Founded on 19 February 2001, the Think the Earth Project was a Japanese based non-profit organisation with lofty ideals of encouraging people to think about global issues and also to “leave the Earth a beautiful place for our children”. In pursuit of those objectives, the NGO worked with Seiko to create a wrist-worn reminder of the planet and it eventually came to be known as the Seiko Think the Earth Wn-1; and in this age of Trump, the watch is not only creepily prescient but totally covfefe.

As Trump pulls out of the Paris Accord, the Seiko Think the Earth Wn-1 watch is totally covfefe and prescient.

Seiko Think the Earth Wn-1 watch is Totally Covfefe

Featuring a 3D rendering of the planet Earth to the scale of 1:580 millionth, the Seiko Think the Earth Wn-1 was aesthetically revolutionary for 2006. Quartz driven, the model of Earth’s northern hemisphere performs a rotation at the same pace as planet Earth, making one full rotation every 24 hours, not only that, it does so mimicking the precise axial rotation – that is to say, the model Earth turns anti-clockwise just like the real one.

As Trump pulls out of the Paris Accord, the out of production Seiko Think the Earth Wn-1 (we found one for sale, details below) is not only totally covfefe but a timely reminder of what’s at stake. There’s one caveat, like many independent watches of today, it’s still not the easiest watch to read. The Seiko Wn-1 Earth watch operates a little counter-intuitively because it follows the true axial rotation of the planet, thus, you’d have to read time anti-clockwise via the small needle marker and this takes some getting used to.

At 45mm. the Seiko Think the Earth Wn-1 has amazing wrist presence, particularly from the side profile.

That said, there’s an immense pay off for visually-inclined geography geeks, if you can accurately draw an imaginary line from the North Pole of the hemisphere and chart it’s course straight through the city of origin, down to the bezel markings, the Seiko Wn-1 Earth watch will give you time at any city immediately thus performing exceptionally as a world time watch.

That said, what really makes the 45mm Seiko Wn-1 Earth watch especially covfefe  is the unique aesthetic of northern hemisphere under a hardlex glass dome which imbues the watch with head-turning wrist presence, especially when viewed from side profile. The watch displays hours and minutes via the top down view of the planet.

Amazing side profile of the Seiko Think the Earth Wn-1

Following the Seiko Wn-1 Earth watch is the WN-2, another rare model with updated quartz mechanisms driving the earth module. The new (but also out of stock and out of production) Seiko Wn-2 earth watch has a 3 reducing gears in the drive train that when backed by a new lithium battery, has a 10 year power supply. Both the Wn-1 and Wn-2, come equipped with a “Sophista” black band, a synthetic fabric with exceptional wearing characteristics (chiefly comfort), different from your typical NATO nylon material.

Whether in Wn-1 or Wn-2 configurations, the Seiko Think the Earth watch is a pretty cool piece of engineering – the etched bezel displays clearly mark hours while the bars give you relative indications of minutes; on the Wn-2 version, the bezel is demarcated into day and night halves, making it far easier to read 24 hour time. You can even elect to use the core module as a desk clock by unclipping the central body and installing it into any one of the solid holders packaged within the boxset. This is probably the only world timer watch which gives you the time at all locations of the globe simultaneously. That said, the manual is written in Japanese but this watch is easy to understand conceptually.

From left: The Seiko Think the Earth Wn-1 as separate components. You can assemble the core module into a stand and use it as a desk clock. Right: The Seiko Think the Earth Wn-2 with day-night bezel.

Technical Specifications of the Seiko WN-1 and WN-2 Earth Watch:

100% Japanese quartz movement by Seiko Japan
Waterproof to 10ATM
Materials: Dome- Hardlex Glass. Core module: stainless steel. Bezel- aluminum. Band- urethane-coated leather
24-hour time
Package includes two bezels (silver and sun/moon) and desktop display case. Note that second bezel on white version is differently styled, and does not display sun/moon
Size: 45 (diameter) x 22.4mm (face depth)

We found a Seiko Think the Earth WN-1 on Facebook for €1300

You can usually find the rare Seiko Think the Earth watches for sale on various watch forums for prices ranging from US$700 to US$1000 for a used model depending on condition but this particular model is in “unworn, new old stock condition”. Look up Patrik Bregy on the Seiko and Grand Seiko Watch Fans facebook group. That said, we make no claims or guarantees as to the authenticity of the watch or the physical condition of it. Luxuo and World of Watches is not liable for any purchase decisions arising from this article.