There are plenty of watches that get called “panda” because of their black-and-white dials. Seiko decided to take that nickname a little more literally, creating the Power Design Project Panda Chronograph. The timepiece is a playful mechanical-looking chronograph that actually puts a panda’s face on the dial, which is quite fun, to be honest.
The idea first appeared as a concept at Seiko’s Incredibly Specialized Watch Exhibition in 2024. Designer Kiyotaka Sakai wondered what a chronograph would look like if the word “panda” wasn’t just a collector’s nickname. The production versions – HHK001P and HHK002P – stay remarkably close to that original thought. The watch is designed to make you smile, but it still has the proportions, finishing and functionality of a proper Seiko chronograph.
Designer: Seiko
The first thing you notice is the face, where black subdials naturally become the panda’s eye patches, while a small nose and curved mouth sit below them. The two chronograph pushers rise above the case like ears, giving the watch an expression that is surprisingly easy to read. It sounds like a gimmick on paper, but the proportions make it work.
Seiko has carried the theme into details that are easier to miss. The dial has a radial texture intended to resemble panda fur, while the hour and minute hands take inspiration from bamboo leaves. The tachymeter scale around the edge gets a suitably playful name: “SASAMETER,” from sasa, the Japanese word for bamboo. It remains a functional tachymeter, with Seiko noting that it could theoretically measure a panda running at around 30 km/h.
The 43mm stainless-steel case is 14.6mm thick and uses hidden lugs, which help keep its footprint from feeling quite as large as those numbers suggest. The recessed crown sits between the ear-like pushers, while the caseback continues the joke with a rounded profile and a small three-dimensional tail.
Underneath, there is no complicated mechanical movement trying to compete with the design. Seiko uses its quartz Caliber 8T61, which provides hours, minutes, central chronograph seconds and a 60-minute counter with 1/5-second measurement. It is rated to an accuracy of ±15 seconds per month and offers 30-meter water resistance.
The watch comes on a cowhide leather strap with suede-like sections. This is a cute attempt to bring the panda theme into something you actually feel when wearing it. Out of the two versions, the HHK001P is the familiar black-and-white panda, limited to 3,000 pieces. The HHK002P swaps the usual colors for pink and gray, inspired by the appearance of newborn pandas, which are born with pink skin before developing their characteristic black-and-white fur. That version is limited to 2,000 pieces. Both watches are priced at $540 and are scheduled for release in November 2026.
