From Polar Ice To Your Wrist: The Story Behind Seiko’s New Prospex Marinemaster

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From city streets to icy polar landscapes, Seiko has spent more than a century crafting watches designed to perform wherever their wearers go.

That legacy has made the Japanese watchmaker synonymous with reliability, precision and a spirit of exploration.

Now, the brand is revisiting one of its most iconic timepieces with the Limited Edition Prospex Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver’s Watch.

Inspired by the icy environments of Antarctica and the Arctic, the latest models reinterpret the design language of the 1968 original through modern engineering, materials and craftsmanship.

We recently had the opportunity to experience the watches up close and speak with Masanori Kawamura, the design team leader for Seiko Prospex.

With 14 years of experience designing timepieces across Seiko’s global collections, he shared the thinking behind the latest Marinemaster, while reflecting on his journey at Seiko, the inspirations behind his designs and the experiences that have shaped him as a watch designer.

Since joining Seiko in 2013, Kawamura has worked on various collections for both Japanese and international markets, eventually taking on leadership roles for the Astron and Prospex design teams.

Among the projects he has contributed to is the Marinemaster Professional SLA081, a timepiece that earned international recognition through awards including Japan’s Good Design Award Best 100, the iF Design Award and the Red Dot Award.

He has also explored the more experimental side of watch design through the “Hide and Seek” concept watch created as part of Seiko’s Power Design Project — an initiative that allowed designers to push the boundaries of traditional watchmaking.

But despite spending more than a decade designing watches, Kawamura says the most rewarding part of his work goes beyond creating timepieces.

“It’s difficult to completely separate anything from watches because everything I do is related to them,” he said. “However, if I had to choose, I would say it’s the connections with people.”

For Kawamura, conversations with collectors and watch owners offer insights that cannot be gained inside a design studio, and meeting the people who wear Seiko’s watches allows him to better understand the emotions and experiences attached to each timepiece.

I find it extremely valuable to hear their voices firsthand. Beyond the watches themselves, the communication and experiences that watches create between people are some of the things I enjoy most about my job.

Masanori Kawamura.

Reimagining A Legacy

The latest Marinemaster takes inspiration from Seiko’s 1968 Diver’s Watch, a model that played an important role in building the brand’s reputation among professional divers. But bringing a piece of history into the present comes with its own challenges.

Kawamura explained that creating something completely new and reinterpreting an iconic heritage model require two very different approaches.

While a new creation gives designers the freedom to build an identity from scratch.

“When it comes to designing something entirely new, there is no precedent, so I have to build the expression from the ground up,” he explained. “The level of freedom is very high, which makes it extremely enjoyable as a designer. However, there is also uncertainty about how well the design will be received.”

Heritage models, meanwhile, require designers to strike a balance between respecting the past and embracing the possibilities of modern watchmaking.

With heritage recreation models, I need to respect the original image while making the watch suitable for modern technology and materials. I find it particularly challenging to update a design without compromising its original visual impression.

Masanori Kawamura.

Rather than seeing the Marinemaster’s history as a limitation, Kawamura views it as a source of inspiration.

“The Marinemaster is a model with a long history and a well-established identity,” he said. “Rather than feeling constrained by that legacy, I see it as a source of new ideas.”

For the latest models, the design team looked back at the values and characteristics that defined the original watch and explored how to express them through modern materials and technology.

In that sense, the legacy is not a constraint. It is a starting point for the design and a major source of inspiration.

Masanori Kawamura.

Inspired By The World’s Coldest Frontiers

For the latest Marinemaster lineup, Seiko turned its attention to one of Earth’s most extreme environments: the polar regions.

The collection features two models — the HBF001J Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver’s Watch and the limited-edition HBF002J Marinemaster 1968 Heritage JAMSTEC Limited Edition.

While both draw inspiration from icy landscapes, each model interprets a different side of the polar world.

The HBF001J takes inspiration from Antarctica, specifically the appearance of ice cores — layers of ancient ice that preserve records of the planet’s history.

During the launch, Kawamura described ice cores as “time capsules that preserve the environmental history of our planet”. These ice cores form over thousands of years as layers of snowfall accumulate, compress and gradually transform into dense ice.

Seiko’s designers translated this natural process into a three-dimensional dial pattern, creating a textured surface that produces subtle reflections as light moves across the watch.

The HBF002J, meanwhile, draws inspiration from the Arctic and the work of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) — a research institute dedicated to advancing marine science and technology to better understand Earth’s oceans and environment.

Its design takes cues from icebreaking vessels navigating through frozen waters. The textured dial recreates the tracks left behind as these ships cut through sea ice, while its blue gradient reflects the deep colours found beneath the Arctic surface.

“Its blue gradient, which deepens towards the centre, is combined with a thick transparent coating that is carefully polished to create exceptional clarity and depth. Together, these elements evoke the pure, profound blue revealed beneath the vast expanse of drifting Arctic sea ice,” Kawamura explained.

By merging polar exploration with Seiko’s diving heritage, the latest Marinemaster models continue the brand’s tradition of creating timepieces inspired by the environments around them.

Beyond Telling Time

Outside the studio, Kawamura spends his free time sailing, camping and exploring the outdoors with his family.

These experiences have shaped the way he views watches, seeing them not merely as tools for measuring time, but as objects connected to personal memories and experiences.

“Watches are tools for keeping time accurately,” he said. “But at the same time, working on them has made me more aware that each person has their own way of using and experiencing time.”

While smartphones have largely replaced watches as everyday timekeeping devices, Kawamura believes mechanical watches continue to hold a deeper emotional significance.

Through his work, Kawamura has come to realise that he is not simply creating objects that tell time, but pieces that become part of how people experience and remember certain moments.

For many people, a wristwatch is not necessarily essential. Yet the reason they choose to wear one reflects their personal sense of time and their values. Through this work, I have become even more conscious of how I choose to use my own time.

Masanori Kawamura.

Looking beyond the craftsmanship, Kawamura hopes the Marinemaster will remain meaningful to those who wear it, even decades from now.

“I hope that even 60 years from now, the watch will continue to accompany someone’s life,” he explained. “From the moment they put it on their wrist, I hope they feel the craftsmanship and reliability, while also sensing that they are wearing a piece of history.”

For Kawamura, the Marinemaster is more than just a dive watch. It carries Seiko’s heritage while taking on new meaning through the people who wear it.

Beyond its strength and functionality, I would also be happy if they could feel a sense of romance that is unique to these watches.

Masanori Kawamura.

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