The Pepsi Challenge: Seiko Continues their Summer of Licensing

A few months ago when Seiko unveiled their Jaws watch, I didn’t really think much of it. Jaws is one of the most popular movies ever made, and it’s celebrating a big anniversary this year. In a world where watch brands collaborate with all kinds of silly entities for all kinds of silly reasons, it seemed like a pretty normal release. Then, just in the last week, Seiko announced a trio of watches bearing the Datsun name. OK, a Japanese car – a cult classic car at that – doesn’t require a whole lot of mental gymnastics to figure out. But then yesterday, when I opened Instagram over my morning coffee and saw the new Seiko “Pepsi” watches, reader I have to admit: it broke my brain a little. 

At first I thought it must be a prank or a joke. Maybe Seiko’s account got hacked and one of these new AI engines built an entire marketing campaign around the most on-the-nose “collaboration” yet? But no, a little digging revealed that the two new Seiko 5 Sports watches with blue and red Pepsi bezels were indeed an endeavor bearing the name of the number 2 cola in the country.

We’ve been referring to bezels in this colorway as “Pepsi” bezels for longer than I’ve been involved in the watch industry, as a hobbyist and certainly as a professional. It certainly never occurred to me that one day the beverage company would sign on as what amounts to an official partner with a watch brand. But it’s a testament to the ultra-corporatized watch world we’re all living in. Seiko’s activity just over the last few months can easily be viewed as representative of the watch world in microcosm. These sorts of licensing deals that allow Seiko to put Pepsi on a dial, or Citizen to leverage the Fantastic Four, or Oris to feature the Muppets so prominently are part of the fabric of the watch industry. 

To be clear, they always have been. But at this moment in the summer of 2025, it feels like these exercises in branding are increasingly aimed at the enthusiast crowd. After all, it was just this week that we got yet another watch with Snoopy on the dial from Swatch and Omega (but mostly Swatch). Based on the available evidence (namely, that these watches keep getting made) it would seem like the investment brands are making in establishing these relationships is paying off. 

Seiko, though, is really leaning in. It feels notable that what could potentially be their biggest releases of the year, at least in terms of discussion on the internet, are all licensing partnerships with non-watch brands, and that they’ve all come within weeks of each other. No major new divers (yet) this year, but they’ve thrown red meat to the Datsun crowd. It’s another example, I think, of how the brand has shifted course in recent years. 

For those of you who are just big Pepsi fans and have arrived here looking for information on the watches themselves so they can assess a purchase, well I’ve got you covered, even if approximately 70% of my body is comprised of Diet Coke. The SRPL99 is a 38mm watch on the standard, smaller, Seiko 5 SKX platform. It has a silver dial, the requisite bezel, and a Pepsi wordmark near 6:00 that reflects the brand’s 1990s branding. 

The SSK047 is a Seiko 5 GMT with a blacked out case and dial. This one measures 42.5mm in diameter and is mounted to a rubber strap, also signed Pepsi. This one reflects the brand’s current branding style. 

Both the SSK047 and SRPL99 are limited editions, but they’ll be made in runs of 7,000 each, which honestly feels like plenty. Seiko

Images from this post:

The post The Pepsi Challenge: Seiko Continues their Summer of Licensing appeared first on Worn & Wound.

from Worn & Wound https://ift.tt/ogPqaLJ