SVBA001 was the last mass-market railway watch produced by Seiko. Produced from 1987, it was adopted by the Japanese National Railway due to high precision and magnetic resistance. A long-life model, SVBR001 with a 10-year battery was added in 1998.

Seiko had produced railway watches since 1929, with the Type 19 becoming famous across Japan and seen in every railway cabin. It remained in production until November, 1971, when it was replaced by the Type 61RW using Cal. 6110A. In 1980, the railway was given the choice of a quartz and a mechanical offering, Type 75RW and Type 63RW, respectively. The quartz offering was selected, and the mechanical railway line was ended.

Type 75RW used the mass-market Cal. 7550A which offered just 15 seconds per month precision. Although acceptable for the railway, Seiko wanted to offer a more advanced movement. In 1987, Seiko began offering the high-performance Cal. 7C11 in a new railway watch. It also offered enhanced magnetic resistance to 16,000 A/m and five-year battery life. Using Seiko's new model nomenclature, this watch was known as SVBA001 and would be the new standard railway watch in the 1990s.

The movement was updated in 1998 to the new Cal. 7C21 which boasted 10 year battery life. This watch was known as SVBR001. SVBR005 was offered in 2014 as an 85th anniversary model and SVBR007 in 2019 for the 90th anniversary. Seiko also offers the updated mass-production model, SVBR003.