In 2001, before we all realized that the animated Final Fantasy movie was going to be garbage, Seiko announced two watch designs based on the one worn by the movie’s heroine, Dr. Aki. Rather, they announced one watch, but showed a picture with a second view that looked quite a bit like a second design.
The face of the watch looks relatively pedestrian for a “futurey” watch these days, but at the time it was shockingly fresh, especially when imagined to be part of a hefty metal cuff with thick buttons. The watch that Seiko ended up releasing, including a limited run here in the U.S., looked basically the same as the design on the left.
If you look at the released watch, you can see that it has a pretty standard plastic band along the back. (Someone is selling one on eBay for $750, a $550 premium over its original cost here in the States. Their auction has lots of pictures, including one that shows the back.)
Anyone know if the second cuff was actually released in Japan? Or was it simply a mock-up which Seiko decided was too much trouble or too expensive to produce? I’ve asked Seiko about it, but I doubt answering questions about a seven-year-old limited-edition watch is going to be a top priority for them.
I don’t think it was ever released. I’ve seen the FF watch that was show up on blogs every so often, but never the other.
According to this article (http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2001/6/20-90) the watch on the right is the fictional model from the movie upon which the real-world product on the left was based. The watch on the right does not exist in modern times.
If this is true then releasing this picture was a monumentally terrible marketing mistake. The watch they sold is cool, but putting it up against the heart-breakingly beautiful watch on the right is like comparing a rusted out ’72 Lemans to a 2008 G35. It’s like deciding to bring your far better looking friend with you on a first date. What a let down…
it would make a much cooler ring.
Ah. What a pity. You couldn’t be more right about their mistake.
I remember the only reason why I saw this movie in the theatres was because it debuted the teaser trailer for Spider-Man, the one that was pulled because it showed Spidey catching a runaway helicopter in a web between the Twin Towers. At least I could say it was on a date, though the dog of a movie didn’t lend to any romance.
Why does it have little pictures of underwears on it?
I worked at Square USA when these things were being designed, and Seiko became involved. Basically Square was looking for all the marketing and corporate hook-ups it could find, which attracted a reasonable product placement fee. The holographs in the movie, for example, were presented by Palm (I guess they will be moving onto holographic projectors any day now, since the Folio has been scrapped).
Anyway, Seiko was another corporate connection. Both watches were supposed to go into production. Prototypes were made… well, kinda: the photo is a real – from what I remember – “non-functional” watch.
Apparently, there were engineering issues in creating a production watch. Even though it was supposed to be a premium watch, it ended up too expensive to manufacture. Which left only the similar-but-not-really-as-cool “cheap” version. And it always looked pedestrian – even in the olden days of 2001.
Square offered them to employees for $100. Remember eBay’ers, it’s only rare, because no-one bought them. Ask Fossil about their Final Fantasy “Phantom” watches in the special “Pod” keepsake case. Now that was a design worth burying.