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Spotlight: Grand Seiko

Spotlight

For Watch Affinity’s first Spotlight feature, we thought we would shine the light on a brand born of a desire to create superior timepieces. A desire to improve on not only precision and accuracy, but also comfort, durability – and of course, beauty.

This year also happens to be the 60th anniversary year of their first timepiece. That brand is Grand Seiko; in this feature article, we have collaborated with our partners @fedorology and @robbieandwatches to bring you the journey of Grand Seiko to where they are today, and a review of some timepieces we have carefully selected from the current catalogue.

The Grand Seiko Story

The idea of a ‘Grand Seiko’ began with the Seiko Group in Japan at the end of the 1950s, looking to challenge the preconceived notion that Swiss watches were superior to Japanese, with the ultimate goal of creating a timepiece of a higher quality, accuracy and finish than others of the time, holding themselves higher standards of which they knew they were capable. The result of these efforts saw the first Grand Seiko timepiece launched in 1960, featuring the new calibre 3180 which heralded a new era of precision, offering accuracy standards of +12 to -3 seconds per day, which led to this becoming the first Japanese movement to be awarded chronometer status.

Following from the release of the first Grand Seiko in 1960 were several years of incredible advancement. In 1964, the Grand Seiko Self-Dater arrived, a timepiece designed for practicality which incorporating the calibre 430 (later renamed 5722A), which was an evolution of the 3180 in the original Grand Seiko, including the date complication, an increase in the number of jewels in the movement, and also an increase in water resistance to a 50 metre rating.

With this, the Grand Seiko entered their first Neuchatel chronometer trials, competitions for watch movements. Whilst in the first year Grand Seiko attained a disappointing 144th place, by 1967 they had attained top 10 ranking wing to the advancements in high-frequency calibres.

The nine design principles of Grand Seiko were firmly established in 1967 with the arrival of the 44GS: a double-width index at 12 o’clock; multi-faceted, rectangular indices; a high-polish bezel; high-polish planes on the case with a flat surface; a half-recessed crown; a flat dial; multi-faceted hour and minute hands; a curved case side; and a reverse slanted bezel wall and case side. Each piece is also adorned with a lion on the caseback – the King of the Jungle to signify the “King of watches”. These design principles remain part of every Grand Seiko timepiece to this day.

The 44GS did not only herald the arrival of Grand Seiko’s design principles, it was also the most accurate manually wound, 5 beat watch in the world. This was closely followed by the 62GS (the first automatic Grand Seiko) and the 61GS and 45GS (10 beat automatic and manual watches respectively). In 1968, only 8 years after the release of the first Grand Seiko, the accuracy of these movements earned Grand Seiko 4th to 10th place, losing out to a quartz prototype, and the overall prize of the best mechanical watches in the Geneva observatory competition (after the Neuchatel chronometer trials were abruptly abandoned, with Grand Seiko primed to take 1st place).

With variances of only +/- 2 seconds a day, the 61GS VFA and 45 GS VFA (Very Fine Adjusted) calibres assured their place in Grand Seiko history.

Mark Cho’s Grand Seiko 61GS Very Fine Adjusted as featured in Matt Hranek’s A Man & His Watch

Mark Cho’s Grand Seiko 61GS Very Fine Adjusted as featured in Matt Hranek’s A Man & His Watch

Between the 1980s and the late 1990s, Grand Seiko pursued a slightly different agenda, with a focus on quartz timepieces born of the “quartz crisis” of the 1980s. In keeping with the original objectives of Grand Seiko, they set about creating a precision quartz movement of higher quality than others of this era. Going even so far as to manufacture their own quartz crystals in house, in their own way, Grand Seiko produced the calibre 95GS in 1988, which of course far outclassed other quartz movements with variances of only +/- 10 seconds a year.

Over the course of the 1990s, many further advancements were made in the pursuit of the ideal quartz watch, before returning their focus to mechanical timepieces in the mid-1990s. In 1996, the 9S mechanical movement had been developed, and successfully attained COSC certification.

However, the Grand Seiko team wanted to push themselves further in the quest for continual improvement, and created their own Grand Seiko quality standard, surpassing the levels mandated by COSC certification. This is not only about precision, but practicality, too, and at a time when 40 hours power reserve was the norm, Grand Seiko opted to set their standard at 50 hours. This standard remains today and is something to which every Grand Seiko timepiece must adhere.

The pursuit of these enacting standards helped Grand Seiko to evolve the 9S mechanical movement, with calibres 9S51 and 9S55 following in 1998, and calibre 9S67 in 2006.

This era also marked the first time that Grand Seiko had really been visible and available outside of Japan, with the Western World getting their first chance to start seeing these pieces up close. Even today, you might hear people talking about Grand Seiko as a ‘new brand’, which as you now know couldn’t be further from the truth.

