What I have here is the Seiko Presage Shippo Enamel – SPB075J1. The vast and immeasurable lineup of the Seiko Presage range can be likened to ‘how long is a piece of string’. Case in point, there’s the OG Seiko Cocktail Time – that in itself comes in a variety of colours, there is the Fuyugeshiki, the Starlight, chronographs and more recently – spring drive variants… etc etc etc. 

In my humble opinion, this particular variant of the Presage is one of the most beautiful pieces in the range and it really needs to be seen in person for one to appreciate the deep blue guilloche dial.

To quote Seiko, each ‘Presage Shippo enamel dial is made by Ando Cloisonne, a specialist manufacturer in Nagoya with over a century of experience under his belt. Craftsman Wataru Totani paints the glaze by hand onto the surface of each and every dial… the dial is then fired at 800 degrees Celsius. The painting and firing processes are repeated several times to ensure the evenness of each enamel dial. Only when Totani is completely satisfied is the dial then polished so that the delicate pattern emerges…’

How does it wear you ask? It wears seductively.

Coming on a navy crocodile leather strap coupled with a three fold clasp, and housed in a 40mm case, it sits beautifully on the wrist and punches well above its weight.

However, as beautiful as the Seiko Presage Shippo is, it has one major flaw – it only comes with the rather pedestrian 6R15 movement. If it came as standard with something packing just a little bit more of a punch, then this would truly propel it to the top of the watch charts. If that had been the case though, then it could have probably been released as a Grand Seiko instead.