Seiko Marinemaster 300 Limited Edition JDM

Our love for Seiko divers should be pretty apparent.

From the rare as hen's teeth Hi Beat 6159 to the film-famous 6105 and 6309 models to the economy workhorse SKX007, those Japanese watchmakers perfected incredibly well-made tool watches decades ago- and at prices that make the most diehard Swiss watch fans cry out in jealousy.

While our preference generally runs to the aged and storied pieces of the past, there's a special place in our watch roll reserved for a modern Seiko, the piece we always go to when we go out into the field. Whether we're wearing it while hoofing it up a mountain, trudging through the wetlands in search of winged dinner, fishing for brownies or bonefish, or just getting it sandy at the beach, this piece serves a very important role as a timepiece that can take a beating while also giving us watch snobs something to wear that we can be truly proud of.

But not all modern Seikos are like this one.

What we've got here is one of only 1000 Limited Edition Marinemaster 300s released early this year. Taking its styling cues from the aforementioned 6159, this Marinemaster is one badass diver, featuring a 44mm monocoque case, oversized unidirectional rotating diver's bezel, and steel bracelet with ratcheting diver's extension. The similarities to its ancestors don't end there, as this Limited Edition model has a distinctively vintage flair in the form of gilt-style hands, 4-line text on the dial, and hour marker surrounds. In other words, this is a big modern diver absolutely designed with the vintage Seiko enthusiast firmly in mind.

We dig that.

Sold out almost immediately at the time it was released, this particular example was originally allocated to the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM), and comes complete with its original sales paperwork. In near-mint condition, this piece also comes complete with all of its original packaging, hangtags, booklets, and guarantee cards. And with a serial of #87/1000, it is also an early production piece, destined to become even more collectable down the line. We'd be fortunate to ever have another one of these come through our hands. You'd be fortunate to have it on your wrist. 

Get to it!