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Seiko marks 145 years with six Edo-purple watches, from an Alpinist to a digital

Six watches in one Edo purple, from an Alpinist to a digital, priced from 450 to 3,000 euros and arriving in October.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 2 min read · 7 August 2026

The six Seiko 145th anniversary Edo Purple limited editions — Image: Seiko Watch Corporation

An anniversary at a brand this size usually means one watch, made in numbers small enough that nobody reading about it will ever handle one. Seiko has gone the other way for its 145th. One colour, an Edo purple named for the era that shaped Tokyo between 1603 and 1868, run across six watches on three different power sources. The cheapest is 450 euros, the dearest is 3,000, and they all arrive in October.

I have never once wanted a purple watch. Worth admitting up front, because I got to the bottom of the press images having quietly picked one out.

Seiko Prospex Alpinist HBC006 with a purple dial — Prospex Alpinist HBC006. Image: Seiko Watch Corporation

The Alpinist is the one to buy

The Prospex Alpinist HBC006 runs the automatic 6R55 in a 39.5mm case, 12.7mm thick (that thickness figure comes via Monochrome), good for 20 bar and a 72-hour power reserve. Seiko is making 7,000 of them at 980 euros.

The 6R55 is a proper movement, 980 euros is barely a bump on a standard Alpinist, and 39.5mm is the size an Alpinist should have been from the start, an opinion I have shared with several people who did not ask for it. Buy this one.

Seiko Astron GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph HAB011 — Astron GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph HAB011. Image: Seiko Watch Corporation

Seiko Prospex Speedtimer Solar Chronograph HBJ005 — Prospex Speedtimer Solar Chronograph HBJ005. Image: Seiko Watch Corporation

A Speedtimer, a Cocktail Time and a 450-euro SKX

The Prospex Speedtimer Solar Chronograph HBJ005 uses the solar V192, measures 41.4mm and takes 10 bar. 8,000 pieces at 790 euros.

The Presage Cocktail Time HCB006 is 40.5mm on the automatic 4R34, 5 bar, with a 41-hour reserve and a GMT hand. 6,000 pieces at 620 euros. Its dial is named after a cocktail, the Edo Murasaki, per Monochrome.

The Seiko 5 Sports SKX HDB003 is 42.5mm on the automatic 4R36, 10 bar, 9,999 pieces at 450 euros. Nearly ten thousand of them, so nobody has to panic-buy.

Seiko Presage Cocktail Time HCB006 — Presage Cocktail Time HCB006. Image: Seiko Watch Corporation

Three thousand euros for the Astron

The Astron GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph HAB011 is 43.3mm on calibre 5X83, 10 bar, 2,000 pieces at 3,000 euros. It is the rarest of the six and the one that interests me least. GPS timekeeping has aged badly and mechanical watchmaking has not, and three grand buys you a lot more elsewhere in this set.

Seiko 5 Sports SKX HDB003. Image: Seiko Watch Corporation

A digital watch, in an anniversary line

The Seiko Selection HFL001 is a 37mm digital on the A824 quartz, 10 bar, 4,000 pieces at 670 euros. It is the strangest thing in the box and the reason the set is worth talking about at all. Hardly any brand puts a digital watch in an anniversary line.

Seiko Selection digital HFL001 — Seiko Selection HFL001. Image: Seiko Watch Corporation

2,000 Astrons against 9,999 5 Sports

The run sizes say what Seiko expects to sell. Two thousand Astrons against 9,999 5 Sports is a five-fold gap: the Astron is the halo, the 5 Sports is the volume.

Only two of the six are ordinary automatics. The Alpinist and the Cocktail Time are mechanical, the Speedtimer is solar, the Astron is GPS solar, the Selection is plain quartz. Anniversary sets usually hide behind mechanical watchmaking, because that is where the prestige sits. Seiko has put its quartz and solar work on the same shelf and priced it accordingly, with the 790-euro solar Speedtimer sitting between the two mechanicals.

What stops the whole thing being a lazy recolour is the restraint. No new calibres, no complications bolted on to justify a markup. One idea, six times, at prices a normal person can actually reach. Australian pricing was not out when we filed, so the euro figures above are what Seiko gave us. All six reach Seiko Boutiques and selected retailers worldwide in October.