Saving Giugiaro Designed Seiko: Kawa Chrono Manufacture
The love for Giugiaro-designed Seiko at Peachy Exotic Watches is far from secret. During the 80’s the famous Italian automotive designer conceptualised some of the most exotic case and bracelet combinations yet seen in a chronograph, for production through SEIKO. These venerable, idiosyncratic watches were celebrated in film and by the pilots, racing drivers, and general enthusiasts who wore them. The quartz 7A28 chronograph movement remains to be one of the finest ever produced, while their serviceable nature, wearability and high collectibility ensures many survive today - despite their rarity. All is not rosy, however; three of the most sought-after Giugiaro designed SEIKO 7A28’s incorporated two major flaws that would take three decades to be revealed with no solution in sight, until now…
The cleverly designed pusher arrangement on a 7A28-7000 in particular, is a simple solution to reposition the chronograph pusher to a more convenient location for operation, without compromising the layout of the movement or water resistance. Two colour-coordinated black or yellow plastic buttons operate a simple interior mechanism, which actuates the actual pusher on the side of the round case.
These striking pieces of plastic are integral to the watch’s appearance and operation and it’s these that fail, when they crack, split and fall off. Needless to say they are NLA from Seiko and have been for quite some time.
This is where KAWA CHRONO comes in…
UK-based KAWA CHRONO MANUFACTURE was founded in 2021 by two passionate enthusiasts to tackle this exact problem. It is not strictly a business venture - but an expression of thanks to the community they form a part of. After investing thousands in R&D, they have managed to recreate the original buttons as closely as possible in resin, while improving the design to allow for a higher resistance to compressive stress. Like Peachy, Kawa takes an impish delight in the advertising style of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. It’s not too proud to laugh at itself either - after all it only makes plastic buttons.
Lance Bishop wearing a 7A28-6000 in the film ‘Aliens’
Each pusher button is produced to their exacting specifications, then finished by hand to achieve the optimal appearance - only in the vintage watch world would two busy & otherwise heavily occupied people take tiny bits of plastic so seriously, but it has the desired effect - they look and feel fantastic. Their orange 6000 pushers have an extra level of complexity over the 7000s, with a dedication to replicate the slight curvature and colour the originals. Talking to Johnny & Jamie, you get an understanding of the time they have taken to reach this stage:
“Designing the pushers has been a labour of love - or a dangerous obsession, we’re not entirely sure. We’ve now transitioned through several iterations as the feedback has come in from customers. We’re finding that many 7000 and 6000 owners are fitting Kawa pushers as a means to preserve their eggshell-delicate originals. They’re not just cheap aftermarket replacements, they’re as close as we can feasibly get them even if that means obsessing over pigment or finishing them by hand. It’s rewarding to see the end result. Collectors all over the world are now able to wear their watches as complete entities for the first time, or continue to wear them without fear of randomly losing or breaking the original buttons.”
Their impish social media posts poke fun at the triviality of selling little bits of plastic.
Literal ‘Launch’ day photo…
“We may branch out into other parts. Frankly, there’s no money to be made with such a labour intensive niche product, but we’re glad to provide the service. It’s always cool to see a rare Seiko on instagram and think ‘That has a pair of our pushers. That watch is complete thanks to us’. KAWA has an interest in vintage Digital Watches too, which is a largely ignored scene at the moment, so we might do something with that. We’ll see.”
Peachy Exotic Watches has worked with Kawa’s replacement pushers as a means of preservation and restoration for 2 years now. We haven’t seen any degradation, chips or failures and our stocked and personal watches have become much more wearable. They are little fiddly to install, but Kawa usually sends 3 buttons in a pack of 2, so you can afford to get it catastrophically wrong once, which is nice… Take your time and push them on square and you shouldn’t have any issues. Overall we highly recommend them especially when the alternative is bare pusher posts or potentially losing original parts.
If you’re in need of these buttons, put a request in here and they will produce a set of plastic pusher buttons for your Seiko Giugiaro, 7A28-7000 ‘Ripley’ or 7A28-6000 ‘Bishop’.
In the meantime, feel free to inspect the current stock here at Peachy which often includes an exotic Seiko or two.
