When we first launched the S089, we honestly didn't expect the reaction we got.
Green, black, and black-gold — those were the original three. They were built around one idea: the mountaineer's mindset. Durability over decoration. Fluororubber straps that don't care about mud, rain, or how many times you've dropped your pack on a rock. We wanted a watch that disappeared into the background of an actual climb, and somehow, that idea resonated a lot more than we anticipated. Those first three colorways sold out faster than we planned for.
Then our community started asking the obvious question: what's next?
We went back and forth on this for a while. Our first instinct was to do three new colorways. But when we lined up the samples, white and cream sat too close together — same family, same mood, just different intensity. We didn't want to give people two versions of the same feeling and call it variety. So we cut white. Cream stayed, partly because it's simply more versatile on the wrist than white ever is, and partly because — and this is the part I actually care about — it has a history worth telling.
Why cream, and why now
If you know Seiko's Alpinist lineage, you'll recognize where this dial language comes from. In 1995, Seiko released the "Red Alpinist" SCVF007 with a cream-colored dial — a detail that felt almost accidental at the time but ended up defining a whole aesthetic direction for the line. Seiko revisited that cream tone more than once over the following decades: the SARB013 in 2006, and again with the SPB123 in 2020. Each version carried the same quiet warmth, just refined a little differently for its era.
Our S089 cream dial sits in that same lineage, almost dial-for-dial. That wasn't a coincidence — it's a deliberate nod. We wanted to make something that felt like it belonged in that history, not something that tried to reinvent it. Paired with a croc-embossed leather strap instead of rubber, it leans further into that vintage, unhurried character. It's the version of S089 that isn't trying to survive a mountain. It's the version you'd wear to remember one.
Why desert red
The red is a different kind of tribute.
Seiko's SPB489J — released as an Australia-exclusive — is the reference point here. It paid homage to the red desert interior of the Australian outback, with a wave-textured dial meant to echo heat rippling off the sand. It's since been discontinued, and if you go looking for one now, you'll find it mostly on the secondary market, at prices that make it clear how much people wanted one while it lasted.
We couldn't get our hands on that watch, so we decided to build our own version of the feeling it represented. The desert red dial on our S089, paired with the same croc-textured leather, is our attempt at that same heat — the shimmer of a horizon that looks like it's moving even when nothing is.
Two colors, one idea
What connects cream and red for us isn't really about matching aesthetics. It's about range. The original S089 proved something to us: people wanted a watch that could take a beating in the mountains. These two colorways prove something else — that the same watch can also sit quietly on your wrist at dinner, or carry the memory of a place you've never actually been.
We didn't set out to make S089 "more premium" with these two. We set out to make it more honest about what a good tool watch can actually be: something durable enough for the climb, but with enough soul to be worn long after the trip is over.
That's the balance we were chasing. Fire and stillness. Still S089, just telling a different part of the story.
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