Seiko's own designer reveals his dream dive watch, and it's thinner than the current lineup

Asked what he'd build with no budget or material constraints, Seiko designer Masanori Kawamura didn't hedge whatsoever— he laid out a full spec sheet in an interview with Augustman. It's actually quite interesting to see that the Marinemaster and Prospex Speedtimer 240Z designer wants a movement holding over five days of power reserve, packed into a case thinner than anything Seiko currently ships.

His starting point is the original 62MAS from 1965, the watch that later became the basis for the Heritage Diver line — including the green HBC010 limited edition we covered last week. Kawamura wants to keep that watch's rugged, simple proportions while optimizing materials for both lightness and strength. He aimed for a 38 mm diameter and under 11 mm of thickness. For context, even the recently updated 62MAS reissue case sits at 40 mm and 13 mm; Kawamura's version would undercut it on both dimensions while adding power reserve most modern Seiko divers don't even come close to.

Then, he picked a thin bezel with smoother operability, Arabic numerals inlaid directly into the dial for durability (rather than printed or applied), a box-shaped curved sapphire crystal, and stronger magnetic resistance than current Marinemaster references have. Kawamura says that he is using this whole exercise to achieve wearability as much as capability — proportions meant for everyday use, not just tool-watch bragging rights.

It's worth being clear about what this is and isn't. Kawamura was answering a hypothetical, not previewing a real project, and nothing in the interview suggests Seiko has this watch in development. But as a wishlist from the person who is actually designing Seiko's current dive watches, it is a pretty detailed, even ambitious description of where the brand's own design thinking might head if the technical constraints ever loosen up.

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