Seiko has ventured to the northeast region of Australia for its latest release. Tropical, sun-bathed and what you would imagine the quintessential Australian coast to look and feel like, Queensland is home to some of the best surf there is. And now it’s home to Seiko’s latest and greatest, the Seiko Prospex SPB347J “Noosa” Limited Edition. As the name implies, it draws direct inspiration from the glitzy coastal town of Noosa in Queensland.
If you were to try to envisage Noosa as a kind of colour palette, you would think of blues, whites, yellows and blacks. Blues and whites of the ocean and crashing surf. Yellows for the sun and sand. Blacks for the night sky that meets the ocean’s seemingly never-ending stretch into the horizon when the sun sets.
These colours are reflected in the Seiko Prospex SPB347J “Noosa” Limited Edition in a really well-thought-out way. The beautifully textured dial is a subtle nod to the waves breaking the ocean’s surface and is finished with a vertically gradient design. The top part of the dial shifts from black to deep blue, which then shifts to a lighter blue from the dial’s equator, depicting the ocean as viewed from the shore.
The minutes and seconds hands are yellow and obviously represent the sun, which also works well to add some points of colour differentiation on an otherwise “run of the mill” blue diver’s watch. The unidirectional bezel features the same colours as the dial, black initially which then shifts to a single shade of blue.
The Seiko Prospex SPB347J “Noosa” Limited Edition features the maison’s Sumo case shaped, providing heft and a weighty feel whilst remaining durable and capable. It measures 45mm across, 12.90mm in thickness and weighs 188 grams with a 200m water resistance rating. And to round it off there is the obscure placement of the crown at 4 o’clock.
Powering the new Noosa-inspired Seiko watch is the calibre 6R35. This is a simple, well-engineered workhorse movement that has basic time-telling functionality along with a date window at 3 o’clock.
The Seiko Prospex SPB347J “Noosa” Limited Edition is a lovely edition that really does draw inspiration from one of Australia’s coastal jewels in a thoughtful and exacting manner. When it comes to Seiko Prospex watches, this piece is not to be missed.
