, anywhere in the world.

The Seiko Astron is a byword for innovation in the world of watches. In 2022, the brand enters a new phase. In addition to its outstanding practicality, the latest release tweaks the design to create a more contemporary aesthetic. An enduring classic continues to open a new future for watches. 

Photographs by Yu Mitamura
Text by Yuzo Takeishi

The Seiko Astron: The watch that made accurate time-keeping available to everyone.

The Seiko Astron is one of Seiko’s flagship brands and since its release in 2012 the watch has continued to garner support for its outstanding practicality. The watch was hailed on its release as marking “the second Astron revolution. ” An original classic stands behind all the watches that today bear the “Astron” name: the Quartz Astron 35SQ, released on December 25, 1969.

In the 1960s, Seiko was aiming to develop a watch that would be more accurate than conventional mechanical watches. The focus of their research was the quartz crystal unit. By using this in the heart of a watch, it was possible to achieve approximately 100 times more accuracy than with a conventional mechanical movement. But the crystal quartz clocks manufactured by Seiko for broadcasting companies at the time could be as big as a large locker. Certainly they were not something that could be comfortably worn on the wrist.

But Seiko saw that quartz-based watches would become the mainstream technology of the next generation and took the decision to launch a quartz wristwatch development project within Suwa Seikosha (now Seiko Epson). Seiko developed a marine chronometer for an observatory chronometer competition in Switzerland and in 1964 incorporated this technology into watches that were used for time-keeping at international sports events. The company also put a desktop quartz clock on the market. Following these developments, the company succeeded in completing the first quartz wristwatch anywhere in the world, which was released as the Quartz Astron 35SQ.

The release of the watch came roughly a decade after the project started in 1959. Miniaturizing a large crystal quartz clock for use in a wristwatch was a major challenge. The fact that Seiko achieved this mission with such aplomb was due in large measure to the way in which the company had remained loyal to the philosophy of the company’s founder, Kintaro Hattori whose motto “Always one step ahead of the rest” had established itself deep in the company’s culture.

2012: The birth of the world’s first GPS Solar Watch

The quartz watch was a revolutionary watch that delivered convenient and extremely accurate timekeeping to everyone. But Seiko’s quest for accuracy did not end there. One major innovation in the 2000s, 30 years after the birth of the Quartz Astron, was the emergence of the radio clock, which corrected its time automatically by picking up standard radio waves broadcasting the official standard time. These clocks, which worked by using the standard waves based on atomic clocks, offered excellent accuracy. But there were only five countries in the world that had time signal stations broadcasting standard time radio waves. This meant that it was impossible to obtain the accurate time in places not reached by the radio waves. Seiko’s idea was to resolve this problem by catching the wave signals transmitted by GPS satellites.

Seiko Epson was responsible for producing the GPS signal antenna and circuits. Of course, it was essential to miniaturize these components before they could be incorporated inside a watch. And because it took 100 to 300 times more power to pick up GPS signals compared to standard time radio waves, improvements to power-saving capabilities were also essential. The new watch therefore had to clear the same kinds of difficult technical hurdles as the Quartz Astron. These challenges were eventually overcome and the Seiko Astron was released in 2012.

The first-generation 7X series had somewhat bulky proportions, with a diameter of 47mm, but the 8X series, released in 2014, managed to reduce this by approximately 30%. In the 5X Series, released in 2018, along with the downsizing of the caliber, the overall size was reduced to almost the same as that of a standard watch and the speed of the signal receiver was increased to reduce the time needed to pick up a GPS signal to as little as 3 seconds. The miniaturization process was taken even further by the 3X series in 2019, which reduced the case to the same compact size as a “regular” watch by further miniaturization of the antenna. With the release of this iteration, the impact of the “GPS Solar” elements of the watch were reduced to practically zero, both in terms of the appearance of the watch and its dimensions.

The GPS Seiko Astron truly deserves to be called Seiko’s second revolution. Following on from the original Quartz Astron, which made accurate time available for everyone, the GPS Astron made super-high accuracy part of daily life for everyone. The watch was a fitting addition to the historic lineup of watches that have worn the Astron name. Having overcome a series of difficult challenges on its road to completion, the watch certainly lives up to the company’s motto of remaining always “one step ahead of the rest.”

A new design for Astron’s second decade.

The meaning behind the new design series concept

Shungo Higuma (left) who worked on product planning, and Kento Ito (right) of the design department. Based on design sketches drawn by Ito, the team used 3D printers and prototypes to gradually refine the design. In the prototype stage in particular, the team worked on many different color schemes, gradually narrowing down the colors that best matched the concept behind the design.

An update for the next generation

As Ito of the Design Department explains: “We ran through a repeated series of detailed checks. One challenge we faced was that the same finish that was effective in the 8X series didn’t bring out the same sense of strength in the new design. In fact, we found that we could get the impact we were looking for by paring back a lot of the elements we used in the 8X.” In the initial stages, there was some thought given to using a high proportion of hairline finish surfaces to enhance the solidity of the watch, but the team found that eliminating the polished surfaces robbed the watch of much of its glamor and visual appeal. The team opted to reduce the polished surfaces to emphasize a sense of solidity, and the case and bracelet were designed to look like a single unit to take better advantage of the wide surfaces of the lugs.

The result was the new design series which despite its close connections to the 5X Series represents a totally new expression of the series. The design of the watch lives up to its name, providing a renovated look for the series suitable for the next generation of the Seiko Astron.

Astron forges a brighter future for those who wear it.

The new design series also incorporates a new touch that has not been seen in previous Seiko Astron watches: an eye-catching blue-gray dial.

“With previous models of the Seiko Astron, we chose a highly saturated full blue. But we are starting to see the beginnings of a trend toward more understated and grayish colors. We chose this color to create a version of the Seiko Astron that would convey an impression of elegance and sophistication suitable to the times,” says Shungo Higuma of the company’s Product Planning Department.

A repeated process of trial and error was required before the team arrived at the perfectly nuanced color. A simple blue gray by itself gave a blurred, unfocused impression to the watch face. To avoid this, the color scheme not only for the dial, but also for adjacent elements such as the subdials, indexes, and the sapphire ring around the circumference of the face, went through numerous adjustments until the final color was decided.

The new design series achieves an impressive harmony between the progressive spirit of the Seiko Astron and the trends of the times. It embodies a design that perfectly matches today’s lifestyles, marked by a seamless blending of work and leisure contexts, while the solar-charged battery aligns with the contemporary focus on sustainability and the SDGs. With the new design series, the Seiko Astron is forging ahead and opening a brighter, more prosperous future for those who wear it.