No matter which way you look at it, Seiko is an undeniable giant of modern watchmaking. One of its greatest strengths lies in the sheer scope of its operation. It’s managed to craft one of the most sweeping and varied catalogs in the industry, ranging from quartz-powered pieces that the masses can easily pick up at the mall to some of the most compelling everyday options all the way up to its Luxe tier. There is, quite literally, a Seiko for everybody.
While most of us on the consumer end of the transaction just see the results from a product-oriented perspective, achieving this feat is only possible with a fleet of brilliant minds working behind the scenes. With the Power Design Project, Seiko is pulling back the partition between its designers and the watch-wearing public. Down below, I’ll be walking you through a crash course in this unique initiative, from its early 2000s inception to the project’s recent revival, all the way to the wacky and wonderful designs unveiled this year and its inaugural collection.
[toc-section heading=”The Power Design Project Ethos”]
Image: Seiko Design Museum
The Power Design Project is a 21st-century Seiko affair. Our story begins in 2001, guided by the concept that the brand has distilled as a means of “Proposing Fresh and Unconventional Ideas That Go Beyond Traditional Design.” Recognizing that the company was a hotbed for creative talent, especially among early-career designers, Seiko Power Design launched as an internal initiative for the creative team to let their imaginations run wild. Spearheaded by the lead product designer, Naoto Fukasawa, the Seiko design team was tasked with thinking outside of the box, encouraged to think boldly about the brand’s future outside of the projects they were already assigned. Each year, the only constraint the designers had to brush up against was the yearly theme. However, there is plenty of room for interpretation among these themes, allowing each designer to express their take on it with their own unique flair. Freed from the shackles of practicality, the resulting watches are guided by the pursuit of flipping convention on its head in favor of the more conceptual, emotional, or just plain wacky ideas.
Image: Seiko Design Museum
After a year of planning and workshopping, the resulting collection was publicly launched in 2002. Displayed in Tokyo, the initial Power Design Project was positioned as something of an art exhibit, welcoming the public to experience the watches created for themselves. It’s important to keep in mind that this whole thing is essentially a creative showcase. The watch designs in the Power Design repertoire have been almost exclusively created as one-off prototype models without the intention of being mass-produced, or even available for purchase. Additionally, participation in the project is mostly geared towards internal members of the Seiko team. The brand has invited other designers to take their own shot at the challenge, but this is more of a rare exception than a rule.
Image: Seiko Design Museum
Active from 2001-2009, the Seiko Power Design Project was a wellspring of creative energy and a vehicle for artistic and imaginative experimentation for the brand’s designers. Positioned outside of the regular day-to-day Seiko operations and ongoing collections, some of the concepts developed through the various exercises and workshops through the Power Design lab did make their way into the brand’s commercial repertoire. The project was essentially put on ice after 2009 and would be effectively shuttered for thirteen years.
[toc-section heading=”Reviving The Power Design Project “]
The comeback of Seiko’s experimental design lab was somewhat coincidental. Rather than being an intentionally planned revival, its return was more circumstantial than anything. Seiko had been developing the Seiko Seed exhibition space in Harajuku for quite some time with the intention of making it a hub to showcase the unconventional. The team at Seiko Seed simply had plans to host a design exhibition at the new space. After some hesitation, they decided to bring back the name, along with its core concepts of future-thinking design, experimentation, and education.
REBIRTH (2022-2023)
Fittingly, the first theme under the resuscitated Seiko Design Project name was dubbed the “REBIRTH” collection. Eight designers were put to the task of looking at Seiko’s sweeping historical archives and challenged to reimagine a significant vintage design for today, from their own perspective.
Seven distinct watches were created in the process: 01 “Radient Time” reimagined the 1970s-era King Seiko with a numerously faceted case with tons of Zaratsu polished surfaces; 02 “Put On Time” used the 1975 “Tuna” Diver as its base, and recreated the design to act like a button, opening up styling possibilities beyond the wrist; 03 “Shikakuro” (or “square chronograph” in English) made the brand’s 1970s design modular and highly-personalizable, featuring a colorful outer case that can be swapped out to change up its style; 04 “Adventure Kids” also remixed the SBBN047 “Tuna,” turning it into a colorful, smaller watch packed with specs oriented for children, including an accordion-style strap that takes growth-spurts into account; 05 “Time Sonar 434 Feels” was based on the 1976 automatic chronograph, and added a feeling complication in lieu of a day/date one; 06 “TISSE Our Time” reimagined an 80s-era ladies watches to defy gender conventions with a street-style bend; finally, 07 “Ceramic Ball” recreated the 1973 digital 05LC watch in a glossy ceramic for a more luxurious expression of the design.
