On the Philippine limited edition watches from Seiko

Seiko just released three (yes, not one) new Philippine limited edition watches. It has been doing so since 2020, when they first released the Tubbataha, which has a Monster design. They followed up with a Turtle in the Philippine Sunrise. And a third in the Philippine Eagle. It was clear that Seiko will be coming up with Philippine exclusives every year. Previously, there were two models that were supposed to have been released exclusively in the Philippines - the SKX399 and the SKX401. Both were diver's watches and had a cult following until the new batches eventually came out.

The first two watches were somewhat "must haves" and I thought were priced fairly. The Tubbataha on the right is the first official Philippine limited edition release. My watch was a gift from the Clairvoyant. The second one was a chance purchase. I wanted to get one but the stores near me were out of stock. A couple of months after the release, I was looking at watches at the Seiko store at SM Aura and casually asked if they still had one of the Sunrises. After conferring with each other, the staff informed me that there was an unclaimed unit and they will sell it to me since it was already months after it was reserved. 

I got the Philippine Eagle right after it was released. I was able to reserve one but was abroad and couldn't claim it from the shop so they sold it to the one next in the list. Fortunately, I had another source who's quite reliable and got my watch after I returned from travel. Though the Sunrise is still my favorite, I think the best design should go to the Eagle including the box, which all the more made it a collectible.

 

I was disappointed with the 4th limited edition, which was supposed to be inspired by the Banaue Rice Terraces. I thought it was a downgrade I ended up not getting one and I still don't have any intention of getting one at present. The design just didn't top the Eagle, which set a high bar. But note, too, that the trend was supposed to be towards a better watch model and design. I thought the Rice Terraces didn't have that. Which now brings us to the 5th limited edition model...

The Whiskered Pitta was interesting to me as this was an Alpinist model with a screwdown crown. I had wanted the original Alpinist model (the green non X model) but this one's a nice alternative to that. It took me a while though to acquire one as the initial price was not in my budget. Apparently, there was already a collector's fatigue of sorts for the limited edition watches and so I was able to get a new one for a discounted price.

Which now brings us to the three limited edition watches Seiko released recently. All are Seiko 5 GMT watches that are supposed to represent Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. While I have some connection to all the places (Vigan, Bohol and Zamboanga), I thought the designs were not that great. Well, at least not enough to get me to buy one with a price tag of over 30,000 pesos. Other watches of the same line have better designs. Some collectors have even said that these limited edition watches looked like mods. I have yet to see one in person so technically the jury's still out there and I can't really say I've closed the door to these. Of course, if the price is right later on...I might just reconsider.

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