Grand Seiko celebrates the twentieth anniversary of its first GMT watch and the fifteenth anniversary of its premiere Spring Drive chronograph with two new watches.
Both debuts technically echo ongoing designs within Grand Seiko’s Sport collection, but present themselves with dials created to recall winter scenes in the mountains that surround the Shinshu in central Japan studio where Grand Seiko design and manufactures the watches. Similarly, both watches feature blue dial accents meant to echo the bright blue color of the winter sky in Shinshu.
One of these new watches, the Sport Collection Grand Seiko GMT 20th Anniversary Limited Edition (SBGE275), is a 44mm steel watch with a large GMT hand that allows the wearer to read a second-time zone while a third time zone can also be displayed using the 24-hour bezel.
The power reserve and date are the only other displays interrupting the dial’s wintry white and blue scene. With Grand Seiko’s generous use of Lumibrite on the bezel, indexes, hour, minute, and GMT hands, all displays remain visible in darkness.
The Sport Collection Grand Seiko Chronograph 15th Anniversary Limited Edition (SBGC247) is the busier of the two new debuts.
Framed by a 43.5mm titanium case, the dial’s icy white coloring serves as a backdrop to three subdials. Grand Seiko protects the much-lauded Spring Drive Chronograph GMT Caliber 9R96 inside this watch with heightened anti-magnetic casing and a fortified titanium case.
Both movements, including the Spring Drive GMT Caliber 9R16 inside the GMT-only model and the Spring Drive Caliber 9R96 inside the chronograph GMT, offer hyper-accurate timing, with accuracy to plus or minus ten seconds per month or 0.5 seconds per day. Both also feature an 18-karat gold Grand Seiko lion emblem on the oscillating weight. (See specifications below for details).
Look for the Sport Collection Grand Seiko GMT 20th Anniversary Limited Edition (SBGE275, $7,300) in March when Grand Seiko will release it as a limited edition of 1,500. The Sport Collection Grand Seiko Chronograph 15th Anniversary Limited Edition (SBGC247, $11,000) is a limited edition of 700 and will be available in February.
(Specifications: Grand Seiko Spring Drive GMT (SBGE275, a limited edition of 1,500)
Movement: Automatic Grand Seiko Spring Drive GMT Caliber 9R16, accuracy of ±10 seconds per month (±0.5 second per day). Power reserve is 72 hours.
Case: 44mm by 14.9mm stainless steel case and bracelet, three-fold clasp with push button release, dual-curved sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, see-through screw case back, screw-down crown, water resistance to 200 meters, magnetic resistance of 4,800 A/m.
Dial: Patterned ‘icy’ white.
Bracelet: Steel with three-fold clasp and push button release.
Price: $7,300.
Specifications: Grand Seiko Spring Drive Chronograph GMT (SBGC247, a limited edition of 700)
Movement: Automatic Grand Seiko Spring Drive Chronograph GMT Caliber 9R96, accuracy to ±10 seconds per month (±0.5 second per day), power reserve of 72 hours.
Case: 43.5mm by 16.1mm high-intensity titanium. Dual-curved sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, see-through screw case back, screw-down crown, water resistance to 100 meters, magnetic resistance to 4,800 A/m.
Dial: Patterned ‘icy’ white.
Bracelet: Titanium with three-fold clasp with push button release.
Price: $11,000.
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