After the trade show Watches & Wonders's parade of high-end watches earlier this month, are you ready for some good-old, refreshingly down-to-earth Seiko models? Well, whether you are or not, they're coming anyway. In typical form, the brand has mixed and matched some familiar elements to introduce a new line based on its famous "Turtle" dive watch that's meant for terra firma. The official moniker? The Land Tortoise.
It's also typical Seiko form to offer new designs such as this with more than an aesthetic tweak, and that's what the watchmaker has done here once again. In pictures, the new watches look like the same old Turtle case, only with different hands, dial and bezel designs. This is indeed the Turtle silhouette, but it's been downsized from (an already surprisingly comfortable and wearable) 45mm to 42.3mm — and any watch nut knows that this can make a big difference in how a watch wears.
Though it maintains the Turtle's 200m of water resistance, the Land Tortoise joins the range of Seiko Prospex watches intended for activities like hiking and mountaineering. Here, a compass bezel (replacing the diver's timing bezel of the Turtle) is functionally and visually what makes this a hiking/adventure/field watch. The hands and dial design are also distinct but have a familiar Seiko look. It's topped with a sapphire crystal and powered by the Seiko 4R35 automatic movement offering time and the date tucked in at 4:30.
It's hard to complain about the arrival of more rugged sport watch options from Seiko, so long as fans aren't left confused and and overwhelmed. Seiko's (many) dive watches will probably always be its bread and butter, but the new Land Tortoise leverages the familiarity of its arguably most popular diver, the Turtle and offers that basic shape at a smaller size.
Expected to be available in May 2021, the Land Tortoise is debuting in four variations, with those in bare stainless steel priced at $525 and a gold-colored version priced at $550.
