Seiko has taken one of the most familiar nicknames in watch collecting and interpreted it almost literally. The new Power Design Project Panda Chronograph turns the traditional black-and-white “panda” dial into an actual panda face, complete with eyes, ears, nose and even a tail on the caseback. Despite the playful design, it remains a fully functional chronograph with a surprisingly thoughtful set of details.
The idea originated at Seiko’s Incredibly Specialized Watch Exhibition in 2024, where designer Kiyotaka Sakai asked a simple question: what would a watch look like if “panda” described the animal rather than just the dial configuration? The resulting concept proved popular enough to become a production watch, with the new HHK001P and HHK002P staying remarkably close to the original design.
The panda’s face is cleverly constructed from the chronograph itself. The two dark subdials become its drooping eyes, while the chronograph pushers rise above the case like rounded ears. A small nose and curved mouth sit at six o’clock, giving the watch an unexpectedly expressive personality. The dial’s radial texture is designed to suggest panda fur, while the hour and minute hands are shaped like bamboo leaves.
Seiko even gave the tachymeter a panda-themed name. Called “SASAMETER,” after sasa, the Japanese word associated with bamboo, the scale remains fully functional. Seiko notes that it could theoretically be used to measure a panda running at around 30 km/h.
The watch comes in a 43mm stainless-steel case measuring 14.6mm thick. Hidden lugs help keep the profile visually clean, while the recessed crown sits between the two ear-like pushers. Turn it over and the joke continues with a rounded caseback representing the panda’s back and a small three-dimensional tail.
Inside is Seiko’s quartz Caliber 8T61. It provides hours, minutes, central chronograph seconds and a 60-minute counter with 1/5-second measurement. Accuracy is rated at ±15 seconds per month, and the watch has 30-meter water resistance. A cowhide leather strap with suede-like sections completes the design.
There are two versions. The HHK001P uses the familiar black-and-white panda palette and is limited to 3,000 pieces. The pink-and-gray HHK002P takes inspiration from newborn pandas, whose skin is pink before their familiar black-and-white coloring develops. It is limited to 2,000 pieces. Both are priced at $540 and are scheduled for release in November 2026.
Seiko could have simply produced another panda chronograph with contrasting subdials. Instead, it followed the nickname all the way to its logical conclusion, turning the entire watch into a small piece of wearable character design without sacrificing the functions that make a chronograph useful.
