Am Grand Seiko fan. I have three but all from heritage collection. Thinking of adding a dress watch (maybe the eichi) and/or a sports watch (diver or chrono). But i dont have a GS quartz yet. And i may have same attitude re quartz. I dont like hassle of battery change and risk of leakage. So the only pure quartz am keeping are my Technomarine and Casio G Shock. The rest ive removed the battery. I also keep the following quartz hybrids still with their batteries on: 1. Snowflake Spring Drive 2. BFK 3. Genta-designed AGS 4. Solar Diver 5. Astron All from Seiko Am still a GS fan despite this thread. But because of this thread, am now leaning more towards 9F than the 9R. Still a fan of the 9S.
I just checked mine today, some 12 days after setting it and it looks like it's just under 1 second ahead of my Apple watch now, so it seems that it'll be about +2 seconds a month fast. Not the best I've seen, but way within the 15 secs/month that GS quote and I'm very happy with that. Of course, one downside to Spring Drive is that you can't regulate it, but as accuracy seems to vastly surpasses any watch that you can regulate, it's not really much to give up. Servicing infrastructure remains a concern, but having no battery to change means the seals don't need to be disturbed and given that accuracy isn't reliant upon internal friction or the viscosity of the internal lubrication, service intervals could theoretically be extremely long with no loss of accuracy. Other accurate watches I have include an Omega Gen 1 X33, a Breitling Aerospace Evo and a Luminox 1945. The Breitling is accurate to within 5 secs a year, so definitely outperforms the Spring Drive (the Evos are thermo-comp), but the Omega gains about 5 secs a month and the Luminox about 10 secs, so the Spring Drive comfortably out-performs both of those. The crystal aging/selection process GS describe seems to achieve its purpose, at least in my personal experience and anecdotally from other users on the net. I imagine that their +/- 15 secs a months is very much a worst case scenario to minimise the chance of complaints. For no rational reason, I think I'd have been quite disappointed if mine had turned out to be close to that.
Anyone have experience with these grand seiko quartz anti-magnetic pieces? I absolutely love the aesthetic - would probably have already bought one if it was mechanical or spring drive
I managed to find a Grand Seiko AD while on vacation. The SBGK005 looks AMAZING in person - a really stunning dial design. Out of my price range, but fun to dream about.
I concur. The dial has a nice "pop" to it with the hands and leather strap. Just trying to make the decision easier... all are great options.
FWIW, here's an interesting article on deconstructing a GS SBGA211 "Snowflake" - great photos too... https://www.thenakedwatchmaker.com/decon-seiko-snowflake
They did make two mechanical in 2012... Sadly they're much harder to find now. https://www.ablogtowatch.com/grand-seiko-sbgr077-sbgr079-magnetic-resistant-watches-hands/
I am definitely a Seiko fan, have Presages, Alpinist, GS and they are beautiful. My tastes are varied, so anything from a diver to something classy. I can appreciate the workmanship and design
Thanks, it's the new SBGH269. Am waiting for my custom strap to be made and then it will go on my wrist.
I got to try the blue-faced Elegance model on in person earlier this year. It is really stunning. With the current shenanigans with Rolex, I wonder if more watch enthusiasts might look to Grand Seiko, especially for dress watches in the $4K-$7K range.
You are made of sterner stuff than I. I would definitely be wearing that bad boy with the bracelet, as I would not wait for the strap.
I have no experience with them but I wish I did... The one looks a little ghostly, so I would go with the black. Have to see in person to be sure.
Haha you are right. I have some other watches to wear, but it is torture looking at it every day and knowing I still have about 3 weeks before my strap comes.
Sounds like a form of purgatory. But that fine looking blue Grand Seiko and spring drive Presage may tide you over until the strap arrives. I do love that smooth sweeping seconds seen on a spring drive.
I do love the snowflake. I think I prefer the gold markers version, but both are real beauties. And as always that super smooth sweeping seconds hand just takes the cake. I am starting to hanker for my sbga375g already.