Before anOrdain brought porcelain dial production to the UK there’s only really one brand I could name who produce porcelain dials regularly: Seiko. They do so as part of their Craftmanship series dedicated to traditional Japanese crafts and materials. However, in classic Seiko style they’re not happy to achieve a simple design and move on, they want to test the boundaries of style and production to see what is really possible. Enter the new Seiko Presage Classic Unglazed Arita Porcelain Limited Edition.
Without hyperbole, this is one of the nicest Presage watches I’ve been hands on with in a long while. The porcelain dial is stunning with its three-dimensional diamond-cut ridge pattern running around the circumference below the hour scale. The detail and precision required to create textured/patterned porcelain is impressive to see – the production of porcelain involves firing it at high temperatures in a kiln, so fractures and failures are common, especially if you introduce additional complexities beyond creating a simple disc.
The term Arita Porcelain refers to porcelain produced in and around the historic ceramics town of Arita in Japan. Similar to how in the UK our historic ceramics region is around Stoke. Porcelain is made from a clay base so the region it’s produced in and therefore the composition of the clay used can have a large impact on the product. That’s why for this limited edition release, Seiko have opted for an unglazed porcelain – a glaze being what gives the material its colour – showing the traditional cream, off-white colour associated with Arita Porcelain.
Another impact of the dial being unglazed is that it has a matte finish. I’m used to seeing porcelain have that classic gloss shine to it but I’m actually glad that it doesn’t here. A gloss finish, while looking nice, can have the effect of flattening a design as the shimmer of light hides the true three-dimensionality of the piece. When you have a design like the diamond-cut ridges, that would be criminal.
Completing the display are gold coloured feuille hands and bar hour markers, playing into the dress watch design of the piece. On the wrist, it feels genuinely unisex, with a diameter of 40mm it sits right in that goldilocks zone of being a large watch for a woman and mid-size for a man, following traditional sizing conventions. The long lugs with facetted edges help it sit on the wrist well connected to a classy black leather strap produced from sustainable leather with hints of gold stitching.
The Craftmanship Series has always been at the top end of the Presage collection and so they house movements from the 6R family, and the same is true for the Seiko Presage Classic Unglazed Arita Porcelain. Specifically, it houses the 6R51 automatic with 72-hour power reserve and a daily accuracy of +15/-25 seconds. That contributes to the £1,650 price along with the fact that the watch is a limited edition of 1,200 pieces.
Price and Specs:
Model:
Seiko
Presage Classic Series Unglazed Arita Porcelain Limited Edition
Case:
40.6mm
diameter, stainless steel
Dial:
Unglazed
Arita porcelain, warm white, matt finish with diamond-cut ridges
Water resistance:
100m
(10 bar)
Movement:
Seiko
calibre 6R51, automatic, 24 jewels
Frequency:
21,600
vph (3 Hz)
Power reserve:
72h
Functions:
Hours,
minutes, seconds
Strap:
Black
leather strap
Price:
£1,650,
limited to 1,200 pieces
More details at Seiko.
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