Pikachu, number 025

I own four character Seikos: the Snoopy, the Pink Panther, the Mechasus and this one. The Snoopy and the Pink Panther are Seiko 5s, the line the whole world knows. The Pikachu is not. It comes from a line that barely leaves Japan, it was made in 1,200 pieces and, when I opened the spec sheet, I found it has the same engine as a gold Seiko dress watch I bought without really knowing what it was.

A squirrel, before it was a mouse

Pocket Monsters Red and Green came out in Japan in February 1996, for the Game Boy. Among the game's 151 creatures, number 025 was a yellow rodent with red cheeks. It was drawn by Atsuko Nishida, at the request of Ken Sugimori, who finalized the design.

Nishida said she was thinking of a squirrel: she liked the comical way they move and the idea of storing electricity in the cheeks, the way a squirrel stores food. It was Satoshi Tajiri, the series' creator, who decided it would be a mouse. The name joins two Japanese onomatopoeias: pika, the sound of something sparkling, and chū, a mouse's squeak.

In the game it was just one of many. What turned it into the face of the franchise was the anime, because schoolchildren loved it and it worked for boys and girls alike.

25 years, and number 25

In 2021 the series turned 25, and The Pokémon Company celebrated with a wave of partnerships. There was even a trading card with 25 Pikachus drawn by 25 artists. Pikachu's Pokédex number being 025 is a coincidence, but one every fan notices.

Seiko got in a little early. In November 2020 it announced the Seiko & Pokémon Special Model, and the first four pieces reached Japanese shops on 11 December: two Pikachus, an Eevee and a Mewtwo, at 30,800 yen each, 1,200 of each. In 2021 came the three first-generation starters, Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur, as solar chronographs, pricier and sportier.

Not a Seiko 5

The character watches Seiko sells worldwide almost always come from the Seiko 5 Sports, automatic, in the old SKX case. The Pokémon ones do not. They came from Seiko Selection, a quartz and solar line the brand sells in the Japanese domestic market, aimed at gifts and everyday wear, and rarely seen outside Japan.

Mine is the SCXP175, the yellow dial with Pikachu's black silhouette. The other Pikachu, the SCXP177, has a green dial inspired by Viridian Forest, the game's first forest. The Eevee has indices in the colours of its evolutions; the Mewtwo is purple, for the Psychic type.

The details only a fan gets

The back end of the seconds hand is Pikachu's zigzag tail, sweeping around the silhouette once a minute. The calfskin strap has its paw prints stamped on it. The caseback is engraved with a Poké Ball, and the watch comes in a black box with a red rim and a Poké Ball on the clasp, with a spare nylon strap and a cloth in the same print.

And on the dial, at the bottom, a line in English: SUPER EFFECTIVE ON WATER-TYPE. For anyone who played, it is the message that appeared on screen when an Electric attack hit a Water Pokémon. For anyone who did not, it is just an odd sentence on a watch.

A dress watch's engine

Here is the part that got me. Inside, the Pikachu runs calibre 7N01, a three-hand quartz, no date, accurate to about fifteen seconds a month. It is the same calibre as my gold Seiko dress watch, ref. 7N01-0EA0, an ordinary watch from 1987 or 1997 that I had logged as a Credor and that, once I checked the caseback, turned out to be just an honest Seiko.

The two watches have nothing in common on the outside. One is gold and quiet. The other is yellow with an electric mouse in the middle. The engine is the same. A 35 mm steel case, 9.7 mm thick, 10 bar water resistance: on paper, the Pikachu is a small, thin dress watch.

Mine

I bought it in June from a private seller in Japan, through Chrono24: very good condition, with the original box, the papers and the spare strap. With the edition long closed, it only turns up second-hand, and for more than the shop price.

On the wrist it shows up rarely. Four logged wears, 1.5% of the rotation, almost all on leisure days, the last on 4 October. It is the watch I put on when the day asks for nothing and I want someone to ask. Someone always asks.