The Seiko Ignition Takuma Sato is an unusual watch in several respects. First, Seiko is not very well known for their solar watches. Kinetic, Spring Drive, and even automatic, yes, but you don’t find a lot of solar powered Seikos out there. And you find even fewer atomic Seikos. Seiko is well known for their extremely accurate quartz movements which almost make atomic functionality unnecessary. However for the Takuma Sato, I guess “almost” wasn’t good enough.
Seiko Ignition Takuma Sato
Takuma Sato is a famous Japanese Formula 1 race car driver, and the Seiko Ignition is a worthy tribute. The design of the dial is an attempt to capture the essence of Takuma’s helmet, and the caseback bares an engraving of his signature along with the watch’s serial number. Only 3,000 of these unique pieces will be made, and I seriously doubt very many of them will ever make it to US shores.
Features of the Seiko Ignition Takuma Sato include:
- Solar powered, with a 6-month power reserve.
- Radio controlled atomic time calibration. Again, this is the only Seiko watch that I know of with this type of functionality. (I should note that I don’t think the watch is compatible with our atomic clock in Fort Collins, Colorado, but I don’t know for certain.)
- Titanium case and bracelet.
- Domed sapphire crystal.
- Water resistant to 100 meters, or 330 feet.
The Seiko Ignition Takuma Sato will be available June 7th, and will sell for 73,500 yen, or about $680. If you read Japanese, check out the press release. If you don’t, here’s the Google translation.
Update: Watch Report reader Gilbert Sopakuwa has pointed out several other solar atomic Seikos in the Spirit, Ignition, and Brightz lines. Thanks, Gilbert! One of the things I really love about watches is that I’m always learning and finding something new, often thanks to my readers.
By Christian Cantrell
