One of Seiko's new releases for 2021 is the trio of Seiko 5 Sports x Rowing Blazers watches, inspired by the fashion world of the still fresh clothing brand Rowing Blazers. Rowing Blazers was founded by Jack Carlson based on the book of the same name he wrote for research, which (as the name suggests) describes the history of blazer-style jackets originally worn by rowers in England. The Rowing Blazers clothing and lifestyle brand produces not only rowing blazers but also a wide range of colorful classic sportswear inspired by pop culture, and other items that are in some ways a fashion fusion of 'preppy' clothing and modern 'streetwear'.
As part of its lifestyle collection, the Rowing Blazers website sold some pre-owned vintage watches - including Seiko watches. Now they have introduced the first 'new' watches for sale on their site: Seiko 5 references SRPG49 (checkered bezel), SRPG51 (red zigzag bezel), and SRPG53 (four-sided bezel with color blocks). The first two models are limited to 500 pieces, and the latter will be released as a special series, at least in several batches (depending on product demand).
Jack Carlson from Rowing Blazers met with Seiko at the very beginning when he founded his brand in 2014. Now, several years later, as 'collaborative watches' have come into fashion, Seiko and Rowing Blazers have finally released a special product intended mainly for sale through the Rowing Blazers website (though, as I understand, some authorized Seiko dealers will also sell them). In the design development, Jack Carlson was inspired by both his own taste in clothing and watches and some classic vintage Seiko pieces he admires.
The Seiko x Rowing Blazers watches are based on the modern Seiko 5 Sports watches, which have a width of 42.5 mm (water resistance up to 100 meters) made of steel and contain Seiko's in-house automatic caliber 4R36. The movement operates at 3 Hz with a 41-hour power reserve, and it can be admired through the display case back of the watch. The case back also features a skeleton, which, according to Jack Carlson, represents the classic iconography of Rowing Blazers rowers in memento mori style.
The Seiko 5 Sports watches are a product family where the Japanese company Seiko is currently experimenting with collaborative products, so from a collector's point of view, it is interesting to see the wide visual diversity in this category of Seiko sports watches. For the Rowing Blazers Seiko 5 watches, Jack Carlson chose vintage-style lume, which is slightly more tanned/creamy in color than the standard greenish-white. The watch dial also features the Rowing Blazers logo, which is an interesting design choice since some, but not all, watches created in collaboration have dual branding. The watch design was developed by the Seiko design team in Japan in collaboration with Rowing Blazers.
All Seiko 5 Sports X Rowing Blazers watches come with both a steel three-link metal bracelet and a 22 mm NATO-style nylon strap. The most distinctive straps are the mint-green strap that comes with the SPRG49 model (checkered dial) and the multicolored striped strap that comes with the SRPG51 model (zigzag bezel). The SRPG53 model comes with a standard black strap. Additionally, the watches come in a special blue presentation box with red zigzags from Seiko.
Seiko wisely leverages the strong personalities and appeal of today's lifestyle fashion brands as a platform for developing and selling Seiko products. This is part of Seiko's history, and it is very interesting to see how Seiko is rediscovering this part of its business model in new ways in the age of e-commerce.
The retail price of the Seiko 5 SPRG49, SRPG51, and SRPG53 watches is 495 USD.
