In celebration of Seiko’s 140th anniversary, the brand has revived a 1960’s classic; the King Seiko.
The 1960s was a very important decade for Seiko. Never before in the history of the company have they had such a period where so much creativity and achievement was made. The Japanese watchmaker made great advances in both technical and design development, which ultimately laid the foundation for the company’s prestige watch arena.
The very first Grand Seiko watch was created in 1960, followed by the automatic chronograph in 1969. Alongside the Grand Seiko, Seiko was able to manufacture and produce another high caliber timepiece that had high accuracy as well. The timepiece in question was called the King Seiko, and it featured a strong elegant design and high precision movement, hallmarks of Seiko’s high quality of construction.
2021 will mark the 140th anniversary for the company and with it, Seiko wants to re-create the second series of the King Seiko. Created in 1965, this second series was named King Seiko KSK. The King Seiko KSK comes four years after the unveiling of the King Seiko model. The King Seiko KSK model was powered by a manual-winding 25 jewel caliber movement.
The original King Seiko had more rounded contours in the design. The second series King Seiko KSK went away from this and features more sharp lines, angular and flat surfaces along with multi-faceted corners, which give the watch a striking brilliance when catching the light from different angles. The 1965 KSK also had decent water resistance and hacking seconds along with high accuracy, which made the watch very practical and highly sought after in Japan’s watch community.
Seiko’s recreation of the original 1965 King Seiko KSK is faithful in design, with the watch getting modern updates from technology, function, and form. The new timepiece retains the slim profile from the original while only being 0.5mm thicker in size compared to the original. This thickness is due to the new movement. The movement behind the King Seiko KSK SJE083 is the slimline automatic caliber 6L35. The caliber 6L35 beats at 28,800 Vph (4hz) and can give out a power reserve of approximately 45 hours.
The latest King Seiko KSK SJE083 comes with a 38.1mm case size. The case also has a super-hard coating on it which protects it against scratches and enhances durability. Bringing the original KSK back to life in detail, the KSK SJE083 features the flat dial with faceted hour indexes along with the broad sharp hour and minute hands. As per the original model, the new watch features the 12 o’clock hour index having a bright sparkle. The “KING SEIKO Diashock 2 jewels” inscription is retained as well at the 6 o’clock position.
Keeping on the theme of detail, the sharp, bold faceted lugs have large flat planes and razor-sharp angles. It is then Zaratsu polished to a distortion-free mirror finish. The case back of the timepiece also comes with the same emblem of King Seiko with the shield design as the original model did.
The timepiece comes with a black crocodile strap to give off a nice monochrome finish to the watch. The King Seiko KSK re-creation will be available for purchase from January 2021. The model is limited to 3000 pieces and will only be sold at Seiko boutiques and at few selected retail partners worldwide.
