Many Seiko watches from the 1960’s through the mid-1980’s have rightly gone down as design classics, building a considerable following amongst watch collectors.
 
Conversely, some truly gorgeous watches from the same era produced by the same company have quietly slipped under the radar for the simple reason they were designed for the typically slighter wrist, ie: women - like this rather dainty and very atypical gold late 1980s Seiko 1E20-0A20 women’s watch, on its original bracelet.
 
And it’s a shame, because many of these smaller watches feature exquisite details – Seiko found an original, great looking formula for its watches, and stuck with it. The quartz movements Seiko designed for watches like these are tough and reliable – during its heyday, the movements were popular with armed forces for this same reason.
 
And this watch immediately stands out from the rest, featuring a bust of the iconic Cleopatra, Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC (and the last active Hellenistic pharaoh).
 
Following the tradition of Macedonian rulers, Cleopatra ruled Egypt and other territories such as Cyprus as an absolute monarch, serving as the sole lawgiver of her kingdom.  She was the chief religious authority in her realm, presiding over religious ceremonies dedicated to the deities of both the Egyptian and Greek polytheistic faiths, and she oversaw the construction of various temples to Egyptian and Greek gods, a synagogue for the Jews in Egypt, and even built the Caesareum of Alexandria, dedicated to the cult worship of her patron and lover Julius Caesar.
 
Cleopatra was directly involved in the administrative affairs of her domain, tackling crises such as famine by ordering royal granaries to distribute food to the starving populace during a drought at the beginning of her reign.  A study suggested that volcanic eruptions caused the unfavorable climate and that this contributed to Cleopatra's demise, although others expressed skepticism about this hypothesis.
 
Although the command economy that she managed was more of an ideal than a reality, the government attempted to impose price controls, tariffs, and state monopolies for certain goods, fixed exchange rates for foreign currencies, and rigid laws forcing peasant farmers to stay in their villages during planting and harvesting seasons.  
 
Seiko introduced the 1E20 line in 1983, and made them for at least a decade, and it's one of its many vintage women's watches lost to the ages. Seiko discovered the secret to manufacturing mass-produced stylish and affordable watches.  And it never failed to make them stylish! 
 
This quite petite Seiko 1E20 comes on its original stainless-steel bracelet, with springbar tool and rugged travel case.