Seiko's new Prospex Alpinist mechanical GMT watches now open for preorder
Seiko has just opened preorders for the Alpinist Mechanical GMT in blue and black. Both the HBC008J and HBC009J are now listed on Seiko's Japanese online store at ¥155,100 including tax, roughly $974, ahead of a September 11 release.
Reaching that listing takes some effort from outside Japan. The store is geo-restricted. The watches themselves carry Seiko's Global Brand Core Shop designation — that limits physical sales to a subset of Japanese retailers, not general distribution. Neither reference has been announced for any other market as of writing.
The main difference between the two is only the dial. The HBC008J is equipped with a radial-sunray blue dial, alongside a matching navy leather strap, and the HBC009J does the same in black. Both use silver cases with hairline-finished 24-hour bezels, wedge indices, Arabic numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9, and a red-tipped GMT hand.
The case are 39.5 mm across, 13.6 mm thick and 46.4 mm lug to lug, in stainless steel with Diashield coating under a curved sapphire crystal. Water resistance is 200 metres. Inside is the automatic caliber 6R54, rated at 72 hours of reserve and +25 to -15 seconds a day across 24 jewels. It's a capable midrange movement, and one that's primarily reserved for models in the Prospex line.
What separates an Alpinist from any other compact GMT is the second crown at four o'clock. It turns an internal ring marked as a simplified compass. That mechanism traces back to the 1959 original, and it is the reason the watch carries two crowns rather than one.
Now, the open question is whether these will stay inside Japan. As mentioned in our original coverage, the green HBC007 spent nearly three years as a Japan-only reference (sold as the SBEJ005) before Seiko released it internationally in June. Seiko has committed to nothing here, but the pattern can repeat.
Add as a preferred source on Google
