I just bought this a few days ago on a blind buy... And love it! 42mm, and fits my 7.5in wrists perfectly.
I'm quite amazed at what seems to be impeccable fit and finish of case, dial and hands on these watches. This is one model I would love to own. Lovely! Cheers,
Concerning finishing of the parts. Saying only the visible parts a well finished is partial. In that price range how many swiss brands make a "lange und sohne" finishing? What swiss brands make geneva stripes by hand in that price range? The cases, bracelets polishing of GS are impressive. The dial and hands are masterpice. An interesting link to make your ownm opinion : https://www.thenakedwatchmaker.com/decon-seiko/ Speaking about rolex, let's see the level of polishing of some others parts of the 3135 that speaks for itself https://www.thenakedwatchmaker.com/decon-seiko/
I will let Al answer concerning the comparison between the finishing of the Rolex 3135 and GS. As I do not own any of these watches and have not serviced any of them, I will not comment. But I think the price argument may not be relevant here. The focus of this thread was on GS as being better and better and producing high end watches. I do not know enough GS watches to comment on their evolution concerning quality. But I have seen plenty of (mostly vintage) very good quality movements that have given me some standards so as to discuss "high end". Again, I do not think there is and should be a definitive definition of high end. But, when talking of high end, comparing the production of a particular brand with high quality movements is fair. Note that I do not think at all that Rolex produces high end movements. If I had to make my personal opinion, I would have compared GS's movements to vintage PP, VC or current watches from Lange. I would not have compared them to small very high quality brands or producers such as Dufour or Halter, as I think they are part of another range. But if GS produces high end watches, why could not we compare their movements to standard high end watches? Now, if we are discussing the quality-price ratio, this is another question. I would be the first to aknowledge that Seikos most often produces good or very good watches for the price they ask. But I do not think this question should be part of the high end discussion.
Wise comment. Speaking of price ratio in modern watches, it's true that GS is very well placed. I don't even know with what swiss brand we can compare it to. I can only see two brands that have also that good a ratio : Frederic Constant (manufacture movements) and Nomos. When I service some 50's watches it's rather impressive how some movements were finished, ie Longines. The funny thing is you can grab them for 100 bucks and put them in a new case if you're not an addict of brands.
Hope not, I need more of them. I see that the modern ones getting popular all the time but it have not made any big difference for the old ones yet.
It seems that way in comparison to the modern offerings, but all the vintage GS look very similar to me...not much variation
Also, the re-branded GS with just a GS under the 12 and empty space above the 6 looks way too unbalanced to me. I much prefer the old design. with Seiko under the 12 and GS above the 6.
Tried one on today. Can confirm that the dial and case finishing is fantastic. For anyone not convinced by pictures, having them in the hand makes a huge difference. The movement finishing is comparable to the Omega co-axial movements - asthetically pleasing but not overly detailed.
I will consider GS getting better and high-end once they fix their QC issues for some of their GMT models and tighter tolerance for misaligned hands.