Perhaps one of the manufacturer’s greatest achievements, however, is the culmination of nearly three decades of research and development, with the first Spring Drive calibre 9R65. The concept of Spring Drive merges the worlds of mechanical and electronic timekeeping by combining a traditional, mechanical mainspring with an electronic regulator. All of this was of course only possible because Grand Seiko produced each and every one of their own components in-house.

Whilst the Spring Drive calibre offered greater levels of accuracy, Grand Seiko also wanted it to offer a greater level of practicality, and so endeavoured to achieve a 72 hours power reserve. With this, of course, the Grand Seiko standard had once again moved forward, and so the next challenge became to achieve this same time with a purely mechanical watch, a feat achieved in 2006 with the aforementioned calibre 9S67.

Grand Seiko continued to evolve the Spring Drive concept, introducing Hi-Beat in 2009 with the calibre 9S8 series, allowing for even greater levels of precision and accuracy. Combining this new functionality with a GMT complication earned Grand Seiko the ‘Petit Aiguille’ award at the 2014 GPHG.

In 2017, Seiko Watch Corp. separated Grand Seiko into a brand unto itself, apart from the core Seiko brand of watches, with the dials no longer adorning both logos, instead championing only the logo of Grand Seiko. With a raft of its own boutiques in cities around the world, Grand Seiko is today attracting a lot of positive attention, with people taking note of each of the values it has held since its inception – quality, accuracy, and finish.

With that, let’s move on to looking at some particular timepieces from each of the Grand Seiko collections – Elegance, Heritage and Sport – and see just what it is about these timepieces that makes them so special.

Elegance Collection

Within the Elegance collection you will find a range of timepieces of a timeless, classical aesthetic, predominantly made up of a series of dress watches. From this collection, we have selected the SBGK005 reference, a limited edition of 1,500 pieces, which was released in February 2019.

Grand Seiko SBGK005 by Fedorology

Grand Seiko SBGK005

This watch is one which, the more you look at it, the more you start to notice every intricate and perfectly placed detail. We will start with the first thing you notice – the stunning blue dial. Etched into the beautiful deep blue is a textured pattern known as “Mt. Iwate”, named after a large volcano, situated close by to Grand Seiko’s manufacture in Morioka, Japan. The texturing is done in a somewhat reminiscent style to a sunburst effect and is one which you could never tire of looking at. The small seconds sub-dial at 9 o’clock, power reserve indicator at 3 o’clock and the minute marker track are printed on to the dial, following the contours of the Mt. Iwate texturing. The hour marker indices and the Grand Seiko logo are applied, with the ‘Grand Seiko’ wording printed in white underneath an applied logo in gold. The result is an asymmetric dial not just done right but done brilliantly.

Grand Seiko SBGK005 by Fedorology

The finishing of the multi-faceted indices and hands on the dial is nothing short of incredible, down to every minute detail, and ensures that light is rebounded differently every time you look at it. The stainless-steel case is 39mm in diameter and 11.6mm deep, with short lugs that do not protrude far from the case at all. The finishing here too is impeccable, with the case almost all mirror polished using the signature Zaratsu technique that has become a hallmark of Grand Seiko. The only exception to this being a brushed aspect around the caseband, which serves to accentuate the perfection of the mirror-finish both above and below the band.

SBGK005 by Fedorology

The movement inside the case is the in-house, manual wind calibre 9S63, an evolution of the 9S64 with the power reserve indication and small seconds, which offers an impressive 72 hours power reserve. The movement is regulated to provide +5 / -3 seconds a day when static, and +10 / -1 seconds a day when in use. Whilst beautifully finished and visible through the sapphire caseback, the Grand Seiko tradition of incorporating the lion might be a little questionably executed here with a blue lion that somewhat obfuscates some aspects of the movement. That, however, should not detract from what is a truly superb timepiece.

SBGK005 by Fedorology

On the wrist, this is nothing short of exquisite. The traditional Grand Seiko design elements ensure that as the case tapers away from the wrist, it feels like it is smaller than the 39mm, which is echoed by the fact it is a lightweight 70g. And yet, the boldness and contrast afforded by deep blue colour of the dial against the case makes you want to question whether it can in fact be only 39mm! It is absolutely one of those watches that you will catch yourself staring at time and time again.

A special thanks here to @fedorology for the photography!

Sport Collection

Grand Seiko’s Sport collection, as the name might suggest, is noticeably their most contemporary in terms of style. The collection includes timepieces more suited to everyday wear and offers chronograph and GMT complication pieces, and even diving watches. To showcase this collection, we have selected one of the first quartz GMT calibres, the SBGN005 reference which was available from the beginning of 2019.

SBGN005 by Robbie and Watches

To start with, let’s look at what makes this Sport piece as practical as it is good-looking; the perfectly sized 39mm diameter and 12.1mm thick case is paired with a stainless steel, folding clasp strap which hugs the wrist for a feeling of comfort, and weighs in at 149g. Ensuring legibility, the glass has an anti-reflective coating on the inside, as well as the hands and indices being coated in Lumibrite for darker environments. This is offset against a simple dial to ensure legibility, with the addition of a simple date complication placed at 3 o’clock, with the background of the date display the same colour as the dial ensuring a level of discretion. The hands and indices are beautifully finished, looking clean and sharp with a multi-faceted relief.