Incredibly Specialized Watches Volume 1 (2024)
Moving away from reimagining archival designs, in the next generation Power Design Project’s second installment, the designers were challenged to get as highly personalized and niche as possible. Tasked with creating “watches that 99% of people don’t need,” the seven watches took on hyper-specific hobbies, personas, and activities.
Watch 01 was dedicated completely to hide-and-seek. Made to be a “hero item” for active gameplay, the watch was designed to honor the game’s official rules, while also making the role of the seeker (which is apparently called the “ogre”) more fun. Watch 02 or the “Patternmaker’s watch” combined timekeeping with one of a sewist’s most essential tools: a pincushion. The 03 “Sukiyaki Watch” was made to aid its wearer in cooking the perfect Sukiyaki, and is essentially a culinary tool in itself. Watch 04 was made for the panda-obsessed, complete with a “bamboo meter” instead of a tachymeter, and fittingly dubbed the “Pandagraph.”
Watch 05 was made for masking tape enthusiasts (also known as Washi tape), and allows its wearer to keep tape handy on their wrist, with no need to remove the strap when swapping in a new roll. Watch 06 was geared toward “Sunny Men,” who, I guess, can also be rightly called sunshine enthusiasts, and is essentially a working sundial for the wrist, even outside of Japan. Watch 07 was made for the ambidextrous and can be worn and read effectively on either wrist – when worn on the right hand, the dial looks silver. As the watch angle changes to the left wrist, the dial switches to black.
Incredibly Specialized Watches Volume 2 (2025)
The Incredibly Specialized theme proved to be quite fruitful, and the theme continued for another round the following year. From my perspective, this is the exhibition that really caught the attention of the watch enthusiast world, and for many, put the Seiko Power Design Project back on the map.
Number 01 “Ninja Stealth Watch” was created for modern ninjas, featuring a lume-free, blacked-out color palette, a wrap-around strap that provides its wearer additional protection, and a hinged crystal that allows time to be told both by sight and by touch. Number 02 was made for club DJ’s, complete with technicolor lume, fluorescent, and backlight-activated paint, creating an infinity mirror effect. The time is aligned to a DJ’s peculiar schedule, displayed from 6 pm to 5 am the following morning. Number 03 is the “Vampire Exclusive” watch, made for wearers on a more nocturnal schedule. From the fang-shaped lugs to the 24-hour hand and bezel made to track how much time it’s been since a proper feeding, this watch is tailored to the lifestyle of the 21st-century vampire, but with a decidedly medieval aesthetic.
Watch 04 was made to take the pain out of making the perfect boiled egg, equipped with an egg timer function with preferred doneness in 30-second increments, and is even made from a material that is 10% egg shell. Watch 05 is so specific, it was created for just one individual: Santa Claus. Watch 06 was made to honor the suspense and excitement of young girls in love, and features a magic 8-ball-like fortune-telling function, spinning the answers to the heart’s questions like a roulette wheel. The glass also helps keep the love fortunes discreet, only revealing the answers to the wearer by refracting the light.
[toc-section heading=”2026: Passionately And Obsessively Crafted Watches”]
As of 3/29/2026, this year’s edition of the Power Design Project has officially come to a close. This year, the exhibition was featured at a new location in Aoyama, Tokyo, and also ushered in a new theme. While experimentation was still well at play, this time, the attention was more laser-focused on technical feats, pushing the more classic side of craftsmanship to its more obsessive expression.
Watch 01 “Machining Marks” was dedicated to craftsmanship precision in the etching process. Drawing inspiration from woodworking techniques, the richly textured, stepped case and dial were carved from one block of metal, speaking to the beauty of machine engineering. Design 02 was a love letter to spherical surfaces and the unique way they reflect and play with light and shadow. Two unique watches were created – one with a mirror-polished finish, and one with a combination of finishing techniques – that seamlessly combined four distinct structural tiers (glass, bezel, case, and outer case). Watch 03 took the art of dial texture to the next level, working with textured patterns on the micro scale. Achieved through a molding and pressing process, the dial is broken up into four distinct seasonal motifs inspired by both Japanese traditions and Islamic art, with pattern depths controlled within one-hundredth of a millimeter.
