Thursday, April 04, 2013

Grand Seiko Springdrive GMT

I have to say that I am blown away by this watch, the Grand Seiko Spring Drive GMT, reference SBGE001J. The finish and build quality of this watch is refined. It is just beautiful. The crystal, the dial, the hands, the bracelet, all come together to make this watch an awesome watch. I can now appreciate why some people collect Grand Seiko.

Just some specifications before we go to the photographic review of the watch. 

The case is made of stainless steel and measures 43.5 mm in diameter, without crown. It is 14.7mm thick and is powered by Seiko Spring Drive caliber 9R66 which has the following complications; hours, minutes, seconds, date, power reserve indicator (72 hours) and true GMT function. The watch is water resistant to 20 ATM and anti-magnetic to 60 Gauss.

The watch in all its glory.....



Power reserve indicator at the 8 o'clock position. 


Love the use of the red for the GMT hand and GMT legend.



Nice crisp printing of the dial. Lovely applied indexes.



The ceramic (?) bezel is sapphire coated/ covered. One of the many detailing that went into the design of the watch. Oh yes, the bezel is bi-directional. Technically the watch is able to tell time in three time zones. The numerals of the bezel as is the triangle at 12 o'clock are luminous.



The easy to use and beautifully finished signed screw down crown. I like the fact that the crown is positioned at the 4 o'clock position. It does prevent the crown from digging into your wrist.


The crown has 3 positions, 1st. for winding, 2nd. for hour hands and date adjustment and 3rd. for time setting. The movement hacks at this position.


The date complication at 4 o'clock position. The date window is used as the 4 o'clock hour marker. Nice.


The 24 hour markers on the chapter ring.


You can see the amount of detailing that went into the design of the dial and hands. 


Truly an amazing watch. 


From my readings and understanding, the finish of the watch is such due to the method Seiko use to polish the case of the watch. It is based on the ancient form of Karatsu blade polishing used to polish katana blades. This practice is also extended to the hands and indexes of the watch. How cool is that...


A domed dual AR  coated sapphire crystal protects the dial of the watch. 



Lug holes..... I am in love....

The bracelet allows for full link and half link adjustments via screws that holds the bracelet together.


Clasp, signed GS. Behind it, a beautiful deployment. 


The screw-down case back, would have been great if it was a display back. But then where would you put the lion. 




Now, only if it was mine...... :)



And before I forget, the lume shot of the watch. A sight to behold....


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