The Seiko Power Design Project Panda Chronograph is a limited-edition quartz chronograph whose dial is shaped like a real panda’s face. It comes in white (HHK001, 3,000 pieces) and pink (HHK002, 2,000 pieces). It measures 43mm by 14.6mm and runs on Seiko’s caliber 8T61. Pricing is $540 in the US, £510 in the UK and €590 in Europe, with deliveries from November at Seiko Boutiques and select retailers.
The Panda Dial, Taken Literally
Watch people have called black-and-white chronographs “panda dials” for decades. Seiko just decided to stop pretending it was a metaphor.
The Seiko Power Design Project Panda Chronograph started life as a one-off exhibition piece, the kind of playful concept you photograph, smile at and assume you’ll never see in a shop window. It turned out people didn’t want to just look at it. They wanted to wear it. So Seiko listened, and now the panda with eye-patch subdials and ear-shaped pushers is a real, buyable limited edition.
And honestly? It’s the most fun Seiko has been in a while. Below you’ll find everything worth knowing: where it came from, the hidden details most coverage skips, how the white and pink versions differ, and whether you should actually try to get one.
What Is the Seiko Power Design Project?
The Power Design Project is Seiko’s in-house design playground. First presented in 2001, it gives Seiko’s own designers room to rethink what a watch can be, away from the rules of their day-to-day product work. Playfulness and surprise are the whole point.
Most of what comes out of it stays in exhibitions. These are concepts and prototypes, not catalog watches. That’s exactly why this release matters: it’s rare for a Power Design Project idea to make the jump into production.
Where the Panda Came From
In 2024, Seiko staged the “Incredibly Specialized Watch Exhibition” as part of the project. The idea drew on Seiko’s long history of purpose-built watches, from sports stopwatches to divers and railway pieces. Seven designers each created one hyper-specific watch.
One of them was a watch made exclusively for panda lovers, designed by Seiko’s Kiyotaka Sakai. It became the breakout favorite of the show. Two years later, it’s the second release in the Seiko power design project collection (officially “Collection 2 Limited Editions”).
Seiko even teased the launch in late September with a silhouette of a panda eating bamboo, captioned “Who are you?” Fans figured it out quickly.
Design Details: Every Panda Reference Explained
This is where the watch earns its price. Nearly every part has a panda joke hidden in it, and most of them are surprisingly well executed.
The Dial: A Face, Not Just Two Subdials
A classic panda chronograph uses round black subdials on a white dial. Sakai reshaped those subdials into the drooping, oval eye patches of a real panda, which gives the watch a sleepy, laid-back expression. Below the center sits a nose and mouth. The dial surface is even textured to suggest fur, and the hands take inspiration from bamboo leaves.
It reads as a panda from across a room. Up close, it still reads as a proper chronograph.
The Pushers Are the Ears
The chronograph pushers sit at 11 and 1 o’clock, rounded off to look like panda ears. They’re fully functional, not decoration. That top-mounted layout is unusual (more on why Seiko chose quartz for it below), and it’s the detail that makes the case silhouette instantly recognizable.
The “Sasameter”
On most chronographs, the outer ring is a tachymeter for measuring speed. Here it’s renamed the Sasameter, after sasa, the Japanese word for bamboo. The scale tops out at 30 km/h, which Seiko cites as the theoretical maximum running speed of a panda.
Is that useful? Not even slightly. Is it charming? Completely.
The Caseback Has a Tail
Flip the watch over and the panda continues. The caseback mimics the black pattern across a panda’s back, finished with a three-dimensional tail. “LIMITED EDITION” is marked just above it. According to Hodinkee Japan, the original concept’s caseback was sandblasted, while the production version gets a mirror polish.
Strap and Box
The leather strap mixes in suede-like panels for a soft, brushed texture, which echoes the fur theme on the dial. Each watch ships in its own special presentation box, a nice touch at this price.
White HHK001 vs Pink HHK002: Which One?
Both versions are mechanically identical. The difference is color, story and how many exist.
| HHK001 (White) | HHK002 (Pink) | |
|---|---|---|
| Look | Classic black-and-white panda, true to the 2024 concept | Soft pink, a brand-new colorway |
| The story | The adult giant panda | A newborn panda cub, which is pink before its fur grows in |
| Strap | White leather with suede-like panels | Pink leather with suede-like panels |
| Production | 3,000 pieces | 2,000 pieces |
Pick the white HHK001 if you want the original concept as it was shown, or a watch that’s a little easier to wear with everyday clothes.
Pick the pink HHK002 if you’re thinking about collectability. It’s the rarer of the two by a thousand pieces, and Seiko’s own launch material leans into how cute it is (the press release literally says “Kawaii!”). Rarer plus more photogenic usually means it goes first.
Movement, Case and How It Wears
Caliber 8T61: Why Quartz Makes Sense Here
Inside both versions is Seiko’s caliber 8T61, a quartz chronograph movement. It’s rated to ±15 seconds per month (between 5°C and 35°C). It times events up to 60 minutes in 1/5-second steps, with a central chronograph seconds hand.
Some enthusiasts will grumble about quartz. But here it’s the right call, for two reasons. First, pushers at 11 and 1 o’clock are a nightmare for most mechanical chronographs, which expect pushers at 2 and 4; doing it mechanically would need a specialist “bullhead” style layout. Second, quartz keeps the price near $540, which is what makes a fun watch like this something people will actually buy.
