With its dial inspired by an underwater forest found in the depths of an icy green lake near Skarvsnes Foreland in Antarctica, the Prospex LX line LE ref. SNR045 (JDM ref. SBDB039) –
exhibits all the same design features that were first introduced when the LX line debuted in 2019.
Historically Seiko has handed out watches to researchers and explorers who were venturing into harsh and challenging environments such as the Skarvsnes Foreland in order to get valuable feedback on how particular models performed there.
The Skarvsnes Foreland is located approximately 55 kilometers from Showa station, a Japanese research station in Antarctica. It is in this area where Japanese researchers discovered a mysterious underwater forest of moss pillars covering the bottom of a nearby lake.
The unique moss pillars take several hundred years to form underwater. When discovered by Japanese researchers, they were affectionately named, Kokebozu, a Japanese word that combines koke (moss) and bouzu (young boy), so Moss Boy or Moss Lad?
It is known today that the kokebozu is not made from one type of plant life alone, but from moss and various algae and bacteria that coexist.
While the dial of the Limited Edition echoes these aquatic moss pillars stood at the bottom of an Antarctic lake, its green ceramic bezel inlay is said to represent; “the breath of life cultivated over a long period in the Antarctic ground”.
Tbh, I’m not sure wtf that means but yes, green inlays do go very nicely with green dials.
As to the watch’s design, like its LX line siblings, this is based on the historic 1968 Diver’s, Seiko’s first diver’s watch that had 300m of water-resistance as well as a high-beat movement.
The LX line inherits the original case design of the 1968 Hi-beat Diver’s.
In addition to the Hi-beat engine, it also boasts Zaratsu-polished distortion-free mirror surfaces on the facets of its case. It was also engineered to have a low center of gravity for increased wrist-comfort.
Of the watch’s professional diver’s features is a water-resistance for SAT (saturation) diving to a depth of 300 meters, a unidirectional bezel fitted with a cermet exterior panel, and a clasp with a push-button diver-adjusted mechanism.
The letters “LIMITED EDITION” and the serial number 001/500-500/500 are displayed on the case-back so that you know that this a limited series edition.
Power comes from a Spring Drive Caliber 5R65 with its unique glide motion seconds hand and power-reserve of approximately 72 hours (3 days) from fully wound.
The Seiko Spring Drive highly reliable movement as it features high-resistance to temperature variations and shocks, which are to be expected in active situations such as SCUBA diving.
The 500 piece Prospex LX line Limited Edition ref. SBDB039 / SNR045 has an MSRP of 630,000 JPY excl. tax (approx. 5’945USD).
Thoughts? I keep seeing Christmas trees every time I look at the dial.
STOP WHALING in JAPAN
Very nice watch
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