Original vintage 1980s print advertisement for the mid-1980's Seiko 7A28-5000 Giugiaro "Steering Wheel" PVD Speedmaster chronograph, which describes Giorgetto Giugiaro's design asthetic and the watch itself in Kanji Japanese.
Dimensions: Roughly six inches wide by 8.75 inches high.
The Seiko 7A28 entered the market during the height of the LCD technology of the 1980s.
In 1983, Seiko unveiled to the world the first ever quartz analog chronograph, the 7A28 - a 15 jewel, fully adjustable quartz movement with zero plastic parts in the gear train and a movement that can be serviced and adjusted just like a mechanical watch due to its innovative construction.
With it, Seiko and its 7A28 entered history as the world’s first analog quartz movement - the 7A28 would grow to eventually come in over forty variations, including models issued to the military and those used in movies (including James Bond and Aliens, among others); some were issued to the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence and the South African Air Force.
Why the “Giugiaro” and "steering wheel" nomenclature?
While car designers have worked with watch brands in the past, the combination of Seiko and famed Italian car designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro, was certainly distinct and resulted in a series of very unique timepieces, even for the 1980s.
Giugiaro was born in 1938, and from an early age followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather who were painters and taking up an interest in art and design himself. While studying in Torino, he impressed Fiat’s Technical Director at the time and got himself a job in their Special Vehicle Design department.
As his career progressed, he worked on more impressive projects in the automotive world, started his own company in 1967. 1980s iconogrpahic film, Back to the Future's epic De Loren? Yep. Warhol's BMW M1? Check. He even had a go at our favorite automotive company, Isuzu.
He also designed products outside of cars – namely, watches and cameras. Seiko and Giugiaro’s collaboration centered on automotive-themed timepieces, often chronographs, with the dial tilted slightly clockwise to accentuate the motorsport look and make it more practical for drivers.
A quite distinctive look even for the 1980s, the “steering wheel” – named after the distinct resemblance the case guard has to a car steering wheel – features three sub-dials at the 12, 3, and 6 o’clock positions, but in other models this “vertical” arrangement becomes a more normal “horizontal” layout. Depressing the button at 11 o’clock initiates and halts the chronometer, with reset at 2 o’clock.
The main seconds hand ticks off chronograph seconds, and whilst in normal operation the second hand is the sub register at 3 o’clock. The 5/100th second dial is at 12 o’clock and this moves in 1/20th-second intervals. Finally, the 6 o’clock dial counts chronograph minutes as the center second hand completes a rotation. The chronometer function is by the upper left corner button, and the split function is at 7 o’clock.