Introduction
Some watchmakers speak to the past.
Seiko, at its most dangerous, speaks to the future.
For its 145th anniversary, Seiko has unveiled a new Astron GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph, led by the limited-edition HAB004 and joined by three regular-production models: HAB001, HAB002 and HAB003. These watches do not ask to be wound by candlelight or admired through a loupe like some ancient mechanical relic. They look upward. They draw power from light. They listen to satellites. They correct themselves across the invisible map of the world.
It is a very Seiko idea.
Photo source: © West News
Practical, ambitious, technical, and quietly defiant.
Yours truly...
From Ginza to the Satellites
The story begins in 1881, when Kintaro Hattori opened his shop, K. Hattori, in Tokyo’s Ginza district. From that beginning came one of the most important watchmaking names in the world.
Seiko’s guiding philosophy, “Always one step ahead of the rest,” is not empty decoration. The brand produced Japan’s first wristwatch in 1913, Japan’s first chronograph wristwatch in 1964, Japan’s first diver’s watch in 1965, and the world’s first quartz wristwatch, the Quartz Astron, in 1969.
That last point matters deeply here.
The Astron name is not merely another collection label. It is tied to one of the greatest disruptions in watchmaking history. In 1969, the Quartz Astron changed the rules of timekeeping. Decades later, in 2012, Seiko carried that name into another technological frontier with the Astron GPS Solar, a watch able to connect to GPS satellites, adjust to time zones, and power itself from light.
Now, for the 145th anniversary, Seiko returns to Astron again.
Not as nostalgia.
As continuation.
The New Caliber 5X63
At the heart of these new models is Caliber 5X63, a GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph movement.
It offers GPS-controlled time and time-zone adjustment, dual-time display with 24-hour indication, world time across 38 time zones, automatic daylight saving time adjustment, high-speed time-zone adjustment, signal reception result indication, power save function and a perpetual calendar correct to the year 2100.
The chronograph measures up to 24 hours and operates in 1/20th-second increments, with a 1/20th-second counter at nine o’clock and a 24-hour counter at six o’clock during chronograph operation.
This is not the romance of a balance wheel breathing in the dark.
It is another kind of magic.
Older men used stars to cross oceans. Seiko uses satellites to tame the wristwatch. The principle is strangely similar: look upward, understand your place, and move through the world with greater certainty.
After five centuries of watching travellers lose themselves under every sky imaginable, I find that rather beautiful.
The Anniversary Model: HAB004
The leading piece is the Seiko 145th Anniversary Astron GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph Limited Edition HAB004, limited to 2,000 pieces.
Its design uses blue accents inspired by Seiko Blue, a colour the company connects to its pioneering spirit and to the breakthroughs of the 1960s. The watch features a radiant light-silver main dial, with blue accents on the seconds track and sub-dials. The horizontal arrangement of the sub-dials gives the face symmetry and stability, while the dial’s geometric pattern of interlocking triangles adds a technical, architectural texture.
This is a modern dial, not a vintage imitation.
It has the feeling of glass towers, airport lounges, night flights and cities seen from above. The blue and silver combination gives it clarity, but also a certain cold elegance. It is not warm in the way a vintage Seiko diver is warm. It is precise. Almost orbital.
The HAB004 also comes with an exclusive blue-and-white silicone strap, echoing the dial design. This is supplied alongside the titanium bracelet, allowing the owner to shift the watch from polished travel instrument to more casual active companion.
Titanium, Comfort and the New Construction
The new Astron models use a titanium case, measuring 43.4 mm in diameter and 12.4 mm thick. On paper, 43.4 mm sounds large, but titanium changes the story. Its lightness makes a watch of this size far easier to live with, especially for a travel watch intended to move across time zones, airports, climates and long days.
Seiko has also introduced a two-piece octagonal titanium bezel, designed to lower the centre of gravity and improve comfort. The brushed top surfaces and polished sides give the case more visual contrast, allowing the watch to appear both technical and refined.
There is also a quick-change system for straps. A strap can be removed with the push of a button, and another can be pressed securely into place. This matters because the modern traveller rarely lives one kind of day. A single watch may need to survive a flight, a meeting, a walk through rain, a train station, a dinner, and a long silent hour in a hotel room where the city outside has no memory of your name.
A versatile watch is not merely convenient.
It is merciful.
Three More Models Join the Collection
Alongside the limited-edition HAB004, Seiko introduces three regular-production Astron GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph models.
The HAB001 comes with a blue-gray dial.
The HAB002 comes with a black dial.
The HAB003 also uses a black dial, but adds a gold-coloured inner bezel ring, indexes and hands, paired with a black silicone strap.
These give the collection different temperaments. The blue-gray version feels calm and contemporary. The black version is the most restrained. The black-and-gold HAB003 adds a more dramatic edge, perhaps for those who prefer their technology with a little ceremony.
White and black quick-change silicone straps will also be available separately, compatible with the latest GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph models.
Not Mechanical, Yet Still Romantic
Some collectors will dismiss a watch like this because it is not mechanical.
I understand the instinct, but I do not share the blindness.
Mechanical watchmaking is poetry written in springs, wheels and friction. But electronic watchmaking can also be poetry, if one knows where to look. The Astron does not imitate the old world. It belongs to the world mankind actually built: satellites, solar energy, titanium, global travel, automatic correction, invisible signals crossing the heavens.
There is romance in that too.
Not the romance of a candlelit study.
The romance of a red-eye flight.
The romance of crossing the International Date Line.
The romance of landing in a foreign city and seeing the hands move themselves into obedience.
Mortals have always dreamed of mastering time. The mechanical watch made that dream intimate. The Astron makes it planetary.
Price and Availability
The four new watches will be available from June 2026 at Seiko Boutiques and selected retail partners worldwide.
The recommended European retail prices are €2,800 for HAB001 and HAB002, €2,700 for HAB003, and €3,000 for the limited-edition HAB004. The anniversary edition is limited to 2,000 pieces.
The Vampirsky Verdict
The Seiko 145th Anniversary Astron GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph is not a watch for those seeking old-world softness.
It is sharper than that.
It is a watch for movement, distance, precision and modern life. Its titanium construction gives it practicality. Its GPS Solar Caliber 5X63 gives it intelligence. Its dual-time and chronograph functions give it purpose. Its Seiko Blue anniversary accents give it identity.
This is not a watch that wants to pretend the twentieth century never happened.
It remembers 1969.
It remembers the Quartz Astron.
It remembers that Seiko helped change timekeeping forever.
And it carries that memory into a new form.
After five centuries, I have seen men fear the future as often as they worship the past. Both mistakes are common. The wise collector understands that time has many languages. Sometimes it ticks. Sometimes it sweeps. Sometimes it hums silently beneath a solar cell and listens to machines circling the Earth.
The Astron is not ancient.
But it is descended from a revolution.
And revolutions, when they survive long enough, become heritage.
