The Seiko Quartz Astron 35SQ is etched in the annals of horological history as the world’s first quartz watch. The origin of this watch can be traced back to a project for developing a quartz timer for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. The watches’ electronic circuits and functions were efficiently integrated into a single hybrid module. the inside of the watch was entirely devoid of mechanical parts except for those needed for indicating the time.While mechanical watches averaged about 10-20 seconds a day, the Seiko Astron 35sQ was accurate to within 5 seconds a month.
Seiko Quartz-Astron 35SQ
In 2012 Seiko introduced the Astron Series which boasts of features like solar-charging, world time and a perpetual calendar but, most crucially, boasts GPS connectivity . The Astron line has been constantly updated by Seiko with many new features with every model . Now in 2018 , a new chapter in the history of Astron GPS Solar technology opens with the launch of an entirely new caliber, 5X, that offers the most advanced functionality ever. The new Seiko Astron 5Xseries is the world’s smallest and thinnest GPS solar watch. It is just 42.9mm in diameter and 12.2mm in depth.To enhance the speed and quality of the GPS connection, every component in the GPS module has been re-engineered. Thanks to the use of three independent motors for the hour, minute and second hands, Caliber 5X requires at the fastest just three seconds* to change from one time zone to another.
The Astron 5X watch adjusts automatically to the exact time, up to twice a day. If it can see the sky, it will connect with one or more GPS satellites and re-set the time, if needed, to a precision of one second every 100,000 years. Even if the watch cannot see the sky, it remembers when it was last successful in receiving a time signal and automatically attempts to receive a signal.
The new 5X caliber will be available in December 2018 in four design variations, including one limited edition of 2,000, inspired by the remarkable astronomical phenomenon of the supernova, a star that, at the end of its life, explodes and releases vast amounts of energy. In addition to these four creations, two more will be added in February 2019.
