This year Grand Seiko celebrates the 20th anniversary of its famed Spring Drive watches, with several Watches & Wonders 2024 releases that showcase exactly why this proprietary Seiko tech is so special.
Of the various novelties that the Tokyo Lion is unveiling this week in Geneva, there are three that feel especially noteworthy: the SBGC275 Spring Drive Chronograph GMT; and two elevated Hi-Beat dress watches in rose gold (‘SLGW002’) and titanium (‘SLGW003’).
Our Favourite Watches From The 2024 Grand Seiko Collection
Grand Seiko SBGC275 Spring Drive Chronograph GMT
In 2024, Grand Seiko is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its proprietary Spring Drive movement technology, which fuses the heartbeat of mechanical watches with the accuracy of a quartz-regulated movement.
The resulting series of 9R Spring Drive movements, found inside a range of Grand Seiko’s watches, feature an elegantly sweeping seconds hand (rather than the tick of quartz, or the slightly jittery forward motion of mechanical movements) that is hugely popular with watch collectors around the globe.
To mark the occasion, Grand Seiko has already announced several special editions. The SBGC275 Spring Drive Chronograph GMT is in that vein — fitted with a remarkable dial inspired by the Hotaka Mountain range, in the vicinity of the brand’s Shinshu Watch Studio.
With a surface that appears richly textured, its colour transitions from orange to red, depending on the angle at which light is reflected.
This effect is achieved through a new dial-making process that Grand Seiko has patented, called “Optical Multilayer Coating”. Physical vapour deposition is employed to add several layers of nanoscale film. This warmly textured dial is home to 8 hands: showcasing the time; additional time zone; running seconds; power reserve; and a chronograph with two elapsed chronograph counters.
Featuring a black ceramic bezel that contrasts strongly with the dial colour, the case of the SBGC275 is made from lightweight high-intensity titanium and measures 44.5mm in diameter with a thickness of 16.8mm. Admittedly not a small watch, the titanium goes a ways to offsetting to the watch’s size factor by being 30% lighter than stainless steel.
The exhibition caseback guarantees the watch a sportif 200m of water resistance, and offers a clear view of the Caliber 9R96 inside. Delivering accuracy of ±10 seconds per month (or ±0.5 seconds per day), it features a 3-day power reserve and is automatically wound while on the wrist — thanks to a rotor emblazoned with Grand Seiko’s signature gold Lion medallion.
The Grand Seiko SBGC275 Spring Drive Chronograph GMT is a limited edition of 700 pieces.
Price: $20,000.
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Grand Seiko SLGW002 & SLGW003 Hi-Beat Dress Watches
The two newest entrants into the Grand Seiko Evolution 9 (“EVO 9”) Collection are the SLGW002 and SLGW003. The work employed to make the dials and cases is already plenty impressive, but it’s the movement (shared between both releases) that we feel deserves more attention.
For the first time in over half a century, Grand Seiko has created an all-new manually wound Hi-Beat movement: the Caliber 9SA5. On paper, that mightn’t sound particularly appealing, but in the 1960s (when Grand Seiko was going head-to-head with the very best Swiss watchmakers in a gamut of accuracy competitions) Hi-Beat calibres became an integral part in the Japanese watchmaker’s arsenal. A number of models to emanate out of those chronometry trials (e.g. the “very finely adjusted” series) have since become extremely collectible.
Without getting too technical about makes the Caliber 9SA5 compelling, its “Hi-Beat” description is down to the 10-ticks-per-second (i.e. 36,000 vph) operating rate, resulting in a smooth motion of the seconds hand.
Each “tick” is so small and precise that it’s virtually impossible to spot the gap between ticking with the naked eye; and to cap it all off, while Hi-Beat movements have traditionally been constrained by short power reserves, Grand Seiko has managed to achieve 80 hours with this latest iteration.
As you’d expect, the Caliber 9SA5 has been expertly finished with attractive ‘Tokyo Stripes’, while the power reserve of the watch is indicated on the rear of the movement to keep the dial as clean as possible. In another nod to the natural world, the click mechanism of the Caliber 9SA5 has been fashioned into the shape of a Wagtail bird — fauna native to Grand Seiko’s mechanical watchmaking studios at Shizukuishi.
The movement arrives in rose gold cases for the SLGW002 or Grand Seiko’s ‘Brilliant Hard’ Titanium for the SLGW003, both measuring 38.6mm in diameter and 9.95mm in thickness.
The dials of both are inspired by the white birch trees that Grand Seiko has previously employed to widespread acclaim, while both watches arrive on alligator leather straps with folding clasps.
The SLGW002 arrives in a limited edition of 80 watches globally, whereas the SLGW003 (in titanium) is non-limited.
Price: $15,950 (SLGW003); $67,200 (SLGW002).
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