Watch collaborations tied to sporting events can get pretty predictable. Change a dial color, engrave something on the caseback, make a few hundred pieces… boom. Alpina seems to have gone further with its new Seastrong Extreme Automatic x Route du Rhum Destination Guadeloupe. Created around the 13th edition of the solo transatlantic Route du Rhum sailing race, the new Seastrong is limited to 313 pieces and uses Alpina’s compact Extreme case. It measures 39mm across, 40.5mm lug-to-lug, and 13.4mm thick, with 300 meters of water resistance and a sapphire crystal.
To me, those dimensions are already one of the more interesting parts of the watch (Alpina divers always look so huge to me). Getting 300 meters of water resistance into a 40.5mm-long case gives the Seastrong a nice compact footprint on paper, even with the somewhat substantial thickness. However, I think the Route du Rhum treatment is what makes this particular version worth taking a look at.
Alpina gave the watch a turquoise dial with a grained pattern representing Atlantic Ocean currents. There’s also a red “13” in the date wheel, a caseback engraving showing the race route from Saint-Malo to Guadeloupe, and a turquoise-and-black rubber strap. These are ultimately decorative references, regardless of how much sailing language we want to attach to them. The bezel is where things get more interesting.
Instead of the conventional elapsed-time bezel you’d expect from a 300-meter Seastrong, Alpina fitted a bidirectional carbon-fiber bezel marked with cardinal directions and a 360-degree compass scale. If you ask me, that decision does more to sell the concept than another race logo ever could. It changes one of the watch’s primary interfaces around the activity behind the collaboration. That’s coming from someone who knows absolutely nothing about sailing. Sorry, gang.
That also leaves us with a watch called a Seastrong diver without a traditional dive bezel. I’m fine with that. Alpina built this edition around sailing and navigation, and I think committing to that idea makes the watch more interesting.
Inside is Alpina’s AL-525 automatic caliber, running at 28,800 vibrations per hour with a 38-hour power reserve. The movement is based on the Sellita SW200-1. And this is where my enthusiasm cools considerably. Alpina’s U.S. pricing for the Route du Rhum edition is $2,770, according to their page, which places it alongside standard Seastrong Diver Extreme Automatics currently listed by Alpina.
My take is that a basic Sellita-derived movement with 38 hours of reserve is getting harder to overlook once we’re comfortably above $2,000. There are plenty of reasons a watch costs what it does beyond the movement, and the limited production and specialized exterior components matter here. Still, the caliber doesn’t give buyers much additional technical justification for the price. And I think the compact case, strange little compass bezel, and unusually committed sailing treatment give this edition a personality of its own.
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Michael Peñate is an American writer, photographer, and podcaster based in Seattle, Washington. His work typically focuses on the passage of time and the tools we use to connect with that very journey. From aviation to music and travel, his interests span a multitude of disciplines that often intersect with the world of watches – and the obsessive culture behind collecting them.