Grand Seiko SBGN005 by Robbie and Watches

The case features a screw caseback (which is, of course, adorned with the Grand Seiko trademark lion) and screw-down crown, which serve to ensure up to 100m water resistance making it perfect for daily wear. On the inside of the dial, there are multi-coloured rings to help denote day and night for the bright red GMT hand, which is of course also coated in Lumibrite. For the first time, too, Grand Seiko has incorporated a 24-hour bezel akin to the Rolex Explorer II.

For everything that this watch offers in the way of practicality, it compromises nothing in terms of finish and overall quality.

The movement driving this piece is calibre 9F86, a quartz 9F calibre which for the first time incorporates a GMT function and ensures accuracy to +/- 10 seconds a year. This calibre also allows the wearer to adjust the main hour hand, which can be set independently without stopping the watch, ensuring that the accuracy of timekeeping is not compromised when changing the time.

When you wear this piece, you can just feel that you have something that is as reliable as it is beautiful: a perfectly executed blend of Grand Seiko’s original mission to produce pieces of higher quality accuracy and finish, and the requirements of a timepiece for comfortable everyday wear in the modern era.

SBGN005 by Robbie and Watches

A special thanks here to @robbieandwatches for the photography!

Heritage Collection

The Heritage collection is the largest within the Grand Seiko catalogue, with each timepiece celebrating original styles and designs of Grand Seiko from the 1960s and 1970s. To demonstrate the ethos of this collection, there really is only one reference that we could pick – the SBGA211 “Snowflake”, which has somewhat of a favourite amongst Seiko and Grand Seiko enthusiasts since it was introduced in 2010, serving as somewhat of a harmonic culmination of everything that Grand Seiko is.

We shall start with where that nickname comes from – the dial. The delicately textured white dial gently bounces the light around as it catches it at different angles, and oozes connotations of a fresh snowfall. The design doesn’t seem to have to try to create this effect, it comes across as though it is all natural, effortless even – and when something so difficult is made to look so easy, that is the mark of absolute mastery. If that all sounds a little… fluffy, we can assure that you will see exactly what we mean when you get to handle one up close. The dial features a date complication at 3 o’clock and a power reserve indication between 7 and 8 o’clock creating another asymmetric dial, but again Grand Seiko have executed the aesthetics of this with aplomb – it is very pleasing on the eye. Creating these dials is very labour intensive, but the result is well worth it.

The hands and indices on the dials are finished to Grand Seiko’s highest standards, and the sweeping second hand in blued steel offers an active pop of accent colour that is most welcome.

SBGA211 snowflake dial macro

Interestingly, this dial has only ever been paired with a Spring Drive movement, which moves us on nicely to the calibre 9R65 driving the timepiece. This movement achieves accuracy performance of +/- 1 second a day, or +/- 15 seconds per month; as described earlier, the Spring Drive movement is a Grand Seiko development which combines both mechanical and quartz benefits, by using an quartz oscillator to regulate the mainspring. When fully wound, this offers 72 hours power reserve. The calibre is visible through the sapphire caseback, which features a subtle translucent/white lion emblem.

On the wrist, the Snowflake feels incredibly lightweight owing to it being constructed from high-intensity titanium – despite measuring 41mm in diameter and being 12.5mm thick, and having a fully integrated metal strap, it weighs only 100g which ensures superlative levels of comfort. This high-intensity titanium affords hypo-allergenic properties as well as improved scratch resistance, which when coupled with the screw-down crown and screw caseback achieve 100m water resistance rating, helping to ensure that the timepiece and its finishing will better survive the perils of everyday wear and tear.

SBGA211

When you first get hands on with a Snowflake, you can start to see how all these seemingly small details fit together so perfectly, and it takes on the ethos in Grand Seiko in just about every way imaginable.

In Summary

One of the most common phrases one might hear about Grand Seiko is how they are the best value for money available at their market price point. Considering the history, quality, accuracy and finish that is assured with Grand Seiko, we would have to tend to agree. Whilst of course there are certain pieces which cost more than others, the price points of the pieces reviewed above are £6,600 GBP for the Elegance SBGK005 limited edition, £2,900 GBP for the Sport SBGN005, and £5,400 GBP for the Heritage SBGA211 “Snowflake”, respectively.

Of course, it will always remain with the individual to make up your own mind, but as always the recommendation from Watch Affinity would be to not make any decisions until trying the watches on and handling them up close, it really does make a difference.

We hope you have enjoyed this, our first feature article putting Grand Seiko under the spotlight.

Let us know what you think via our Contact page, or via our Instagram.

Special thanks to @fedorology and @robbieandwatches – check them out on Instagram, and you can find more from Robbie at www.robbieandwatches.co.uk

 

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