Seiko has taken one of the watch world’s most familiar nicknames and decided that it wasn’t literal enough. The result is the new Seiko Power Design Project Pandagraph, a pair of chronographs that take the traditional black and white “panda” dial and turn it into, well, an actual panda.
The HHK001 and HHK002 are production versions of a concept originally created by designer Kiyotaka Sakai for Seiko’s Power Design Project in 2024. The idea was simple enough: if chronographs are called panda dials because their contrasting sub-dials vaguely resemble a panda’s face, why not make the resemblance considerably more obvious? Now Seiko has gone all the way with it.
The two recessed chronograph pushers sit at the top of the case and are shaped to resemble panda ears, while the rounded cushion-shaped case forms the cute animal’s head. The two black subdials become its eyes, with a small nose and mouth completing the face around the 6 o’clock position.
Even the hands get involved. The hour and minute hands are shaped like bamboo leaves, while the usual tachymeter scale has been renamed the “Sasameter”, referencing sasa, the Japanese term for bamboo grass. The attention to detail continues on the back of the watch, where Seiko has added a depiction of a panda from behind, including its white tail.
There are two versions. The HHK001 sticks with the traditional black and white panda colour scheme, while the HHK002 replaces the white sections with pink. The latter is inspired by the pinkish colouring of newborn pandas, because apparently an already fairly ridiculous watch wasn’t quite cute enough. Both models use a 43mm stainless steel case that is 14.6mm thick. Despite the relatively large diameter, the 44.1mm lug-to-lug measurement should make the watch wear somewhat more compactly than the numbers suggest.
The dial has a radial embossed texture intended to resemble panda fur, while the case combines brushed and polished surfaces. A Hardlex crystal sits over the dial and water resistance is rated at 30 metres. Inside is Seiko’s 8T61 mecha-quartz chronograph movement. It provides the usual hours, minutes and small seconds, along with a chronograph capable of measuring up to 60 minutes in 1/5-second increments. Accuracy is rated at ±15 seconds per month and the battery should last approximately three years.
The watches come on leather straps matched to their respective colour schemes, with 20mm lug widths and stainless steel pin buckles. Seiko has toned down some of the more extreme furry details seen on the original concept, so you won’t need to worry about giving the strap a regular grooming session.
As entertaining as the design is, this isn’t a cheap novelty watch. The HHK001 will be limited to 3,000 pieces, while only 2,000 examples of the pink HHK002 will be produced. Both are priced at €590, US$540 or £510, with availability scheduled from November.
Seiko has always been very playful with its Power Design Project watches, but the Pandagraph may be one of the clearest examples yet of what happens when a designer takes a familiar watchmaking term far too seriously. And honestly, if you’re going to call a chronograph a panda dial, you might as well make it look like one. What’s next? The Tuna, the Turtle, or maybe the Predator?
