Seiko have released a whole slate of watches across their dress and sports collections aimed at women. The gendering of watches is always a contentious subject and while some of these designs are unisex, the majority are intentionally feminine with diamond indexes and petite sizing. Diamond-Set editions of the Presage Cocktail Time are joined by the Presage Zen Garden series, and Prospex Ladies’ Marine Sports
Presage Diamond-Set Cocktail Time
The cocktail time is arguably the entry-level watch from an entry-level watch brand due to its accessibility (prices for this set starting from £500), variety of styles and quirky inspiration. What I mean by that is each model is based on a popular (or sometimes obscure) cocktail like a mojito or beer julep. For the Diamond-Set Cocktail Time series, those cocktails are Hot Buttered Rum, Eggnog and Jamaican Coffee.
As the title of the series indicates, all three of these watches feature diamond hour markers in the cardinal positions. In addition to the diamonds, these watches are particularly small at just 30mm in diameter, leaning into the traditional jewellery watch angle that has long been popular in women’s design. They’re powered by 2R05 automatic with a 40-hour power reserve.
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Presage Zen Garden Kyoto Series
As the biggest of today’s releases, the Seiko Presage Zen Garden Kyoto series is also the most unisex and isn’t being marketed towards a specific gender unlike the other two, measuring 41.8mm in diameter. There are three versions, the Kyoto Cherry Blossom, Kyoto Autumn Leaves and Kyoto Golden Age, which are pink, brown and gold respectively. They each feature a textured dial in the pattern of raked sand like a traditional Karesansui dry zen garden. Alongside is an open heart aperture revealing the balance wheel at 9 o’clock below a 24-hour subdial.
The movement you get a glimpse of is the 4R39, which is an automatic calibre with a 41-hour power reserve. The addition of a 24-hour function on a non-dual time zone watch is always amusing to me because it’s essentially redundant – repeating the time of the main display and serving essentially a glorified day/night indicator.
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Prospex Ladies’ Marine Sport
The Prospex Ladies’ Marine Sport range has been expanded with a series of 34mm cased models in steel with 200m water resistance. The Ladies’ Marine Sport has been around for a while but it’s previously been much more sport than marine. That’s been changed here with a case and sectional bezel reminds me somewhat of the Tag Heuer Aquaracer. It even has a pronounced grip around the edge of the bezel although it’s a static design sans dive timer bezel. The dial is also much more diver-esque with oversize, circle and bathtub hour markers.
It’s catering to the demographic of women who are perhaps not as quite adventurous enough for a fully-fledged dive watch while still appreciating the style. It’s subtly different to the ‘desk diver’ concept though as it sort of softens and downsizes the dive aesthetic rather than being a precious metal version. The Marine Sport has an extra layer of femininity that’s emphasised by the addition of diamonds on three of the references known as Dune & Dawn, Nautical Navy and Mother-of-Pearl. The other, non-diamond versions are the Silvery Sands and Shell Pink.
Frankly I think Seiko have missed a trick by not just launching this as a standard Prospex sport collection with a 38mm version as well. Not only would that open it to a wider audience it would also sidestep the minefield of the gender discourse. Basically, what I’m saying is I think the Silvery Sands version is really cool and if it wasn’t so small, I’d wear one in an instant.
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More details at Seiko.
