Japanese advertising has always been kind of weird, by North American standards.
Case in point, this 1982 commercial from the Seiko watch company. What one can only assume in a Japanese version of 007 is cruising along in his Fiat X1/9, then pushes a secret button on the gear shift lever to reveal a jewelry box hidden in the dash.
Not only does this make the viewer want to start parting their hair, but also buy a late 70’s Italian targa-top and a quality quartz watch, or two.
Many people have watch collections and yes those would definitely want them to be hidden like this!
It just looks so cool. Italian car being driven through Japan, with a secret compartment for watches.
It is such a cool 1980s advertisement. It is a shame that Seiko was synonymous with quality, affordable watches, but they have become quite expensive.
Oh well, just like everything in life.
It’s amazing that Japanese products went from garbage to synonymous with quality to gosh-darned expensive in just a couple generations.
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Check out Seiko5 which look exactly the same but have previous generation movements (and priced affordably).
I just live this commercial!
Totally weird. I’ve never been into the idea of watches as fashion. I’ve always gone for simple and functional ones. If that button would expose machinguns behind the fog lights, I would totally go for that.
That’s the US version of the commercial you’re remembering.