By releasing a pair of new Seiko Speedtimer mechanical chronographs, the Japanese juggernaut refocuses attention on its long and storied history of providing timekeeping services for major sporting events, something the brand continues to do to this day, with its sponsorship of World Athletics.

Since 1985, Seiko has been the official timekeeping partner of World Athletics, meaning this generation of track and field fanatics will also have opportunity to forge the same connection to the brand as I did growing up.

In addition to providing timing and measurement services to over 190 World Athletics meets around the world, including the World Athletics Championships (held every two years), Seiko also times the U 20 championships.

As such, there is a beautiful symmetry with Seiko’s position in the watch market. On the one hand, the brand has an incredibly accessible entry point and is often the brand through which a young collector will fall in love with the craft; at the other end of the collection there are some extremely mature pieces that resonate with long-term aficionados. Just as in athletics, with Seiko being present at the start of an athlete’s global career all the way through to its apex, the brand can be a lifelong companion for watch lovers, something that is underpinned by this release.

What we have here are two stylistically clean chronographs available in either a traditional panda format (white dial with black sub-dials), or a limited blue/gray “reverse panda” with silvered sub-dials. Both models come fitted to an interesting bracelet as standard, and the limited edition comes with an included black leather strap.

On that note, the bracelet in question is an extremely welcome addition. At first glance, the styling may veer in a more elegant direction than expected, with polished inter-links catching the eye immediately. However, the presence of many other polished elements — such as the bezel, hands, and applied indices — has the effect of tying together the case to the bracelet and the interior to the exterior nicely.

Also, the bracelet chosen for this model has an immense amount of character. It is too often we see bog-standard, Oyster-adjacent designs deployed thoughtlessly on affordable sports watches. In this instance, the decision to run with something a bit more special is a massive value-add and not to be slept on.

It was 2021 when Seiko dropped its first Prospex Speedtimer, which itself is hard to believe. That release felt like yesterday, but three tumultuous years for the watch industry have passed since then, making the development and release of as many high-value, well-made sports watches a brand can muster a priority.

Seiko has always excelled in delivering bang for buck. That’s thanks to its deep roots in the industry, hard-won know-how, accrued over 143 years of continuous activity, and huge, vertically controlled production volumes that slash costs at source more effectively than possibly any other brand on the planet.

These models are inspired by a specific reference from 1972 — a golden era for Seiko’s sports timing forays. Design holdovers from that release include the high contrast and exceptionally legible panda dial (on one of the novelties, at least), the orange-tipped chronograph seconds hand, which interacts with the split seconds track around the edge of the dial, which itself is broken up into four marks per second due to the 28,800 vph of caliber 8R48 (which means the seconds hand ticks eight times per second and thus will always either land directly on or directly between a split second marker, providing a precise readout), and the aforementioned bracelet.

A subtle design element that again nods to the past with its vintage aesthetic, and yet aids in legibility, is the curvature of the chronograph seconds hands, which bends down gracefully toward the tachymeter scale printed on the rehaut of the dial.

Both models measure 42 mm wide and 14.6 mm thick and come with closed case backs. This robust construction means the watch is water resistant to 100 meters and can resist magnetic fields of up to 4,800 A/m. A 45-hour power reserve is sufficient for an automatic caliber of this nature but does mean laying the watch down over the weekend is likely to require a small adjustment when you strap it back on your wrist for the working week ahead.

The limited edition was created to commemorate 100 years since the Seiko name first appeared on a watch dial, which occurred in 1924. The panda dial variant (reference SRQ049) retails at $2,500 and is unlimited, while the blue/gray reverse panda (reference SRQ047) comes in at $2,700 and is limited to 1,000 pieces.