Seiko Reimagines Its 1970s Submarine Watch As a Street-smart, Affordable Automatic

Seiko does a ton of collabs with loads of different brands. One surprising partner to whom the Japanese watchmaking legend keeps returning is Huf, the skateboarding and lifestyle brand out of California.

The two odd bedfellows have linked up a few times to give different Seiko 5 Sports models a Cali-approved makeover, including the SKX Diver Style and, more recently, the 5 Sports 1969.

Now, the two brands have hooked up again with their most appealing collab yet, turning their attention to Seiko’s Time Sonar from the 1970s.

Seiko

Up periscope

The original Time Sonar was a chronograph launched by Seiko in 1976, and is remembered for its colored, translucent dial. The dial allowed a view of the entire day-date disc, which featured day abbreviations in both English letters and Japanese kanji.

The unique dial was inspired by submarine sonar displays — hence the name. What’s more, the watch also featured a tinted crystal display caseback, which was very much a rarity at the time. It also included a compass on the bracelet as a nod to its military inspiration.

Seiko

Seiko and Huf have now recreated the Time Sonar, but in a simpler, non-chronograph form. The new watch still carries a day-date complication, however, and both English and Kanji days remain visible through the translucent dial. The brightly colored dial is in “Huf Green,” which I think provides the perfect tint to the see-through dial. The Seiko 5 logo appears under 12:00, with the Huf logo above 6:00.

As on the original Time Sonar, the dial is bisected by a black bar containing writing on the left side (just “Automatic” here, since there’s no chronograph) and the day-date display on the right. There’s also an orange triangle labeled “zero” at 12:00, which is color-matched to the seconds hand.

Seiko

These are both carried over from the original watch, where they would indicate the chronograph seconds hand had been reset, or “zeroed.” On the new watch, they’re just there for aesthetics — but they look cool. The lume-filled syringe-style hour and minute hands are also borrowed from the original watch, while the inner black bezel changes the OG’s tachymeter scale to a minute track.

The caseback keeps another feature of the original Time Sonar — the tinted crystal caseback with a view of the Caliber 4R36 automatic movement beneath — but it’s been given a thorough makeover by Huf. Rendered in Huf Green to complement the dial, the caseback features an extensive street map of San Francisco, Huf’s home, and the company’s logo in its center. The crown also features the Huf logo.

Seiko

The bracelet is the three-link Oyster style that’s common on other Seiko 5 Sports models, though there’s no compass this time around. Both the bracelet and the 39.4mm x 11.6mm case are in stainless steel. The two crystals are made of Seiko’s proprietary Hardlex material rather than sapphire, and the watch is water-resistant to a healthy 100m.

Availability and pricing

There’s something about these old-school, translucent Seiko dials that I really dig. Maybe it’s their use of color or their reveal of the Kanji characters on the dial, but whatever the reason, I just love them. Other modern instances have always been in a diver style, like last year’s Bamford collaboration, but this Huf collab is the most faithful recreation of the original Time Sonar yet. Next stop will be a chronograph, hopefully.

This latest Seiko x Huf collab is a limited edition of 7,000, which sounds like a lot, but some of these really cool Seiko collabs have sold out very quickly recently. Pricing for the U.S. market isn’t out yet — Seiko loves making us wait — but this watch is priced at €410 in Europe, which currently converts to about $482, so I’d expect a U.S. SRP slightly below that.

Seiko

Seiko 5 Sports x Huf SRPM09

Specs

Case Size	39.4mm
Movement	Seiko Cal. 4R36 automatic day/date
Water Resistance	100m

• $482 at Seiko

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