- Japanese designer Hiroshi Fujiwara has revealed his next watch collab as the weird and wonderful Seiko Metronome Watch Fragment Edition PA50‑00B0.
- Based on the Seiko Metronome from 2022, the watch is produced by Seiko Instruments and features an internal metronome that helps musicians maintain a beat.
- As the watch has only been teased on Fujiwara’s social media, availability and pricing remain TBC.
While most watchmakers are content with producing watches the old-fashioned way, Seiko has always enjoyed exploring ultra-specific and highly practical use cases for wristwatches. Included amongst the weirdest and most wonderful is the Seiko Metronome, and now, it’s returning as a special edition collaboration with Hiroshi Fujiwara’s fragment design brand.
While the Seiko Metronome doesn’t look that unusual at first glance, it’s produced by the Seiko Instruments division of the Seiko Group Corporation, which is responsible for everything from semiconductors and micromechatronics to printers, and (you guessed it) metronomes.
Much like how you can buy both a piano and a motocross bike from Yamaha, or a cycling groupset and a fishing reel from Shimano, Seiko is another of Japan’s multi-category manufacturing giants, producing far more than just watches. As a result, it’s one of the very few (if not only) watchmakers on the planet that’s capable of creating such a timepiece without resorting to external suppliers.
In essence, the quartz-powered Seiko Metronome has the ability to switch from its time-telling mode to a functional metronome, capable of maintaining perfect time between 40bpm and 300bpm by swinging its minute hand from side to side, with the option of an on-tempo beep. The team at Teddy Baldassarre have a great demonstration of how the original version works below:
As the watch has so far only been teased on Fujiwara’s Instagram, there are plenty of details that remain to be confirmed; however, there look to be two different references coming down the pipe, one with a signature black dial and one with a white dial.
The two references appear to feature a caseback engraving that reads “VA FRAGMENT METRONOME,” suggesting they’ll be available via retailer VA Tokyo, and interestingly, while the black dial has printed dial details (in line with previous versions), the white dial reference has applied silver hour markers.
Likely measuring 38mm in diameter and cased in stainless steel, they’re both paired with textile NATO straps, they both feature fragment design’s logo on the dial at 6 o’clock, and they’re both almost guaranteed to sell out immediately.
For Seiko fans, this is evidence that Hiroshi Fujiwara knows his watches very, very well, electing for one of the more obscure, unusual models in the brand’s catalogue as the basis for his next collaboration. Availability and pricing remain TBC, but this is shaping up to be one of the coolest link-ups of 2026.
