PROFESSIONAL WATCHES™: Spring Drive Spacewalk by SEIKO

[ via Seiko ]

Here is a shot of the new Concept/Limited Edition watch from Seiko, the Spring Drive Spacewalk. Very cool name and some very impressive specs, especially the case that is 53 mm L x 48.7 mm W. Hit the jump for official press images and for a lengthly but interesting press release. I visited the Seiko booth a few times during the Baselworld show and did not see this watch displayed, so I am guessing they are still preparing it for production. Check the specs below:

SEIKO Spring Drive Spacewalk Specifications:

Caliber:
Spring Drive Chronograph 5R86

Case:
High-intensity Titanium
Diameter 53.0 mm (12-6h) , 48.7 mm (3-9h)
Thickness 15.2 mm
Weight 92.5 g

Glass:
Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating

Water resistance:
10 Bar

Bracelet:
The final specification is yet to be decided. SEIKO is now working with
the Russian Federal Space Agency on the optimum design.

Spring Drive Chronograph Caliber 5R86:
Hour, minute and second hands with calendar
GMT hand
Power reserve indicator
50 jewels

Movement Diameter:
30.0 mm
Thickness: 7.6 mm

Other:
416 parts
Power reserve: 72 hours with/without chronograph function in use
Chronograph to 12 hours

Official Seiko Press Release:

SEIKO Spring Drive Spacewalk:
The Quiet Revolution goes into space
In October 2008, Richard Garriott, the renowned video game designer and
adventurer, will become the sixth private space explorer. Richard will conduct his
space mission aboard the International Space Station, and during his flight, he
intends to conduct a spacewalk, which would make him the first private individual to
do so. As steps out into free space, he will be wearing a SEIKO Spring Drive watch,
specially designed and built for this purpose.

Three years ago, the “Quiet Revolution” of Spring Drive started, and all over the
surface of the earth, Spring Drive is increasingly accepted as one of the most
important new developments in luxury watch-making. In 2008, the revolution goes
into space. This unique watch, the Spring Drive Spacewalk, is presented for the first time at Baselworld 2008 and takes pride of place in the new SEIKO Stand.

The second generation in space
Richard Garriott is not only a remarkable entrepreneur and adventurer (see
biography below) but he is also the son of a NASA astronaut. Richard's father, Dr.
Owen Garriott, made two space flights, aboard Skylab in 1973 and aboard STS-
9/Spacelab-1 in 1983. In total, Owen spent 70 days in space and he carried SEIKO
watches on both of these flights and wore one continuously during his Spacelab
mission. His trust in SEIKO was inherited by his son, and so it was natural that
Richard should contact SEIKO as soon as his mission was arranged. Richard and
SEIKO will be the first “second-generation” space partnership.

Why SEIKO Spring Drive?
The challenge of making a watch that could operate not only during a space flight
but also outside on a spacewalk is a daunting one, and is precisely the kind of
challenge that brings out the best in SEIKO's engineers. The first decision to be
made was on the type of movement to be used. Without special treatment, battery-
operated instruments are not appropriate for a spacewalk for safety reasons. Thus,
quartz movements were not considered. The choice was therefore between
mechanical and Spring Drive. The choice was decided by the need for safety and
accuracy. As the watch will be exposed to a range of temperature from minus 20
degrees Celsius to plus 70, accuracy at extreme temperatures was the critical factor,
and no mechanical watch can retain its accuracy in these conditions, because of the
inherent instability in these conditions of the traditional escapement which regulates
the time in all mechanical watches. Instead of a traditional regulator, Spring Drive
has a Tri-synchro Regulator, an entirely new regulator that uses and generates
mechanical, electrical and electromagnetic power, and is less affected by
temperature variations. Thus, Spring Drive was selected as the perfect mechanism
for the task.

The Spring Drive Spacewalk
The SEIKO Spring Drive Spacewalk has been custom designed and built with
Richard's mission in mind. The mission of SEIKO's engineers was to build a watch
that was light, air-tight, strong, easy to read and easy to use, as well as safe and
accurate.

(i) The air-tight case
Because of the vacuum of free space, the watch case needs to be completely air-tight. Based on SEIKO's long experience with Divers watches that can withstand pressures up to 1,000 meters, Spacewalk was designed with special features that will guarantee air-tightness. In addition, to maintain the air-tightness in the huge temperature changes that occur in the vacuum of free space, and especially in cold temperatures, it was necessary to develop a new type of gasket using a rubberized material.
(ii) The lightness of High-intensity titanium
Everything to be taken into space needs to be as light and as strong as possible. High -
intensity titanium was chosen as the case material because it is 40% lighter than stainless steel. (iii) The optimum balance of lightness and wide dial-opening
The next challenge was to make the watch both as light and as large as possible. The case was designed for minimum volume but maximum dial opening size, to ensure quick readability. The solution was to build a case with recessed sides, but this required a new engineering solution, using a CNC machine that SEIKO developed in-house. This process reduced the volume of the case material by 30 %. With this process, a case was created that has the optimum balance of strength, lightness and wide dial opening. (iv) The most readable dial. Richard needs to be able to see time and elapsed time at a glance. After many dial designs were tested, a new layout, with the chronograph dials at the top, was selected. The hands and hour markers were designed expressly for this watch, and additional layers of SEIKO's Lumibrite material were used. The dial is now at least three times brighter than a normal luminous watch.
(v) Maximum ease of use
Richard's hands will be protected, of course, by thick gloves. He therefore needed the buttons to be over-sized so that they can easily be used and they are placed at the top of the case to be more readily accessible.

The harmony of space travel and Spring Drive
In addition to all the technical attributes which make the Spring Drive Spacewalk the
prefect watch for the mission, there is a profound harmony between the essence of
Spring Drive and the whole arena of space and space exploration. With its glide
motion hands, SEIKO Spring Drive is the only watch to reflect the true, continuous
nature of time. It measures time without 'ticks', and the perfect, uninterrupted
motion of every part of the movement is in perfect harmony with the eternal,
continual and precise motion of the planets. There can be nothing more appropriate
than the arrival of the “quiet revolution” of Spring Drive into space. SEIKO is deeply
grateful to Richard Garriott and to the Space Adventures Company for the
opportunity to contribute to this thrilling mission by bringing the beauty of glide
motion closer to the stars.

Meeting the challenge and the future
The task of creating this remarkable watch was difficult, and it has involved new
developments in every aspect of SEIKO's watchmaking skills. It has taken a
dedicated team over three years to create and to test the Spring Drive Spacewalk
and new skills, materials and ideas have been generated as a result. SEIKO's history
is replete with examples of how watches like Spacewalk later inspire future
generations of SEIKO watches. That is the spirit that inspires SEIKO. Perhaps, the
SEIKO Spring Drive Spacewalk will be another example. We are going to create just
100 watches. Among them, three pieces will go with Richard on his mission and the
remaining watches will be marketed worldwide in December this year.

The Mission - October 12 to 19, 2008
Richard will spend approximately a week in space, blasting off from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the SOYUZ TMA-13 spacecraft. The launch is
scheduled for October 12, 2008.
Richard's mission is more than a joy ride! He will be conducting a series of scientific
experiments and his father, who is his mission scientist, is now developing the
program. One experiment already in place concerns the growth of protein crystals
in space, which may be used in researching cures for diseases on Earth. In addition,
Richard will seek to use his mission to highlight the future commercial possibilities of
manned space flight.