Evening all.

Had the great pleasure of spending the evening playing with some of Seiko’s Baselworld 2018 releases, along with some of their Credor masterpieces at the London Boutique.

Friendly, knowledgable crowd, interesting watches.

The Credors and precious metal GS’s are eye wateringly expensive, and not all to my taste.

You have to wonder who the customer base is for some of these things.

 

Insane quality.

 

Is it just me, or do they seem like a throw back to the late eighties?. Maybe it is the pic or the lighting, but the gold Seiko looks more like gold tone than real gold.

 

Those Seikos are beautiful!

 

I don't belong to the customer base/target of the precious metal GS and expensive Credors, but do like the quality of GS & Credor starter offerings. My work watch:



Thinking about getting a GMT, and in particular this reference:

 

As someone who bought the SBGH267, SBGH051, and SBGW253 within the last two weeks, I definitely am within the customer base for these watches. I don't know how to describe myself other than I enjoy watches, and that includes both vintage and modern Seiko watches. I think Seiko and Grand Seiko has more meaning for those of us who might have a connection to Japan. I guess I can't really nail down why I'm in the customer base other than I travel to Japan and Asia quite a bit and enjoy Japanese culture, design, art, etc.

To add to Chris' lovely shot above:

 

Chris ... I think you would ....but I will ask anyway. If this was a Swiss company, would you still ask this question?

 

Agree 100%. The dial patterning in the first 3 pictures is horrific in my opinion---and I'm a huge fan of many Seiko dials.

 

Great picture. Is the actual dial surface textured?
With the lettering over the top it gives the illusion the surface is flat.

 

It's difficult to compare a Grand Seiko to a Seiko you see being sold for a few hundred quid on Ebay. These watches are pretty amazing when you look a bit closer.

If you compare the quality and workmanship that goes into them, they represent pretty amazing value i.m.o. The SBGH265 is aimed at serious Grand Seiko guys, but there are plenty of them. At around £45k it is an expensive watch, but what would a similar spec Swiss made watch from Patek, Audemars, V.C, J.L.C, Rolex etc cost?

It's limited to only 20 watches with a platinum case and platinum clasp. Any Grand Seiko V.F.A movement packs some serious punch. This one is automatic with a 55 hour power reserve, 37 jewels and 36,000 vph. It makes +3/-1 seconds per day so is well within COSC chronometer certification. That is pretty impressive.

Add one of the above names to its dial and it would be at least 2-3 times as much without much trouble, possibly more.

Decorated dials aren't for everyone but I love them. I'm sure if Roger Smith added a similar pattern it would go down quite well, but he'd put a few zeros on the RRP too.

View attachment 548745

 

Lovely choices!

My comment was more on the £50k plus for the platinum GS (that’s a bucket of cash no mater who’s making the watch), and the £100k plus for the high end Credors.

I’m curious as to who buys any watch at that price point, regularly, because I suspect you don’t own “just one” £100k watch.

 

Yup, Swiss, British, outer Mongolian...

I think I just don’t get Haute Horology.

Or more accurately I don’t get paying £50k up for platinum watches.

And those last two Credors... insane technically... but to my eye, not exactly beautiful.

 

Collectors who live in a world of monetary decimal points that are far to the right of the ones we live with. Bottom line they buy em without thought and swap em out when they get bored.

 

I heard a new phrase last night “me too millionaires”.

They don’t know what the thing is, but the thing is expensive, and other millionaires have it, so Best Buy one just in case!

 

Not to everyone's taste or pocket, but very impressive and interesting watches Chris.

 

Have always loved Seikos. Have owned several but the Grand Seikos do sometimes remind me of Lexus cars. Brilliantly well put together and lovely to own but just not as pretty as their German counterparts.
Thanks for reporting back though Chris.

 

I suspect there are a lot of people in the world with a lot of money!

Great question! The dial is carved/textured but the applied text is not painted on, in fact the text is applied and rigid on top of the dial to allow the text to be legible from any angle and float on the surface of the dial.

 

Superb pictures! Had a SBGX once with 9F, amazing watch!

 

I guess I'm content to hold GS in high regard but from a discreet distance and have no desire to acquire. As to the Credors about which I know nothing beyond a pathological dislike of skeleton dials.

 

Wait ... those Credor are demonstrators right? They are known for the lovely porcelain. I agree that if those are skeleton they are Fugly. Despite the brilliant movements.