Seiko Prospex SRPH43K1 Save the Ocean Asia Limited Edition: Big Blue
The Seiko Prospex SRPH43K1 Save the Ocean Asia Limited Edition goes deep for a good cause.
Debuting late last year, the Seiko Prospex SRPH43K1 Save the Ocean Asia Limited Edition is the latest in a reasonably long line of dive watches attempting to give back to the old big blue. Seiko has been on its own save the ocean drive for a couple of years now, and this latest model made waves on launch, no pun intended. In this region, Seiko’s latest on-the-ground efforts includes the coral protection education program of EEC Thailand (Environmental Education Center Thailand), an environmental and social business organization in Thailand.
As for the SRPH43K1 Save the Ocean Asia Limited Edition, any dive watch from brands with the right history — and even some with no past to speak of — is set to become immensely popular; that is shorthand for completely unattainable, and there are a few variants for Prospex, and SRPH43K1 is limited to an unspecified quantity. On that note, this particular version is in stainless steel, not Seiko’s proprietary Ever-Brilliant steel; that version is also limited but is different in a few ways, most notably the price. The gold-coloured knurled crown should not worry you, and is a feature of the specific kind of Prospex model that this is.
You will certainly recall that Seiko has a long history of making dive watches, and tool watches besides. The Prospex collection itself dates back to 1965, and thus includes a whole slew of recognisable models. The Seiko Prospex SRPH43K1 Save the Ocean Asia Limited Edition, which we will call the SRPH43K1 Asia Limited Edition for the rest of this story, is actually in the form of the King Samurai.
Seiko fans will know exactly what to expect from this hefty 43.8mm watch, but we will go over the key specifications momentarily. For the moment, we will pause to note that the reason we are talking up this model now is its silicone strap. Of the many types of material that could be used for dive watches, this one makes the most sense for everyday wear. The SRPH43K1 Asia Limited Edition is very much the sort of watch you could wear all the time.
Given that water-resistance is the first and best feature in terms of daily beaters, you cannot beat the 200m rating here. Silicone goes well with this extraordinary toughness, allowing the 12.8mm thick case to sit comfortably on the wrist — and more specifically directly in contact with skin. Not to be confused with silicon, silicone is one of those wonder materials that is perfectly suited for constant contact with human skin — in our opinion, it is second to none in weathering sweat and humidity. Seiko offers the band in its typical accordion style, making it self-adjusting to a certain extent; you could, for example, opt to wear this over a wetsuit. After all, it does have the word Diver’s on the dial.
On that note, the dial here is a stamped textured blue delight, which matches the strap (at least in pictures; we have not experienced the watch in person). Again, this is a different beast to the other Save the Ocean variants, and the grid pattern on the dial is also a feature that many King Samurai variants share. Something a little different here is the unidirectional ceramic bezel, with orange markers that match the sweep second hand. On the dial, the hands and indices are all coated in Lumibrite, which is arguably superior to typical SuperLuminova. Finally, about the Asia part of the SRPH43K1 Asia Limited Edition name, this includes Oceania.
Movement Automatic calibre 4R35 with date; 41-hour power reserve, approximately
Case 43.8mm in steel; water-resistant to 200m
Strap Silicone
Price US$630, approximately
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