Kintaro Hattori opened a shop for selling and repairing watches in Tokyo's Ginza district in 1881. One hundred and forty-five years later, the company that grew out of it is marking the date not with a single grail but with a colour, applied across three of its most familiar mechanical watches. The colour is Edo purple, a traditional Japanese shade that took shape during the Edo period, from 1603 to 1868, when the cultural foundations of modern Tokyo were laid. Monochrome introduced the three mechanical models on 6 August 2026, with references and prices.
The Alpinist, in pale purple
First is the Alpinist HBC006, the modern reading of Seiko's 1959 mountaineering watch, based on the SARB series from 1995 with its inner compass bezel and second crown at 4 o'clock. The steel case is 39.5mm across and 12.7mm thick, with a sapphire crystal and magnifier, a screw-down crown and 200 metres of water resistance. The dial is the gentlest of the three, a sunray-brushed light purple with the model's wedge markers and Arabic numerals, and gold accents on the logo and seconds hand. Inside is the in-house calibre 6R55, an automatic with date and a three-day, 72-hour reserve. It comes on a black leather strap with a crocodile pattern and purple stitching, is limited to 7,000 pieces and costs EUR 980.
Cocktail Time, named after an actual cocktail
The Presage Cocktail Time GMT HCB006 is the dress option, and the most literal in its inspiration. The 40.5mm steel case, 12.8mm thick under a box-shaped Hardlex crystal, holds a glossy textured dial in a vibrant, translucent purple with a radial pattern showing through, and gold accents on the logo and GMT hand. The colour is drawn from a real drink, the "Edo Murasaki" created by Hisashi Kishi of Tokyo's Star Bar, in keeping with a Cocktail Time line that has always taken its dials from glassware. Power is the calibre 4R34, the office-hours GMT movement first seen in the 5 Sports GMT, with a 41-hour reserve. It sits on a five-link steel bracelet, is limited to 6,000 pieces and costs EUR 620.
The SKX, at the deep end
The third is the entry point, the 5 Sports SKX HDB003, built on the shape of the SKX007. The steel case is 42.5mm with a crown at 4 o'clock, a rotating bezel with a black Hardlex insert and 100 metres of water resistance. Its dial is the darkest purple of the set, a deep sunray with gold accents and the sharp, vertically striated indices introduced with the redesigned 5 Sports SKX line in 2025. It runs the automatic calibre 4R36 with a 41-hour reserve, comes on the refreshed steel bracelet, is limited to 9,999 pieces and costs EUR 450.
All three reach Seiko Boutiques and selected retailers worldwide from October 2026. Anniversary sets can strain for significance, but this one is refreshingly plain in its logic: one historic colour, three price points and three archetypes, a field watch, a dress GMT and a diver, each getting a version of the same idea. The Alpinist's pale sunray is the one most likely to be remembered, and at EUR 450 the SKX is the one most likely to sell out.
