Richard Garriott, who recently travelled to the International Space Station as a self-funded tourist, has encouraged SEIKO to produce a commemorative edition of the watch to be presented around the world to help awareness for the need for more private space exploration.

Now that the capability of the watch has been proven beyond doubt in its five and a half hour EVA, SEIKO is proud to announce that a limited commemorative edition of the SEIKO Spring Drive Spacewalk watch will be made available in early 2010. Just 100 pieces will be produced.



SEIKO Spring Drive Spacewalk, the Commemorative Edition

The watch will have the same specification as the watch which went to space, with one adaptation; a screw-in crown will be used. The original specification of the crown was not screw-in as the engineers were concerned about the self-winding functionality of the watch in a zero-gravity environment and had chosen a non-screw-in crown for ease of manual winding. However, the perfect operation of the watch, both inside and outside the ISS, revealed that the self-winding mechanism worked flawlessly in space, so a screw-in crown is used in the commemorative edition to enhance the overall security of the case.

The serial number will be engraved on the case back, and the watch will, of course, be offered in its own customized presentation box.

Source: Seiko Watch Corporation

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