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Seiko’s 145th Anniversary Prospex Diver HBB001: 9,999 Pieces at $595, on Sale Since June

The cheaper half of Seiko’s anniversary pair is still the more interesting value story.

Image: Seiko

Seiko announced the Prospex HBB001 on 14 May 2026 as one of two 145th Anniversary Limited Editions, with availability from June 2026. It is a limited edition of 9,999 pieces at $595, and it remains listed on Seiko’s US site. Its sibling is the HBC005, a 1965 Heritage Diver reissue with the 6R55 movement, 300m rating, 4,000 pieces and a $1,400 price.

The case is stainless steel at 41.7 mm across and 12.3 mm thick, with a 49.5 mm lug-to-lug and 20 mm lugs, under a Hardlex crystal, on a steel bracelet. Water resistance is 200 meters, which Seiko describes as suitable for scuba diving. Inside is the 4R35, automatic with hand winding, 23 jewels, 21,600 vph, and roughly 41 hours of reserve. Seiko’s own Key Features copy sums up the look as “the angular design enhanced by a sleeker more compact profile.”

The press release describes a bold, sculpted case with sharp faceting and a two-tone aluminum bezel, silver across the 0 to 15 minute scale and blue for the rest. Worn & Wound identifies the platform as Seiko’s “Samurai” and puts the dial a shade or two darker than the silver on the HBC005.

The key detail is the price. At 145 years, Seiko’s milestone piece is a sub-$600 Prospex, a contrast to the premium-ceiling watches most brands release for such occasions. With 9,999 pieces, “limited” is doing light work here, and that is the point: this is an anniversary watch built to be bought, not hunted.

Source: seikousa.com, seikowatches.com, wornandwound.com

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Ocean Crawler's Case for Swiss Automatic Longevity, and a Paid Warranty to Match

The US microbrand's blog post puts the "generations" claim in writing, letting collectors separate engineering from marketing.

Image: Ocean Crawler

Ocean Crawler’s September 23, 2026 post, Why Swiss Automatic Watches Are Built to Last for Generations, bylined Christian Champion, is a category explainer, not a product launch. Its value to collectors: the familiar claim that mechanical watches outlive their owners is here in writing, not just industry folklore.

The post breaks down into three parts.

The first covers standard horology: rotor, mainspring, gear train, jewels and balance wheel, all described in the abstract. It notes that mainsprings give out after a number of years and that swapping one is routine service work. It describes pivots turning in synthetic ruby jewels to reduce metal-on-metal wear, and a watchmaker regulating the balance as standard corrective work.

The second part is where the argument stretches. The page attributes “modular construction” to Swiss mechanical movements and describes them as made for easy disassembly, regulation and what it calls infinite repairability. It goes further and says longevity is potentially infinite, provided maintenance continues and replacement parts remain obtainable. Ocean Crawler frames that conditionally, to its credit, and it does put a number on maintenance: the service interval offered by most watch companies, it says, is about five to seven years, with rarely worn watches able to go longer, and accuracy and balance amplitude as the proper test of whether service is due. That is standard industry guidance rather than a promise specific to Ocean Crawler’s own watches, and the page names no jewel count. The modular-construction assertion is not attributed to any movement maker, though the page does name its own workhorse: the Sellita SW200-1, which Champion says is present in many Ocean Crawler watches and was chosen for durability and global parts availability. So the engineering half of the argument is thinner than the language suggests, but it is not empty.

The third part is commerce. The same page advertises a five-year warranty on all watches and an optional 10-Year Extended Warranty at $199. “A quality mechanical watch will outlast its owner,” Ocean Crawler writes, a few scrolls above a decade of coverage sold as an add-on.

Source: oceancrawler.com

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Oris Hölstein Edition 2025: the CHF 4,150 Black DLC ProPilot Limited to 250, a Year On

Launched June 2, 2025 with a bear hidden in the lume, the ProPilot edition has already been followed by a 2026 Artelier. The numbers were published at the time.

Image: Oris

Oris released the Hölstein Edition 2025 on June 2, 2025, one in its annual series celebrating the brand’s home village. Oris’s announcement links the watch to the brand’s 1904 founding in Hölstein, Switzerland, and to its habit of releasing a Hölstein Edition every June 1.

The 2025 edition is based on the ProPilot, with a black DLC-coated case and a fully lumed dial. In the dark, the lume glows green to reveal the Oris Bear. It houses the in-house Calibre 400. Only 250 pieces were made, each individually numbered.

The specification was published at launch. Reference 01 400 7803 4781-Set: a 41mm steel case in black DLC, 11.9mm thick, 100m water resistance, Calibre 400 with its 120-hour power reserve and 10-year warranty, on a black textile strap with a DLC folding clasp. The price was CHF 4,150 (USD 5,000 on Oris’s US site), per Monochrome and Oris’s product page, which now lists the watch as out of stock.

Its successor arrived on June 1, 2026. The Hölstein Edition 2026 is an Artelier with the small-seconds Calibre 401, reference 01 401 7812 4081-Set, again 250 pieces, at CHF 3,800, per Monochrome.

Source: oris.ch, oris.ch (product page), monochrome-watches.com (2025), monochrome-watches.com (2026)

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