The 2nd gen. snowflake has been in my crosshairs multiple times, but have yet to pull the trigger either...

 

ThAt is gorgeous !! Cost on that one? WhT exact model??

 

Personally, I've held several modern GS, but I was completely floored by the vintage ones. I compared them with my IWC 852, UG Polerouter Super and found the GS to be able to hold its own.



Courtesy of @bigsom

 

Love Grand Seiko, but I think the Credor line is a little overlooked. Wish Seiko had leveraged the design and watch making skills of the Credor line to expand in the US market.

 

I see more and more people being drawn towards the GS including myself as some the of late models I have seen are really nice and the attention to details is superb.

 

I think you are completely misunderstanding what my point was, and taking statements of fact as criticisms.

I read people on forums making claims about GS that are so wild it defies belief, with one poster on another forum recently saying that GS makes "the best 3 hand watches on the market" in terms of finishing. That is a claim that is so wild I had a hard time believing it was serious, but that is the level of fanboyism that this brand tends to attract. There's a tendency with GS fans to overcompensate for what they believe is an unfair "lack of respect" for what the brand does, so it's not unusual for people to react badly when I post the photos I posted.

With all that said, I am not saying that GS should be using traditional methods at the prices they sell at, or that Rolex is something special. In fact I didn't speak of the quality of finishing on the Rolex, but the completeness - there's a difference and it's clear that the Rolex 3135 is more completely finished that the GS movement is. I only offered the photos I did as way of illustrating that when people refer to the outstanding finishing of GS watches, that applies only to the exterior of the watch, and the interior is certainly nothing special in that regard. In fact the link to the PSM page you provided, he says this when speaking about the movement:

"Although the overall finishing could be improved, the resulting calibre combines vintage solidity in construction with modern manufacturing techniques and alloys effectively."

From the standpoint of the dial, hands, and case, they certainly do great finishing, but the movements are simply mediocre at best, and not as completely finished as other mid-tier brands are. If you believe differently then we can agree to disagree.

Cheers, Al

 

Al - just curious, is there such thing as "best Quartz movement" and if so, who makes them in your opinion ?
Thanks.

 

How do you define "best"?

Most completely finished?

Most accurate?

Most reliable?

Most spares available for repairs?

Doesn't matter if it's a mechanical watch or quartz, saying what is "best" is always a tricky question to answer, so I generally don't answer it.

 

I think this is a very fair analysis.

 

Totally agree (bit of a late response here) - one thing I've noticed with grand seiko is, so much of their appeal is the angles and how they play with the light, while in motion. Seeing and trying them on in person totally won me over, when before I was so-so on them, only seeing photos online

 

Got a chance to try the snowflake on and I must say it is STUNNING!

 

Wouldn't say they are better. They have always been great. They are very undervalued and underappreciated even today.
plenty of Seiko /grand seiko fans out there and they will tell you that

 

Completely agree! And I can see prices rising in the future...

 

Great way to put it! This is particularly true when looking at the photos that GS publishes themselves. I don't know how they manage it, but the way they light their PR photos make many of their pieces seem dull.

 

This is how they chose to depict the Snowflake on the website. In person, it looks much different.

 

YES! I'm glad there is a discussion on Grand Seiko watches. I too like the Snowflake.

 

So I was on vacation last week in NYC last week with family and I was looking to get another watch. I was talking to the Grand Seiko spokesman and he was answering all my questions about the company and once I had the watch in hand looking how the light reflects off the face I had to have this. So stunning to just stare at.

Thanks for looking

 

I bought my first Grand Seiko a couple of months ago, the same one pictured by the OP on Page 1, a Spring Drive SBGE227. It's in the $5k range after negotiation with the Seiko Boutique and tax rebates from Australia. I put Grand Seiko in the Jaeger LeCoultre or Glashutte Original range of finishing and quality, and priced accordingly. Case work is at least as good as those brands, and the dials certainly are better than JLC or GO.....the finishing of the dial, indices and hands are top class. In fact I would put GS's dials up against any dial from makers like Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet or Vacheron Constantin who produce some pretty average dials for their price point. What sold me on the Seiko was the Spring Drive technology which is a combination of classic watch making with an ultra accurate quartz controlled 'escapement' that requires no batteries or intervention. For the past eight weeks it has been on the wrist or on the winder and it runs consistently at +1.2 seconds per WEEK. It's stupid accurate.

 

I love my Grand Seiko SBGX115 diver, and it's quartz 9F61 movement is gaining about 5 seconds/YEAR for me. But I would really like to have a spring drive model GS someday.

 

April fool or not I bet Captn Koons is so glad the Butch's Dad was not a limited edition GS fan (ouch!)… come to think of it so was the Dad :0)