Case Size and Wearability
The stainless steel case is 43mm wide and 14.6mm thick. That’s big for a Seiko, and it’s not a watch that slides under a shirt cuff. Then again, it is a giant panda.
On a wrist around 7 inches and up, it should wear fine. On smaller wrists, the ear pushers add visual height at the top of the case, so expect it to look bold. That’s sort of the point, though. Nobody buys a panda-faced watch to be subtle.
Everyday Practicality
It has a Hardlex crystal (Seiko’s hardened mineral glass), 30m water resistance and magnetic resistance of 4,800 A/m. Translation: it’s fine for daily wear and the odd splash, but leave it off for swimming, especially on a leather strap.
Full Specifications
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Model | Seiko power design project Collection 2 Limited Edition (Panda Chronograph) |
| References | HHK001 (white), HHK002 (pink) |
| Designer | Kiyotaka Sakai |
| Case | Stainless steel, 43.0mm diameter, 14.6mm thick |
| Crystal | Hardlex |
| Dial | Panda-face design with eye-patch subdials, nose, mouth and textured surface |
| Scale | “Sasameter” (up to 30 km/h) |
| Movement | Seiko caliber 8T61, quartz chronograph |
| Accuracy | ±15 seconds per month |
| Chronograph | Up to 60 minutes, 1/5-second increments |
| Water resistance | 30m (3 bar) |
| Magnetic resistance | 4,800 A/m |
| Strap | White or pink leather with suede-like panels |
| Production | 3,000 (HHK001), 2,000 (HHK002) |
| Price | $540 (US), £510 (UK), €590 (Europe) |
Price and Where to Buy
The Seiko Panda Chronograph costs $540 in the US, £510 in the UK and €590 in Europe. Pre-orders opened on October 6, with deliveries from November through Seiko Boutiques and select retailers worldwide.
If you want one, don’t wait for reviews to settle your mind. Contact your nearest Seiko Boutique or authorized dealer now and ask to be put on the list. Only buy from authorized sellers, since limited editions like this tend to attract inflated resale listings quickly.
How It Compares to Other Seiko “Fun” Watches
Two Seiko watches keep coming up next to this one, and it’s worth clearing up the confusion.
| Power Design Project Panda | Prospex Speedtimer SSC813 | Seiko 5 Sports x Pink Panther | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panda style | A literal panda face | Traditional panda dial (white with black subdials) | Character collaboration, not a panda |
| Movement | 8T61 quartz | Solar chronograph | Automatic |
| Availability | Limited: 5,000 total | Regular production | Limited: 9,999 pieces |
| Who it’s for | Collectors who want something playful and rare | Buyers who want a sporty, serious panda chrono | Pop culture fans |
The SSC813 is not this watch. It’s a regular Prospex Speedtimer that uses the classic panda color scheme. If you search “Seiko panda,” you’ll often land on it, so check the reference before buying.
The Pink Panther is the more telling comparison. That limited edition reportedly sold out within seconds, despite a run of 9,999 pieces. The Panda has roughly half that number. Draw your own conclusions.
Is the Seiko Panda Chronograph Worth It?
For the right buyer, yes, easily.
If you judge watches purely on movement finishing and specs-per-dollar, this isn’t for you. It’s a quartz watch at $540, and you can get more “watch” for that money elsewhere.
But that misses what this is. It’s a rare, genuinely clever design from Seiko’s most creative program, built in tiny numbers, and it actually made the leap from exhibition concept to production. Watches like that tend to be remembered. And at this price, you’re not betting much to own a piece of that story.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the Seiko Panda Chronograph?
The Seiko Power Design Project Panda Chronograph costs $540 in the US, £510 in the UK and €590 in Europe. Both the white HHK001 and pink HHK002 are priced the same.
How many Seiko Panda Chronographs were made?
Seiko is producing 5,000 pieces in total. The white HHK001 is limited to 3,000 pieces, and the pink HHK002 is limited to 2,000 pieces, making the pink version the rarer of the two.
When and where can I buy the Seiko Panda Chronograph?
Pre-orders opened on October 6, with deliveries from November. It’s sold through Seiko Boutiques and select authorized retailers worldwide.
Is the Seiko Panda Chronograph automatic or quartz?
It’s quartz. It uses Seiko’s caliber 8T61 quartz chronograph movement, accurate to ±15 seconds per month, which also allows the unusual ear-shaped pushers at 11 and 1 o’clock.
What is the Sasameter on the Seiko Panda watch?
The Sasameter is the watch’s renamed tachymeter scale. “Sasa” means bamboo in Japanese, and the scale measures speeds up to 30 km/h, the theoretical top running speed of a panda.
Why is the HHK002 pink?
The pink color is inspired by newborn panda cubs, which are pink before their black-and-white fur grows in.
Final Thoughts
Seiko could have played it safe and kept the panda behind exhibition glass. Instead, it put a sleepy-eyed, bamboo-obsessed chronograph into production and let people wear the joke. That kind of confidence is exactly why Seiko still has fans that other brands envy.
If the panda made you smile, that’s your answer. Get on a list early, because 5,000 pieces won’t last long.
