Watch complications vary from traditional to contemporary, whimsical to necessary, and watch brands are always combining complications to display horological prowess and open up new market trends. But how about combining rhythm and timekeeping as a complication within the Seiko SMW004A Metronome watch. A striking quartz watch which has the ability to produce a beat or pulse just like a metronome, and it can also play pitched notes for the tuning of instruments.

The relevance of a metronome watch is a little lost on me, I’m guessing it’s useful for musicians and teachers of music, but maybe also useful for meditation purposes or for measuring a runner’s cadence. But I would say the main aim is just a fun, quirky complication in a handsome case proving useful if you are musically inclined.
It may have Seiko written on the dial but this isn’t made by the Seiko we all know, in fact it’s made by ‘Seiko Instruments’ who produce amongst other things, metronomes! so a perfect company to combine the two elements of timekeeping and rhythm keeping, but have they done a good job?

It’s a great unisex size at 36.5mm diameter, 39mm lug to lug and 10mm thick all rendered in a sleek and angular stainless steel case with drilled lugs. 6 colour options should cater for many tastes and styles. I chose the pvd coated black case with a dark blue dial under a mineral crystal and it lends a certain sporty aesthetic that I wasn’t expecting, as all the other colour options give off a dress watch vibe.

The dial of the Seiko SMW004A Metronome is stepped with light grey printed numerals in the sunken section for time keeping with the outer raised dial section accommodating the metronome scale. Overall it’s a lesson in how to display information correctly, with the simple solution of displaying time in the centre and the complication around the outside. People will no doubt draw similarities with Junghans and Nomos dial designs, but this takes it further and really shows you how a dial should be designed with attention paid to the displaying of information and the resultant negative space, to make using the watch effortless and pleasurable.

Activating the metronome feature is done by the pusher at 7 o’clock. The hands move round into position with the minute hand swinging back and forth between the pitch values marked on the dial at 12 o’clock, while the hour hand lines up to the scale, governing the speed or pitch of the metronome. Pressing either pusher at 2 or 4 o’clock decreases and increases the swing and pressing the pusher at 10 o’clock adds an audible tone. Pressing the mode button again puts the watch into the note mode where two notes in 3 pitches can be played to aid the tuning of an instrument with the audible tone activated by the pusher at 10 o’clock.

The hands of the Seiko SMW004A Metronome watch are particularly interesting, reminding me of a conductor’s baton, skeletonised and very similar in design to aid reading the metronome scale. But this similarity does nothing to aid the reading of the time. It really is confusing, and with no minute scale, accuracy is non-existent. Both hands look the same and are of equal length with just a colored tip to distinguish the hour hand.

By taking this elegant geometry further and changing the colour on the tip of the hour hand would have been a better solution to distinguish between the two and give you a chance of reading the time better.
No lume is present so going back to my thought of this being a different take on a dress watch is further enhanced. The supplied strap is very basic, thin but comfortable. Remember this is not a Seiko corporation watch so corners have been cut and just enough left behind to make this a simplistic, functioning instrument and nothing more.

Despite its glaring flaws you can’t help but love this little timepiece, if only for its party piece and gorgeous aesthetic.