Watch 04 is an ode to the connection between man and machine, particularly the relationship between a manually wound movement and its wearer. The typical crown has been totally reimagined. Instead, the grooved bezel itself is integrated with a gear in the crown position, effectively winding the mainspring as the wearer rotates the bezel. With Watch 05, the typical bar indices transcend beyond their typical function. Instead of merely detailing the hours, a menagerie of differently shaped and polished indices cover the dial in a Tetris-like pattern, bouncing the light of their distinct surfaces with each subtle movement. Watch 06 aims to give each day an extra touch of optimism with its unique take on a date wheel. Detailing the day of the week in Japanese and English, the watch also features what the next day will be. Finally, watch 07 takes on watch hands, along with the concept of character watches. Featuring the “Ten-Chan” cat character of past exhibitions, time becomes a three-dimensional experience. The numerals have been printed on the crystal itself, and the cat’s hands, feet, and tail are curved at specific angles to detail the seconds, hours, and minutes. The strap that accompanies it is also fuzzy and cat fur-like.
[toc-section heading=”Collection 1″]
I’m sure you’ve been eagerly anticipating the reveal of the first modern collection to come out of the Power Design Project since, well, you read the title of this article. I won’t keep you in suspense for much longer, and, technically, the watch has already been revealed in earlier paragraphs. I guess we could say the answer was hiding in plain sight all along.
First seen in the “REBIRTH” collection in 2022, Seiko recently unveiled the first watch to be available for purchase from the revamped Power Design Project in 2025 – the TISSE “Our Time.” As I mentioned briefly before, this watch was modeled after the 1984 watch under the same name, which was originally developed as a “ladies” watch. The guiding idea behind the line’s reinvention was not just to blur the line between watch and accessory, but also to throw out any preconceived gender ideas out the window.
The standout feature of the Tisse, from its inception, was distinguished by its bubble-link bracelet, which was designed to be worn loose. But whereas the 1984 model opted for uniformity and symmetry, the new identity goes for the asymmetrical at every possible turn. Though they carry on the rounded, organic shapes of the inspiration model, each link of the new Tisse shakes things up. There are alternating shapes and sizes, brushing techniques, and we even have one signature faceted link to make things a bit more edgy. While the petite size of the watch (which measures 20mm in diameter), along with its circular case shape, remains, the widened bezel makes the overall design feel less dainty.
So far, Collection One has consisted of three distinct model options: the silver-hued SSEH021, the blacked-out SSEH023, and the yellow gold SSEH024. All models are completely monochrome, down to the minimal two-hander dial, and are powered by, you guessed it, quartz (the 4N30 movement, to be specific). One huge caveat – the collection is limited to 500 pieces of each colorway worldwide. At the time of writing, it appears that most of Collection 1 has already been sold out, so if you’re actually looking to track down one of them for yourself, you will have to do some digging on the secondary market. For reference, the pricing for the collection was $410 at its debut.
[toc-section heading=”Final Thoughts”]
Given the overwhelming trend in recent years towards the “everyday carry” category in the watch industry at large, here on the journalistic side of the equation, it is always reinvigorating when brands go off that established script. Philosophically speaking, we are at an age where watches have sort of transcended their daily necessity as a timekeeping tool. So, when brands or watchmakers really lean into imagination and creativity for creativity’s sake, it always feels akin to taking a deep cleansing breath.
With Seiko being the modern watch giant that it is, it is among the select few brands that are uniquely positioned to attempt something like its Power Design Project, and deliver it at the scale that it does. Not only does Seiko have the talent and manpower to support it, but it also has the manufacturing resources to actually bring the watches to life beyond a conceptual digital rendering, even if the result is just one exhibition-oriented piece. That being said, there are other brands out there with similar capabilities that do not go this route.
Freed from the constraints of making a commercially deliverable (and viable) product, this initiative allows designers to stretch their creativity and, through the exhibition format, lets the general public delight in that effort. Especially in the case of the most recent “Passionately and Obsessively Crafted” theme, I imagine that some of the techniques created in that process will have ways of trickling into Seiko’s regularly scheduled programming, though that will undoubtedly take time to unfold.
As for Collection 1, it also struck me as exciting that the brand actualized a watch that speaks to a younger generation of consumers, as well. I’ve been calling the new Tisse “the ultimate Gen-Z watch” myself, as I think a more youthful audience is looking for a watch with style that defies the traditional “ladies” or “men’s” categories. It’s limited edition status aside, this collection also strikes as pretty far out of Seiko’s typical spec-oriented wheelhouse in favor of something in the more fashion-oriented direction. Though I’m not a Seiko insider and can’t say with 100% certainty, I do not think this collection would have been made without an incubator like the Power Design Project. Given that the collection has been largely sold out, I think we can call this experimental effort a success. You can learn more at the special Seiko Power Design Project homepage here.
