Aqua Mod - Turquoise

Turquoise on the dial, turquoise on the rubber strap: the AQUA MOD - TURQUOISE carries one pale colour from the dial all the way to the clasp and sets nothing but steel against it. Its case is steel-coloured, measures 41 mm and is made of 316L stainless steel. The turquoise is not flat, because straight horizontal lines and curved vertical lines stand proud as a grid. Silver-coloured Arabic numerals and white-filled baton hands stand out clearly against it, while a white window at 3 o'clock holds the date.

The case for turquoise

Pale turquoise dials do something other colours cannot: they shift with the light. Under fluorescent office lighting the dial looks cool and muted; in sunlight it picks up depth and warmth. Paired with the stainless case and the rubber sport strap, the Aqua Mod turquoise walks the line between diver and dress watch convincingly.

Grid, lume blocks and block pattern

From 1 through 12 the numerals sit silver-coloured on the turquoise in Western script; only the 3 is missing, since the date lives there. Rectangular lume blocks, one per hour, line the edge, and fine minute marks fill the gaps. Above the broad baton hands the seconds hand runs as a thin white line. There is no scale on the bezel: its brushed, smooth surface follows an octagon with rounded corners. On the strap the grid of the dial returns as a raised block pattern, and a butterfly clasp closes the turquoise rubber.

In the Aqua line the turquoise plays the light part. One sister keeps dial and strap entirely black, another joins a dial fading through red-brown to brown rubber. Shape, bezel and numerals are common to all three, which leaves the turquoise alone to set this one apart. We like it best in summer, with a white shirt, linen or a T-shirt; its 41 mm want a wrist that is not too slim. The turquoise version stands on its own, and the page lists no further sizes.

Specifications

• 316L stainless steel, 41 mm – the steel-coloured case frames the turquoise dial with a brushed bezel
• Seiko NH35, automatic – hacking seconds and manual winding are on board, and the turquoise's power reserve is ~41 h
• Sapphire crystal and Super-LumiNova – sapphire sits over the grid dial, while lume keeps the blocks and hands legible at night too
• Crown and water resistance: screw-down crown, 5 ATM
• Rubber strap in turquoise – with butterfly clasp, sporty and tone on tone with the dial

Light turquoise on dial and strap

The Aqua Mod turquoise carries a light turquoise from the dial all the way to the rubber strap and sets only the steel-coloured case against it. Silver numerals sit over the raised grid, and in the light the dial also reveals a sunburst finish. That very finish links it to the Aqua Mod Yellow, where dial and strap are yellow. Both follow the same recipe; only the colour temperature differs: turquoise feels cool and fresh, yellow warm and strong.

The Aqua Mod Orange also relies on one colour for dial and strap, but its orange is much more intense, and its white numerals have a silver outline. If you would rather not wear any bright colour at all, you end up with the Aqua Mod Rose Gold: there a rose gold-tone case frames a very dark dial, paired with a dark brown strap. All four share the same 41 mm case made from 316L steel, the same NH35 automatic movement and the same smooth bezel without a scale.

One turquoise from dial to strap, set beside green and black

The dial of the Aqua Mod turquoise is a pale turquoise; beneath the raised grid runs a sunburst finish that shows well in the studio picture and almost vanishes on the wrist. The numerals are silver, the baton hands silver with a white fill, and the seconds are marked by a thin white stroke. The rubber strap carries the same tone as the dial, so only the steel-coloured case brings another colour into play. In the photo on the arm, the turquoise sits next to a dark grey knitted sleeve. Naut Mod Green Arabic has a plain dark green dial instead, with no sunburst and white numerals, plus a green strap.

On Aqua Mod Green the colour travels across the dial: the green is pale in the middle and dark at the edge, and the numerals are silver, as on the turquoise watch. The turquoise, by contrast, stays the same over the whole dial, and only the sunburst brings light and shade into it. Aqua Mod Black does without colour: a black dial, a black strap, white numerals and a white seconds hand that stands out clearly against the dark ground. Of the four watches, the turquoise one is the lightest; the green one with its gradient is deeper, the plain dark green calmer, the black neutral. Case and bezel are built the same way on all four, with a brushed surface and no scale, and the rectangular luminous blocks around the edge are spaced alike on every one. The differences therefore lie in the dial and the strap. All four measure 41 mm.

Similar models: Aqua Mod - Brown, Aqua Mod - Rose Gold - Brown, and Naut Mod - Turquoise (Diamond).

From our guides: Seiko Mods and 5 ATM.