Confession: This Seiko Presage x Studio Ghibli Collaboration Is My First Seiko Watch

It’s a little crazy to actually type this out but I never actually owned a Seiko watch until this year. Obviously I have reviewed, written about, photographed, and indeed appreciated dozens and dozens of Seikos throughout the decade I have been in this industry but there was never one that truly spoke to me as a collector. Well, that was until I saw news of the Presage SPB437, a beautiful limited edition done with a blue enamel dial as a tribute to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, one of my favorite movies of all time and the Hayao Miyazaki film that led to the creation of Studio Ghibli, the legendary Japanese animation studio. 2024 marked the 40th anniversary of Nausicaä which seems like the perfect opportunity to release a limited edition for the most hardcore fans.

This is not the first Seiko watch done for Studio Ghibli as there was a pair of Presage watches released in 2020 for the also-great Porco Rosso. The first of these was the SNR047J1, a 500-piece limited edition done with a Spring Drive movement and a white enamel dial inspired by the cockpit of the Crimson Pig’s plane with subtle touches like red seconds hand, red R, and the The Tricolour Italian flag colors. The second of these was the SRQ033, a black enamel dial Spring Drive chronograph with similar color touches and a Tricolour seconds sub-dial at 3 o’clock that was limited to 600 pieces. These were magnificent pieces made for Ghibli-heads like myself though they were significantly pricer at around $5,800 for the SNR047J1 and $4,100 for the SRQ033. Still, these found buyers as there are no secondary market listings at all for the SNR047J1 and the three listings for the SRQ033 I see on Chrono24 are all about $5,500. Soon after came 2021’s Presage limited edition for the 1986 classic Castle in the Sky. The SPB215 was an enamel off-white dial Presage limited to 1,200 pieces done with Breguet-style hands, Roman numerals, and the logo of the flying castle Laputa at 6 o’clock. This was significantly more accessible with a price of $1,450 though secondary market listings range from $4,000 to $6,500.

While I was a big fan of these previous limited editions, they really just did not speak to my personal tastes. I am not a big chronograph person nor am I particularly fond of Roman Numerals (something I have previously discussed). And while I am fond of the SNR047J1 and it’s fun Arabic numerals, I am not the biggest fan of the power reserve indicator and date window on the dial. And then came the Nausicaä limited edition with its eye-catching blue enamel dial done by Master Craftsman Mitsuru Yokosawa. And while the color is what initially grabbed me, it was the dial’s clean and uncluttered layout that had me thinking about this watch for months after its release in 2024.

Measuring 40.5mm wide and 12.4mm thick, the Presage SPB437 is done in a sandblasted steel case with a super-hard coating. The aesthetic almost resembles titanium but the intention of the finish is to get the case to resemble the well-worn tools seen in the post-apocalyptic future of the movie. The blue crystal on the crown is a great touch and is meant to resemble the eyes of the Ohm, the giant trilobite creatures at the heart of Nausicaä. An interesting fact about this watch is that it is outfitted with the Calibre 6R51 which has a 72-hour power reserve and is a new no-date version of the 6R55 only found on this watch. From the case back you can see the gold-colored rotor and the embossed graphic that has a very cool depiction of the final hopeful scene from the movie.

And of course, there is that dial. Apart from being just a lovely shade of blue, it is near perfectly matched to the protagonist’s outfit in the movie. The leaf style hour and minutes hands are done in a contrasting white that is very legible, while the gold colored seconds hand adds a splash of warmth to the otherwise cool dial. This minimalist approach to the dial design is exactly what I’ve been waiting for in one of these collaboration watches and it delivers just perfectly.

It’s funny that I somehow avoided owning a Seiko until this Studio Ghibli collaboration came along but sometimes that’s just how it goes. I’ve got a fairly developed and honed taste in watches which can be a little restrictive when it comes to my personal collecting habits but when something lands, it really hits the mark. The Seiko Presage SPB437 Studio Ghibli Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind watch is limited to 1,500 pieces which is a fairy big production number. The price of $1,600 is in line with what you should expect to pay for something with a special dial from the Presage Craftsmanship series. Of course, the appeal here can be made or broken by how much this Studio Ghibli movie may mean to you. For me, this is a watch that embodies so much of what I love in watchmaking and beyond. You can learn more about this watch on seikowatches.com