Back in 2019, Japanese watch retailer TicTac collaborated with Seiko to celebrate the store’s 35th anniversary. The pair designed a special-edition watch that blended Seiko’s Alpinist with dial elements from the iconic Rolex Explorer.
The blend of cathedral hands and an extremely clean dial, with hour numerals at only 12:00 and 6:00, was a refreshing look that played to mid-century vintage watch enthusiasts. However, since it was a limited-edition exclusive to the Japanese market, it flew under the radar.
Some Seiko fanatics and collectors are aware of the original TicTac collaboration model, reference SZSB006, with a matte black dial sporting a creamy yellow printed hour track, including the 6 and 12, and hand inlays modeled after the Explorer I. But the three additional 35th-anniversary models, released later in 2019, are less well known.
There is another variation of the Seiko x TicTac watch, more influenced by the modern version of Rolex’s Explorer I, featuring metallic applied hour markers and numerals, presented in a slightly different font. It has a sunburst dial, available in navy blue, silver and green-blue with a gilded seconds hand.
In 2024, the vintage-inspired design was revived for TicTac’s 40th anniversary. The reference SZSB032 was almost an inverse of the original SZSB006, with a creamy white dial featuring a black seconds track, black framed printed hour markers, black printed numerals and the Alpinist handset coated in matte black.
