Grand Seiko’s latest additions to its Elegance Collection include these two unisex 34mm models (SBGX347 and SBGX349). Each watch sports this brand’s characteristic and highly light-reflective diamond-cut markers and hands. Grand Seiko sets a white or a royal blue dial within the slim (10.7mm) steel case with a thin bezel and boxed, retro-inspired sapphire crystal.
The watch’s straight-forward design belies a great deal of technical detail, including the use of Caliber 9F61, Grand Seiko’s famed high-end (and hand-assembled) quartz caliber with an ultra-precise accuracy of +/-10 seconds a year.
Grand Seiko caliber 9F61.
And Grand Seiko protects this movement against potentially destabilizing magnetic influences to an especially strong level of 4,800 A/m, not typical protection among watches in this price range.
Both Grand Seiko Elegance debuts are priced at $3,300.
Specifications: Grand Seiko Elegance
Case: 34mm by 10.7mm steel, box-shaped sapphire crystal, 4,800 A/m magnetic resistance, 30 meters of water resistance, screw caseback with lion emblem.
The watchmakers at Grand Seiko’s Micro Artists Studio once again display their technical and artistic expertise with a new platinum-cased Spring Drive masterpiece.
The new Masterpiece Collection Seiko 140th Anniversary Limited Edition is a beautiful example of the brand’s nature-based aesthetic with a dial and engraved case meant to recall the night skies above Achi, a Japanese mountain village famous for its both its remoteness and its clean air.
Grand Seiko’s new Masterpiece Collection Seiko 140th Anniversary Limited Edition.
Grand Seiko artisans use a variety of manufacturing and finishing techniques to create the dial, including stamping, plating and hand painting.
Artisans use a variety of manufacturing and finishing techniques to create the dial, including stamping, plating and hand painting.
Named to celebrate Seiko’s 140th anniversary, the watch’s stunning and highly engraved 38.5mm platinum case also expresses the natural clarity of Achi’s night skies. Pleasing groups of leaf-like patterns cover the entire case, repeated in varying directions to capture “the exquisite order and ever-changing aspect of Achi’s starry skies,” according to Grand Seiko.
Inside Grand Seiko fits it superb Spring Drive manual-winding caliber 9R02, a movement first seen in 2019 when it marked the 20th anniversary of Spring Drive.
The movement itself continues Grand Seiko’s ode to natural beauty. For example, the barrel is shaped to echo the bellflower that is the symbol of the Shiojiri region, home to the Micro Artists Studio. Next to the barrel is the power reserve indicator.
The power reserve here is an impressive eighty-four hours, largely thanks to the Caliber 9R02’s Dual Spring Barrel. Not surprisingly, Grand Seiko expertly hand polishes the rims of all the bridges, the holes for the rubies and the screws.
Note the 18-karat yellow gold plaque on the lower bridge. While it is marked with the engraved words “Micro Artist,” Grand Seiko allows the owner of the watch the option to replace these words with a phrase of his or her choice. Available starting in August, the watch is a limited edition of fifty. Price: $79,000.
Specifications: Grand Seiko Masterpiece Collection Seiko 140th Anniversary Limited Edition (Limited edition of 50)
Movement: Caliber 9R02 manual-winding Spring Drive with power reserve of 84 hours. Accuracy: ± 1 second per day (± 15 seconds per month). Dual-Spring Barrel and torque return system, power reserve indicator.
Case: 38.5mm by 9.8mm platinum with clasp, hand-engraved, dual-curved sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, see-through screw case back. Water resistance: 30 meters. Magnetic resistance: 4,800 A/m.
Dial: Blue with sparkles made with stamping, plating and hand painting.
Strap: Crocodile strap with three-fold clasp with push button release.
The dial on the latest elegant Grand Seiko Spring Drive watch beautifully mimics the undulations of lake Suwa when its surface is frozen, a natural phenomenon called Omiwatari.
Grand Seiko says its watchmakers and dial designers were inspired by the lake to create the ice-blue dial on the new SBGY007, a 38.5mm steel watch.
The new Grand Seiko SBGY007.
To make the dial, Grand Seiko artisans at the Shinshu Watch Studio near Lake Suwa hammered the dial’s mold to create the visible edges and the round shape, then polished the indexes and sharpened the hands.
Thanks to these angles and colors, light glimmers across the hands and dial, a result said to reflect Grand Seiko’s Nature of Time design philosophy.
Grand Seiko powers the watch with its own hybrid, super-precise Spring Drive Caliber 9R31, with dual barrels that deliver a power reserve of 72 hours when fully wound. Turning the watch over, viewers can eye the nicely finished Spring Drive movement, beautifully flecked with tempered blue screws and its power reserve indicator.
Grand Seiko Spring Drive Caliber 9R31
Grand Seiko expects this new SBGY007 to be made available in early July at Grand Seiko Boutiques and retail partners. Price: $8,300.
Specifications: Grand Seiko Elegance Collection SBGY007
Movement: Manual-winding Spring Drive Caliber 9R31. Driving system: Spring Drive with accuracy: ±1 second per day / ±15 seconds per month (average) power reserve: 72 Hours.
