Introducing the Seiko 5 Sports 55th Anniversary Masked Rider Limited Edition

Seiko has just revealed a new limited edition Seiko 5 Sports that celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, a collaboration with Masked Rider, the mythical Japanese television series of the 70s later adapted for North American television.

The Japanese series tells the story of Takeshi Hongo, a university student and motorcycle racer, who is kidnapped by the terrorist organization Shocker, with the intention of turning him into a cybernetic soldier. It is during the memory erasure process that Hongo manages to escape and takes on the mission to fight Shocker, adopting the name Kamen Rider. Later, freelance photographer Hayato Ichimonji is also captured and transformed into a cyborg identical to Hongo, to eliminate the traitor. Hongo, however, saves Ichimonji before he is brainwashed and Ichimonji takes Hongo’s place as Kamen Rider, as Hongo leaves Japan to fight Shocker agents in other parts of the world. Later, with Hongo’s return to Japan, he becomes known as Kamen Rider number 1, and Ichimonji, Kamen Rider number 2. It is Ichimonji’s turn to leave Japan to fight another organization, Geldan. When Shocker and Geldan merge into a single group, Gel-Shocker, Rider 2 returns to help Rider 1 dismantle the new organization.

The new Seiko 5 Sports, although inspired by the design of the original model, presents a main different dial, leaving behind the black background which now gives way to a beautiful textured dark green dial inspired by the shade of the Masked Rider suit, all the rest elements on the dial remain very faithful to the original layout, namely the applied hour markers and baton hands all filled with Lumibrite in beige tones, red central seconds hand with a lollipop tip, large white minutes track, framed day-date window at 3 o’clock and the inscriptions of the brand’s logo and the now contemporary symbol “5 Sports” at 12 o’clock and “Automatic” at 6 o’clock, the latter replacing the previous four lines of text.

On the outside, the watch features a stainless steel case with the design of the mythical SKX model, a crown at 4 o’clock and integrated crown guards, a unidirectional bezel with an aluminium insert with black markings for the first 15 minutes and after every 5 minutes, in a reproduction faithful to the original. In addition, curved hardlex crystal and see-through case back feature the “Tachibana Racing” logo marked with “Limited Edition” and the serial number. The watch is offered on a black-grained leather strap with a red lining that evokes the signature red scarf of the Masked Rider 1.

Inside, like the other models in the collection, the Caliber 4R36 automatic movement comes with the hacking seconds function, operating at a frequency of 3 Hz and offering up to 41 hours of power reserve.

As mentioned above, this is a limited edition of just 4,000 units, referenced to the SRPJ91, and offered in a special box with overlapping acrylic plates with the watch’s specifications.

Our Opinion

Many have been the interactions of Seiko 5 Sports, between collaborations of artists, brands, characters and iconic models, but not always, and in our humble opinion, with results worthy of recording.

However, this latest limited edition seems to us by far to be one of the best achieved, and let’s be frank, for us the association with the character that gives life to this watch is of little importance, but more the final result obtained, which proves that sometimes less is more.

Therefore, we can say that contrary to what happens most of the time, we liked the contemporary version of the Seiko 5 Sports Masked Rider more than the original version. The combination of the new textured green dial, which is what Seiko knows how to do well like very few others, a bezel with an aluminium insert and a vintage-style grained black strap undoubtedly creates a very good-looking watch.