Seiko brings back the digital watches loved by astronauts in the 1980s

In the 1980s, affordable and wearable watches were hugely popular, from the distinctive bright colours of a Swatch watch to the functional digital displays of a Casio. The ease and convenience of a digital watch made it not only an appealing choice fashion-wise, but also proved useful when legibility was key.

In the heady days of 1980s space exploration, the digital Seiko ‘Astonaut’ proved to be one such genre-defying watch. Despite never being officially issued by NASA, it was worn on over 160 space missions. The unisex design, light and simple to use, was particularly loved by women, worn by those including the first American woman in space in 1983, Sally Ride, and the first American woman to perform a spacewalk, Kathryn Sullivan.

Now, Seiko is revisiting the golden age of digital with the newly released watch, known among fans as the “Rotocall” , a reinterpreted version of the much-loved original. Faithfully created in the same red, yellow and blue colours as the 40-year-old original, the new watch also has the same eight functions - including time, alarms, dual time, stopwatch, counter and timer- which can be easily changed with a turn of the bezel. Like the original, the watch is powered by the quartz movement, first introduced by Seiko in 1969.

The Seiko 'Rotocall' watches, £480 from seikoboutique.co.uk