DCVW teamed up with actor Sung Kang, Kyusha House, and Williams Machine Inc to design and create the perfect 1970s Seiko rally car stopwatch project, to reside in Sung's 1970s Datsun 240Z "Doc Z" rally car for its debut at the late 2021 SEMA Show, with the Doc Z going on to win awards at the show.
 
This is that project, as covered by Motor Trend and other periodicals...
 
We have produced a mere 16 signed and numbered examples - one resides in Sung's "Doc Z" rally car and another in his 1972 Datsun S30 “Fugu Z” (winner of the Gran Turismo Awards at SEMA - and also a car option in the Gran Turismo game), with another 14 up for grabs - and unlike other watch "limited editions," when we say it, we mean it!
 
Each of the 16 CAD-designed example features an aluminum billet mount, custom designed mounts, and two 1970s Seiko 88-5061 stopwatches - one 15 minute and one 30 minute.  We have engraved each mount with the logos for Sung's official website, Sung's Garage, Kyusha House engineering, Williams Machine Inc, and - of course - DC Vintage Watches.  Each example also features a limited edition number, ie: "2/16," and arrives in a rugged Pelican 1060 case.
 
Per Motor Trend, "The old school Z-car family has always been associated with motorsports, though its typically on a racetrack.  In 1970, after having finally found a major victory in rally racing during the 18th annual East African Safari rally with the Datsun Bluebird, Nissan returned in 1971 with a 240Z that would go on to claim yet another overall win—the first ever back-to-back wins in fact, and the first vehicle to win a championship in its debut outing.  This was a milestone achievement for the brand and helped solidify the Z-car's undeniable potential."
 
"A definitive departure from the Fugu Z, this new Doc Z project, the result of a very talented group of builders, associates, and a touch of a fate, draws far more inspiration from yesteryear and presents itself as a fascinating mix of cultures with some unique history tied in.  Far more than a high-dollar build-up to present at SEMA, this build represents Kang's desire to offer a personal contribution to the automotive community."
 
Now, about those vintage Seiko stopwatches! 
 
Seiko's stopwatches are legendary, with the Seiko 88-5061s here great examples.  1964 marked the emergence onto the world stage of a post-war Japan, most readily apparent in Tokyo hosting the Summer Olympics that same year.  Dark horse Seiko – despite having no prior experience in sports timing (much to Heuer’s chagrin, we're sure) – was named the official timekeeper, and began research and development in preparation for the games in 1961.

Even though head of Seiko's Watch Design Section Saburou Inoue noted his severe reluctance that Seiko could devise suitable timepieces in time for the 1964 Summer Games - only a few years away - legendary Seiko President Shoji Hattori would not be dissuaded.
 
Hattori may have been on to something, at least with the benefit of hindsight.  Seiko’s lack of experience also meant it lacked preconceived notions on how timekeeping should be conducted.  At the time, it was assumed to be human error when multiple stopwatches – used simultaneously – resulted in different times.
 
Under the hypothesis it may instead be the stopwatch itself resulting in different times, Seiko (under the watchful eye of Inoue) devised a machine to mechanically operate multiple stopwatches to be started and halted at the exact same time, which proved the hypothesis – different times resulted when the human element was eliminated.
 
After further research, Seiko devised solutions to the issue by upgrading certain parts of the stopwatch, resulting in a considerable improvement in accuracy – and importantly, reliable readings.  The Olympic Technical Committee head noted, upon the selection of Seiko as the official Olympic timekeeper, "We are not assigning official timekeeping to a Japanese manufacturer because the Olympics will be held in Tokyo, but because these are actual functional [timepieces], backed up by solid theory."
 
Now chosen as the official timekeeper of the games - the first to be held in Asia - and with a mere 17 months until the 1964 Summer Games, Seiko set to work.  Multiple teams at Seiko worked overtime to develop timekeepers for the games, with attention paid to the specialties within Seiko vis-à-vis each event to be timed – to include swimming, crew, cycling, equestrian, and even canoeing, among others.
 
Seiko was continuing to prepare itself to challenge Swiss dominance of the watch industry, via its massive investment in innovation and technology during the 1960’s and a strategic internal policy of encouragement and support of experimentation within.
 
For the 1964 Olympics, it paid dividends – Seiko, in full view of the world, had beat out Swiss manufactures for the honor of the official timekeeper and demonstrated what had been previously the exclusive right of Swiss watchmaking.  Seiko had provided the timekeeping instruments (watches, stopwatches – both large and handheld, and to include quartz chronometers) to keep, record, and display time at exceptionally high levels of accuracy.
 
Seiko would go on to be the official Olympic timekeeper in the 1972 Winter Games in Sapporo; 1992 Games in Barcelona; 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer; 1998 Games in Nagano; and 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, as well as a slew of prestigious international games between 1966 and 2013. 
 
And Seiko's innovative stopwatches paved the way.