Last year, Seiko reissued one of the most interesting watches it’s ever made. However, most people didn’t remember it existed.
The Rotocall initially debuted in 1982 but only lasted in Seiko’s catalog for a few years. Nevertheless, over the next couple of decades, dozens of astronauts (most notably, Sally Ride) chose to bring their own personal versions of the digital timepiece into space because of its practical utility.
Digital interfaces were still relatively new and the Rotocall seemed to perfect the format. It combined stopwatch, countdown timer, alarm and dual time functions into a single watch, all toggled via the octagonal bezel, similar to some modern smartwatches.
Now, Seiko is building on last year’s revival with two new versions of the Rotocall that are decidedly more accessible than their predecessors.
Entering its G-Shock era?
Obviously, Seiko is much more recognized for its analog timepieces these days, but there was once a time when the Japanese watchmaker was dominant in the digital category after basically inventing the LCD digital watch (James Bond even donned several pairs in the ‘70s and ‘80s).
