Lord British's Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk Watch

Richard "Lord British" Garriott, creator of Ultima and Tabula Rasa, is a bit of a space nut. (He owns an original Sputnik.) In October, Garriott will be taking a trip to the International Space Station—by rocket—and instead of strapping on one of the watches that already are designed to work in space, Seiko has created the "Spring Drive Spacewalk" watch, available only to Garriott and 99 other memento-seeking space or watch nerds willing to pony up the as-yet-announced price.

What does a watch designed for space do that terrestrial watches could not? It's lightweight, for one, milled from titanium. (Every ounce counts when you're pushing payloads up with a crude chemical shot put.) It glows, perhaps signifying the cosmic radiation that would roast an unshielded orbiting meat man. It has oversized buttons, in case Garriott needs to make an adjustment to his fucking watch while arcing at tens of thousands of miles an hour over the Earth. And it's powered by a spring, just like everything else on ISS.

Oh, it's huge, too. Fifty-three millimeter face, which is just over two inches across.

No clue when the 99 companion watches will be available for purchase, but I'd suspect before the October (literal) launch date.

Product Page [SeikoSpringDrive.com via Watch Report]