Dial: Hand-hammered ice blue, polished and faceted hands and markers.
Case: 38.5mm by 10.2mm steel, water resistant to 30 meters.
Among its range of 2021 debuts, Grand Seiko adds a new 40mm platinum-cased model within its vintage-inspired Heritage collection. The new watch, called the Grand Seiko Heritage Collection Seiko 140th Anniversary Limited Edition (SLGH007), features the Caliber 9SA5, the brand’s superb new high-beat movement, and a dial meant to echo the beauty of tree grain, or rings.
The new Grand Seiko Heritage Collection Seiko 140th Anniversary Limited Edition.
The watch debuts amid a 2021 Grand Seiko launch that also includes a new Spring Drive chronograph, a set of Elegance dress watches with dials inspired by the seasons, and a Spring Drive high jewelry model. We’ll show you details about these pieces in upcoming posts.
Platinum model
With its intricate depiction of tree grain, the new limited edition is meant to embody Seiko-founder Kintaro Hattori’s spirit and vision. “As if stretching back to reveal the very roots of Kintaro’s story, a series of delicate and organic lines echo the intricate rings that denote each year’s growth,” according to the brand.
Grand Seiko artisans have devised a dial with a three-dimensional appearance enhanced by how light plays off textural undulations. The wood grain effect appears realistic thanks to a subtle use of dark and light tones across the dial.
Grand Seiko says it plans to echo the design of this new model in the future, dubbing it Series 9, which will feature the larger hands designed to align exactly with grooved hour markers. In addition, this model offers its platinum case finished with a hairline pattern matched with a mirror finish.
As an anniversary piece, the watch’s precious metal is celebrated. On the dial, Grand Seiko places a star at six o’clock to indicate that the indexes are solid gold, as are the GS letters, the calendar frame and the buckle.
Inside, the Grand Seiko Caliber 9SA5 is billed by the brand as its finest – and for many reasons. Primarily, the movement is thinner and is more efficient than earlier automatic calibers, attributes driven in part by a wholly new Dual Impulse Escapement. This Grand Seiko invention combines direct impulse, where power is transferred directly from the escape wheel to the balance, with conventional indirect impulse. Twin barrels also enhance the caliber’s top-rate 80-hour power reserve.
Caliber 9SA5 is the thinnest Grand Seiko high-beat movement.
The Grand Seiko Heritage Collection Seiko 140th Anniversary Limited Edition will be available as a limited edition of 140 at the Grand Seiko Boutiques and selected Grand Seiko retailers worldwide in July 2021. Price: $59,000.
The beauty of the Caliber 9SA5 high-beat movement finish is visible through the sapphire crystal caseback.
Movement: Automatic ‘Hi-Beat’ 36000 80 Hours Caliber 9SA5 , 36,000 vph (10 beats per second), accuracy (mean daily rate): +5 to –3 seconds per day, power reserve of 80 hours.
Case: 40mm by 11.7mm platinum 950 case and clasp, box-shaped sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, see-through screw caseback, water resistance to 100 meters, magnetic resistance of 4,800 A/m.
Strap: Crocodile with three-fold clasp with push-button release.
As Grand Seiko celebrates its sixtieth birthday in 2020 (and specifically on December 18) the watchmaker’s U.S. division is releasing a new Spring Drive GMT sport watch, the latest variant of the Grand Seiko series we first saw this summer, but newly decorated with a dial color inspired by the American eagle.
Grand Seiko Spring Drive GMT ‘Eagle’ U.S. Limited Edition SBGE263.
Grand Seiko artisans have applied the deep brown color of the eagle’s feathers to the dial and bezel of the Spring Drive GMT SBGE263, which the brand says are meant to recall the “warm tones of the earth – reliable and dignified.”
Continuing its ode to the eagle, Grand Seiko also devised the watch’s radiating dial pattern to represent the bird’s flight, while the gold arrow of the GMT hand is “reminiscent of the eagle’s powerful beak.” The watch’s 40.5mm steel case features a contrasting mix of Zaratsu-polished and hairline surfaces.
As a GMT watch in the truest sense, powered by Spring Drive Caliber 9R66, the watch allows the wearer quick access to a second time zone. With the caliber, the local hour hand is independently adjustable while the GMT hand remains fixed to home time. This means that when the wearer arrives at new location in a different time zone, he or she can simply jump the hour hand to the correct hour without having to reset the watch.
The watch is offered as a U.S. limited edition of 110 and will be available in January at Grand Seiko Boutiques and for members of the newly expanded GS9 Club, now open to members in United States. Price: $6,700.
Specifications: Grand Seiko Spring Drive GMT ‘Eagle’ U.S. Limited Edition SBGE263
(Limited edition of 110)
Movement: Caliber 9R66 Spring Drive, accurate to +/-15 seconds month (when static), power reserve of 72 hours.
Case: 40.5mm by 14.7mm steel, brown ceramic bezel, dual curve sapphire crystal, water resistant to 200 meters.
Dial: Ridged pattern brown, raised and beveled markers.
Thanks to these angles and colors, light glimmers across the hands and dial, a result said to reflect Grand Seiko’s Nature of Time design philosophy.
