These May Be the Most Impressive Seiko Watch Dials I’ve Ever Seen

Seiko’s beautiful new King Seiko references seem to reignite an old rivalry.

seiko watch on the wrist of a man wearing a sweater

Published September 10, 2024

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Seiko continues to blur the lines between its brands.

Back in 2017, Seiko spun off Grand Seiko as its own separate brand (with its own separate branding). The move was intended to allow Grand Seiko to move upmarket and compete with other luxury brands, free from the association with a brand (Seiko) that at the time also sold some watches for around a hundred bucks.

But in the years since, Seiko itself has also moved upmarket, and sometimes the brand blurs the line between its own offerings and those of the higher-end Grand Seiko. (One example would be the Seiko SNR051, a Spring Drive-powered titanium sports GMT sold under Seiko’s Prospex line that retails for a whopping $5,500.)

The latest of these high-end, line-blurring watches from Seiko come from its King Seiko line, and they might just reignite the old rivalry between King Seiko and Grand Seiko.

Seiko King Seiko SJE107

$3,300 at Seiko

Fit for a King

King Seiko’s origins go back to the early 1960s when Seiko was in hot competition with the Swiss to craft the world’s most accurate watches — which in the pre-quartz days amounted to the ultimate bragging rights for a watch brand.

The first Grand Seiko watch debuted in 1960 and was produced at Seiko’s Suwa Seikosha factory with the express purpose of making a better, more accurate watch than anything Switzerland was producing. But that wasn’t enough for Seiko. To keep Grand Seiko’s workers on their toes, Seiko launched King Seiko a year later.

vintage seiko watch — The original King Seiko watches of the 1960s were created to provide friendly competition to Grand Seiko.

Produced in Seiko’s other factory, Daini Seikosha, King Seiko quickly became an intra-company rival to Grand Seiko, with the two competing high-end Seiko brands constantly trying to one-up one another.

In the end, Grand Seiko emerged victorious and grew to become the iconic luxury brand we know today. King Seiko disappeared in 1975 until Seiko resurrected the line in 2022 as a premium subbrand within Seiko.

Up to this point, modern King Seiko’s watches haven’t really been all that comparable to those made by Grand Seiko. The movements are several grades below what you’ll find in a Grand Seiko, for one, and the finishing also isn’t quite up to snuff.

But Seiko’s latest King Seiko models are starting to close that gap.

king seiko watch on a mans wrist — King Seiko’s latest models are perhaps its most luxurious yet.

Grand New Dials

Seiko has debuted three new references in its King Seiko KSK line with beautifully textured nature-inspired dials similar to the ones Grand Seiko has become known for.

The three new watches — references SJE103, SJE105 and SJE107 — all feature dials boasting traditional Japanese patterns and dégradé colors inspired by the old Daini factory’s home of Kameido, Tokyo, where the original King Seiko watches were produced in the 1960s.

SJE103 features a dark red dial paired with a plum blossom pattern, which is reminiscent of the area at the beginning of spring when the plum trees are in bloom.

SJE105 is executed in a deep blue color meant to evoke the Sumida River that flows through the district, and it features a turtle shell pattern in reference to Kameido’s nickname of “Turtle Island.”

Finally, SJE107 has an intricate wisteria flower pattern in a light purple color, a nod to the flower’s prominence in the region. Kameido hosts an annual Wisteria Festival and the area is considered the best place in Tokyo to see the flowers bloom.

Additionally, all three dials take stylistic inspiration from ukiyo-e, the centuries-old Japanese art form of woodblock prints and paintings, and feature delicate three-dimensional textures.

three seiko watches superimposed over some leaves — From left, King Seiko references SJE103, SJE105 and SJE107.

Pricing and Availability

Outside of the extravagant new dials, these are the exact same King Seiko KSK models as before. Same size, same movement, same bracelet — you get the idea.

They even have the same retail price of 3,400 euros, and although the new watches haven’t been announced for the U.S. market yet, I assume they’ll go for the same $3,330 SRP as the sterile silver- and black-dial KSKs when they are.

Considering how much more detail is packed into these dials — honestly, they’re some of the best Seiko (read: not Grand Seiko) dials I’ve ever seen — I think you’d have to consider these new King Seikos a bargain … even if you think the standard KSK is overpriced.