Faceted crystals may seem like a hangover from an unfortunate ’70s trend?something the watch world has moved on from and possibly even looks back on with slight embarrassment. However, I have always had an infatuation with these watches despite arriving in the world years after their decline.
Seiko were one of the many brands that produced models with faceted crystals in the 1970s, but are also one of the few who tested these waters again several decades later. In the last couple of years, only a handful of brands?among them Rado and Orient?have once again brought watches with faceted crystals to the market on retro styled watches such as the Rado Diastar Original and the Orient Neo 70s.
The Seiko SARB005 with its faceted crystal right out of the King Seiko archives.
Seiko?s Vanac series formed part of the wider King Seiko line, which sat just beneath Grand Seiko in terms of quality in the 1960s and ’70s. Produced between ’72 and ’74, the Vanac series showed the funky side of Seiko and in addition to the faceted crystals, these watches often featured unusual color schemes and angular cases. The crystals were typically flat on the top so that there was always a clear viewing window, and the outer areas were angled to create different patterns. The crystals used were glass and were therefore prone to chipping, and pristine examples are now rather hard to find.
Seiko?s revisiting of this peculiarity occurred in the mid-2000s with the firs...