Seiko Reintroduce Prospex Landmaster with 30th Anniversary Limited Edition SLA071

Another day, another landmark anniversary for Seiko to celebrate. This time it’s the Prospex Landmaster that’s in the limelight, Seiko’s original compass field watch. In the modern Prospex range, the Landmaster has been somewhat superseded by the Tortoise, a compass bezel version of the Turtle diver and a watch that recently received a really cool European exclusive ‘Silfra’ edition. However, now the Landmaster is back in the range thanks to the new Seiko Prospex Landmaster 30th Anniversary Limited Edition SLA071.

In terms of its design, it pays homage to the archival models from the 1990s (am I the only one shocked that a 30-year anniversary refers to 1993?). It has a large 42mm diameter case made from titanium using Seiko’s super hard coating for increased scratch resistance on top of what is already a very hard and lightweight material. In terms of the shape, it’s kind of like a sharper 1968 Diver, a round shape but with more pointed lugs and pronounced crown guards.

The most important part of the watch is the bezel, which features a highly detailed compass scale. While the Tortoise features just the cardinal points, the Landmaster includes the mid-point directions of NE, SE, SW and NW, as well as including numerical bearings in intervals of 15°.

You can read the full details on how to use your watch as a compass here, but in brief, you can align the hour hand with the sun and the half-way point between the hour hand and 12 o’clock is south. Using the bezel lets you keep record more easily and take more precise bearings.

As for the dial, it’s a relatively understated affair with a gradient blue pattern and large lumed indexes. The colours are inspired by the tops of mountains where the light blue of ice meets the darker blue of the high atmosphere. As the cherry on top the Seiko logo and seconds hands are a golden yellow colour which to my eye gives the whole piece a fitting retro vibe akin to retro-style Alpinists.

Inside, the Seiko Prospex Landmaster 30th Anniversary Limited Edition houses the 8L35 automatic movement with 50-hour power reserve. It’s a solid time and date calibre with date window at 3 o’clock. Sadly there’s no exhibition caseback to see the movement but instead is a solid titanium back with limited edition number.

There are 1,000 pieces available from select boutiques and the Seiko webstore. At £2,400 it doesn’t really fit into the whole Seiko being accessible narrative, but I don’t think that’s a huge issue in this particular instance. A limited edition reintroduction of an older model for its anniversary is much more a collectors’ item than a daily beater, so it can afford to be a little pricier.

​Oracle Time 

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