Seiko releases 4th Philippine limited edition Prospex watch

This time, the theme evokes the beauty of the Ifugao Rice Terraces

It’s green and it’s huge.

Those were my initial impressions upon seeing the new Philippine limited edition Prospex divers watch Seiko released on Monday, Nov. 20. The new watch, which some have been taking to unofficially calling the “Terraces,” is done in partnership with the Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement (SITMo). Following this theme, it features a green dial with an embossed or grooved surface that recreates the steps of the rice terraces—on a King Samurai case.

Officially called the SRPK59K1, it comes with a date complication and a sapphire crystal that has a cyclops over the date window, which is at the 3 o’clock mark. It is powered, like many of Seiko’s Prospex divers watch line, by the company’s proprietary 4R35 automatic movement (developed in 2011), which is capable of producing 21,600 beats per hour (bph).

Unlike most other Prospex watches, however, the “Terraces” features a screw-down crown at the 3 o’clock mark (and not the more common 4 o’clock ones). It also has a fully-lined, black bezel insert on top of a unidirectional rotating bezel, typical of Seiko’s divers watches, and is water resistant of up to 200 m (660 ft). The hands, indices, and bezel all feature Seiko’s LumiBrite technology.

What may not be typical about this watch though is its size. With a stainless steel case, it measures a hefty 12.8mm in thickness and a whopping 43.8mm in diameter, which is pretty huge for the average Filipino wrist. But a bracelet replacement might do the trick, suggested one Seiko Philippines executive. Lug-to-lug, it looks even bigger, measuring 48.7mm.

But hey, that just means that this timepiece can sit proudly on the wrist of the avid Seiko fan, especially since there would only be 1,500 of these watches to be sold. The SRPK59K1 retails for P45,000 (roughly US$814) A portion of every sale of this watch would go to the projects of SITMo.