Hands-On With The Seiko Prospex Jaws 50th Anniversary Limited Edition SRPL81: Reliving And Overcoming A Childhood Fear

Here’s a watch that pays homage not to a shark but the shark. And that’s why “we’re gonna need a bigger boat.” I was too young to see the now-iconic Steven Spielberg movie Jaws when it came out five decades ago, but when I did a few years after its initial release, it scared me. Although there are no great white sharks in the North Sea, taking a dip felt risky for many years to come. I got over it. Once I grew older, I watched the movie many times, and it even made it into my top 10 favorite movies ever — the actors are phenomenal, and so are their very quotable lines. So, I saw and survived the movie. I even read Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel, but do I dare put a Seiko Prospex Jaws 50th Anniversary Limited Edition on my wrist?

A word of reassurance for those with a phobia of sharks living in Europe and Africa: the Seiko Prospex Jaws 50th Anniversary Limited Edition (SRPL81 / US$795) will only be available in Japan, the United States, Australia, and Taiwan, and it is limited to 5,000 examples. In other words, you’re not all that likely to come across one. The one watch that washed up on Fratello HQ’s shores is an anomaly. It did, however, give me the rare opportunity to face an old fear and try to overcome it.

Hands-on with the Seiko Prospex Jaws 50th Anniversary Limited Edition SRPL81

The Prospex Jaws 50th Anniversary Limited Edition is a fascinating watch for several reasons. First, Seiko decided to use the famous “Turtle” as the base for this homage watch. Second, great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) feed on turtles. But sometimes a turtle doesn’t go down too well. There’s a record of a great white shark trying to devour a turtle, but the hard-shelled creature got stuck in its throat, choking the shark to death. I’m not sure if Seiko’s designers thought of this incident when they paired the Jaws-themed dial with a 45 × 47.7 × 13.2mm steel case, but with the “King Turtle’s” respect-demanding proportions, you’re not going to need a bigger watch.

The Prospex Jaws 50th Anniversary Limited Edition is an XL watch you won’t wear daily. That’s not necessarily because of the size; Seiko’s large King Turtle wears smaller than it is. But with a special dial like this, you pick your moments to wear something larger than life on your wrist, even if the blue silicone strap is very comfortable. And a supersized shark deserves a supersized watch as a homage anyway.

A frightening dial

When I think of Jaws, I think of the book cover and movie poster. It shows a naked woman swimming in the ocean, blissfully unaware of the gigantic shark that’s rising from the deep with its mouth open, showing monstrously large and sharp teeth, ready to devour her. The dial of the LE Prospex SRPL81 is inspired by that image, but it differs ever so slightly.

The silver-to-blue gradient dial does show a lot of similarity with Roger Kastel’s famous film poster, but you won’t find the swimming lady anywhere. The shark only reveals itself from certain angles, hiding in the embossed water pattern. Death from the deep strikes unexpectedly, remember.

The details are on point. The red “Jaws” wording you see below the three central hands is in the movie poster’s typography. The case back shows Orca, the (not big enough) fishing boat from the film, plus the ginormous shark’s laser-etched menacing dorsal fin. Another detail is each watch’s unique edition number engraved on the screw-in back of the 200m-water-resistant steel case.

An accomplished diver

This might be a homage watch, but it’s also an accomplished diver with plenty of lume, an ISO 6425-compliant marker beside the day/date window, and a magnifier on top of the sapphire crystal. Inside the case beats the 3.5Hz automatic caliber 4R36, offering manual winding, hacking seconds, quick-set day and date indicators, and a 41-hour power reserve.

The box tells you you’re not dealing with any ordinary King Turtle. When you open the blue box, you will find the SRPL81 sitting on a watch pillow printed with the movie poster — there’s the swimming lady! This watch could be a must-buy if you’re a movie buff and/or a Seiko Turtle collector. Despite its impressive dimensions, the watch wears very well and is also a fun summer piece. It won’t be your first Turtle, and it won’t be your last, I suspect.

Now, tell me, does the Seiko Prospex Jaws 50th Anniversary Limited Edition SRPL81 bring back fears from the past? Would you wear this well-executed movie homage and sing “Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies…” all day?