This Affordable Seiko Tool Watch Brings Back a Cool Detail from the 1970s

The new watch is a collab with Japanese fashion brand Beams.

a closeup of a seiko x beams watch dial against a black gradient background

Published November 7, 2024

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The relatively young Seiko 5 Sports line has become a fast favorite thanks to its mix of iconic Seiko tool-watch looks and some of the lowest price points in the brand’s current lineup.

The dive watch style especially, with its design inspired by the iconic SKX007 diver, has proven to be a modern classic and a template for innumerable experimental styles.

The latest take on the Seiko 5 Sports comes to us from Japanese style brand Beams, which has taken two vintage-inspired modern Seiko references and given them a stealthy and contemporary makeover.

a black seiko 5 sports beams watch — The translucent dial giving a glimpse of the date wheel is borrowed from a quirky 1970s Seiko.

Seikos of Future Past

Beams’s new Seiko 5 uses two modern Seiko 5 Sports references as its base: references SRPJ45 and SRPJ47. The two watches are both modern interpretations of a Seiko model from the 1970s, the Seiko Time Sonar, which was an early example of a translucent dial on a watch.

Like the 50-year-old original, the SRPJ45 and SRPJ47 feature either a turquoise or burnt orange translucent dial showing the day-date wheel below — including the always-fun Kanji day options.

For Beams’s take on the disco-era style, the fashion brand has taken the SRPJ45/SRPJ47 and blacked it out. The stainless steel case and bracelet both feature a black coating all over, while the steel bezel has adopted a monochrome look rather than the bright two-tone appearance of the SRPJ45/SRPJ47. The bezel also sports a new circular brushed texture for a touch more refinement.

the caseback of a black seiko 5 sports beams watch showing its mechanical movement — Each caseback of the limited-edition model is individually numbered from 1 – 300.

But it’s the dial that’s the real star here, just like on the original Time Sonar. It’s a smoked dark gray plastic disc, and below it, you can see the inner workings of the watch’s day-date wheel, including, of course, the Kanji characters that alternate with the English day names.

Turn the watch around, and you’ll find the Beams logo printed in black in the center of the screw-down caseback’s Hardlex exhibition window. The movement on display, of course, is the rugged Seiko Cal. 4R36 automatic that powers the rest of the Seiko 5 Sports SKX-style line.

Pricing and Availability

With its blacked-out look, circular-brushed bezel and smoky translucent dial showing a plethora of Kanji characters, this might just be the coolest example I’ve seen yet of the Seiko 5 Sports diver. So, naturally, it’s also slated to be one of the rarest.

The watch is intended for the Japanese market and is available to pre-order now exclusively from Beams Japan, where it’s priced at ¥53,900. That converts to around $350, which is in the ballpark of the SRPJ45 and SRPJ47, both of which retail for $335. Unlike those two references, however, the Beams version is a limited edition, with just 300 examples being produced.