The Seiko Astron is the world’s first GPS solar watch. The Astron switches, at the merest flick of a button, to your time zone and, by sucking all the energy it requires only from light, this GPS watch never has to have a swap of battery. Over time, each of Seiko's GPS Solar calibers has improved to the point that the Astron now comes in Chronograph, Dual-Time, World-Time and Big-Date iterations.
Nowadays, there is a new edition of the Astron with GPS Solar technology that begins with the release of a whole new calibre called the 5X, which provides one of the best and advanced levels of functionality ever seen. The fresh Astron 5X series is the planet’s most diminutive GPS solar watch. At just 42.9 mm in diameter and 12.2 mm thick, this is a true engineering marvel.
Indeed, the first Quartz Astron altered the way in which the globe kept time. It can be said that after 1969, Seiko’s quartz technology has changed the existence of essentially the whole of humanity and the brand goes on to to have a key role in the constantly changing contemporary landscape.
The story of Seiko stretches all the way back to the 19th century. Seiko’s creator, Kintaro Hattori, first began repairing and creating clocks to the people of Yokohama. The brand quickly gained a reputation for the quality of their work, with Seiko becoming one of the key timekeeping brands in Japan over the following decades.
By the end of the 1950’s Seiko had begun to sell watches in the United States as well as other nations in the west. The timepieces were becoming popular in a variety of countries just at the correct time, as brand new conveyor belt technology gave them the possibility of making upwards of 3 million units per annum.
This led to a huge boom in Seiko’s stock yet the company was not finished there. After initial successes with the Quartz clock, Seiko looked to evolve the first ever quartz wristwatch aimed at the masses. Then, it finally came. The Seiko Astron 35SQ was launched in 1969 and the brand predicted that, one day, all wristwatches would be made using the same revolutionary quartz technology. Surely Seiko, however, could not have predicted quite how correct this statement would go on to be.
Seiko’s immense popularity continued to grow across the globe after the launch of the Seiko Astron. Once more, they were selected as official timekeeper for the Olympic Games – in this instance the Winter Olympics of 1972 in Sapporo. Seiko were by now almost exclusively creating quartz watches, launching the inaugural ladies quartz watch in that year too.
Certainly, Seiko’s 1969 release of the Astron began five decades of sheer quality and accuracy, bringing high end timekeeping to the people. With the constant evolution of Seiko’s GPS Solar ability, the new design Astron is slimmer and more ingenious than ever before. As a result the revolution started over half a century ago continues in the same tradition.
