Seiko Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Jaws with the Limited Edition SRPL81
Over the last few weeks there’s been plenty of discussion here, on the podcast, and around the internet on the current viability of Seiko as an enthusiast brand. Seiko, to put it plainly, was once at the center of watch enthusiast culture, and now they are quite simply not. The reasons for that are complicated and deserve close examination, but while we examine the state of Seiko it’s important to remember that the brand is still capable of releasing interesting watches that surprise us and put a smile on our faces, even if the pleasure derived from them is a bit more fleeting than that of an all-time enthusiast classic. Case in point: the new SRPL81, otherwise known as the Jaws 50th Anniversary Limited Edition. Yes, Seiko made a dive watch to celebrate the anniversary of Jaws, a movie that has famously been the root of a fear of the oceans across generations.
There’s little that needs to be said about Jaws that hasn’t been said at this point, right? It’s one of the greatest movies ever made, and a film that should have been impossible to produce, made by a gifted but inexperienced director still in his 20s and shot largely on the water, something which to that point had never really been attempted. Jaws singlehandedly paved the way for the modern blockbuster, upending the traditional release strategy for movies coming out of major studios. It’s still, 50 years later, the ultimate summer movie, and still has the power to frighten us and make us laugh (Hooper and Quint comparing old scars never gets old).
It’s also a wonderful watch spotting movie, which we discussed in depth on Time on Screen almost two years ago. So with ties to watch enthusiast culture, it’s not the most insane thing ever to think that Seiko would capitalize on the film’s big anniversary, even though there’s no direct connection between Seiko and Jaws in the film itself. The watch itself, though, is actually kind of a crazy thing, featuring a dial with a gradation of blue tones to represent the sea, and an outline of a shark rising up from beneath. We don’t have the watch in hand so can’t really verify, but the idea here seems to be that the shark image becomes more visible at certain angles, but is nearly invisible when viewed directly. The iconic red “JAWS” title logo is also present near the 6:00 position.
The SRPL81 is based on the Seiko “Turtle” platform, which means we have a case measuring 45mm in diameter and 47.7mm from lug to lug (it’s 13.2mm thick). Hour markers and hands are coated in LumiBrite luminous material, and the 4R36 caliber displays the day and date at 3:00 and will run for 41 hours on a full wind. The watch comes mounted to a complementary blue rubber strap, and has a laser engraving on the back marking it as a limited edition (a total of 5,000 pieces will be produced).
A Jaws themed Seiko Turtle limited edition was just about the last thing I had on my bingo card this week, but this was a fun watch to wake up to this morning, even if at its core it’s an incredibly niche product. No doubt, however, that there are 5,000 Jaws fanatics out there who will be happy to wear this watch to the beach, or on a (bigger) boat, or simply display it with other Jaws memorabilia.
The SRPL81 has a retail price of $795 and will be available in July. Seiko
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