Which Grand Seiko will you hoot ?

"roo7"

At the first glance, without looking at the specs, the first 2 are more attractive due to the blue second hand.



But when you deep dive into the specs, on a price to specs comparison, I rather get a hi beat movt. 72 hours reserve is not really a wow factor, how many days do you need to bring the reserve to 72 hours ? My normal ETA movt already need a few days of wear before it can hit it's full reverse, so the PR is really secondary.



Once you remove the PR factor, it comes down to the case, to any layman, a light case equate cheap. When I first lifted up a Ti Sammy, I was like damn, this watch is too light ! I'm sorry Ti cases owners, but they don't work for me. (of course there are others from certain engineering background will understand Ti is not an easy metal to work with).



So with all that, my choice is made, the first one :lol:

"edmundgoh"

sbgh001 High-beat 36000 the most chio, most advance movement but take may need strict service interval to japan. 36000 more wear and tear than 28800 bph

sbgr059 Titanium lightest, most scratch resist, longer Power reserve, smaller diameter that suit smaller wrist

sbgr051 cheapest, most value for $$, longer Power reserve, no blue hand



Welcome to Grand seiko club~

"BnL"

Bro Lexong, join me... get the Hi-Beat... for info, They have a limited edition piece by Thong Sia at Vivo, special dial :)

"watchlooker"

If I were u bro lexong given the 3 choices... I like the majority of the bros here will go for the hi-beat choice 1. Simply because it is hi-beat nothing else.... ;)



But if you can find one like this one..... best of the crops IMO....

"watchlooker"

If I were u bro lexong given the 3 choices... I like the majority of the bros here will go for the hi-beat choice 1. Simply because it is hi-beat nothing else.... ;)



But if you can find one like this one..... best of the crops IMO....

"BnL"

I usually select my watch options thru logical evaluation... when i buy, use my heart more... what do I really desire...



Also, like wat I tell Bro Edmund... buy wat you can best afford, ratehr buy something of lesser value and then regret that you should have gone for the One u really like but feel that it costs too much.

"BnL"

Realise that death is certain... how long we get to enjoy is uncertain :)

"kermit e froggy"

Personally my best take is either e GS Spring Drive or e normal GS/GS LE if it's special. I will leave e 36000 BPS alone as long term keepin may involve high servicing cost. Like Bro.Edmund's n BnL's take, buy what GS signature is "Spring Drive" or GS motto. Buying GS doesnt ve to be Hi-Beat as Seiko GS has imposed all strict quality control n Seiko has emphasised alot that they wanted2 produce their standards higher than the Swiss standards which is +5-3 or +-1 for Spring Drive. So even if one buys a normal GS 28,800 bph. Seiko had already set their GS Standards above e rest. Lexong, if bps is what matters to u most whenever u timed it against a timing machine n u enjoyed seeing e graphs. Then u know what's your take. Imho, I went to c the 3 different variants n compared to my ETA. Sec hands on 28,800 bps shutter alot n 36000 bps doesnt really makes alot if differences. But GS Spring Drive is butter smooth n hardly can c any shuttering effect on e sec hands.

"BnL"

Bro Lexong, join me... get the Hi-Beat... for info, They have a limited edition piece by Thong Sia at Vivo, special dial :)

"Evirobie"

[quote="BnL"]Bro Lexong, join me... get the Hi-Beat... for info, They have a limited edition piece by Thong Sia at Vivo, special dial :)

"BnL"

Sorry, didn't ask on the model. Was on display at Vivo.

(A very good story) Addendum – Grand Seiko 130th Anniversary models and the disaster that hit the case supplier (this part includes excerpts from an article written by Mr. Masahiro Hirota on Chronos Japan, No. 037, Nov. 2011 - Copyright Chronos Japan: Translated by KIH with written permission)



Here is a great story about one of the suppliers for Grand Seiko in the disaster area - “Hayashi Seiki (Hayashi Precision - “Hayashi”)”, who has been the case supplier to the Shizukuishi Watch Studio for a very long time. The Hayashi factory was near Shizukuishi but hit much harder than SEIKO factory. Hayashi was in the peak of making the cases for the 130th Anniversary models when the big quake hit at 14:46 on March 11 this year. The factory building almost collapsed, but what Mr. Hayashi, CEO, thought first was to salvage the cases which had been in the middle of production. PT and some YG cases had been cut and were being polished, and SS cases just finished the cutting process. Every employee entered the collapsed building and salvaged all of them – none of them had to be dumped. Hayashi decided to move the production to inside the Shizukuishi SEIKO factory and 12 days after the quake, they started extracting most of the machines from the former collapsed factory, reinforcing the building with 600 steel and wood support beams. And just in 20 days, most of the machines were safely moved our of the half-collapsed factory. By the middle of April, just one month after the quake, they already started polishing and assembling the cases. On June 6, less than 3 months after the disaster, they resumed the normal operation – forging, cutting, polishing, and assembling at the new site. Mr. Hayashi now recollects why he first thought of salvaging the cases, not anything else, “because it was 130th Anniversary models and they were very special cases”. Simple but considering the circumstances, astonishingly professional thought process.



Please, those who luckily acquired 130th Anniversary Grand Seiko, I do hope you remember this story and these people behind it whenever you see and wear it. What you got there have gone through such an extraordinary ordeal.









FYI – Grand Seiko SS cases go through 10 to 12 times of forging (at least twice the peers) with 250 tonnes of pressure and about 1100 Celsius of heat, and then cut and polish (see the difference between forging and cutting in my recent post here: patek.watchprosite.com=). This is how and why Grand Seiko cases have mirror-like reflection and there are probably only a few other manufacturers in Switzerland who do cases at this level. Grand Seiko cases are polished by special machine – Sallaz polisher (originally imported from Germany in late 50s, polishing company called Sallaz) – the surface of the case becomes truly like mirror. Mr. Hayashi wanted to make 130th Anniversary models just like the original Grand Seiko in 1960, inside out.