Grand Seiko SBGM235 GMT 20th Anniversary Limited Edition Watch Review 2019

This is a limited edition to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9S Grand Seiko caliber.

This Grand seiko is about 15 times the price of a regular seiko. Most who’ve never been introduced to grand seiko would wonder why spend all that money for the addition of the word Grand on the dial. I could give the quick answer right now. The answer is Art. While the entire industry of mechanical watch making is considered Art. The level of care the house of Grand Seiko puts into their watches is beyond incredible. After starring the flawless finishing & getting closer to the dial. The price not only makes sense, but goes from being too expensive to border line bargins compared to their swiss rivals. Still not convinced? Well one brand that rivaled Grand Seikos Spring drive movements was Piaget with their XL700p. While Spring drive movements in Grand Seiko could be found under the $10,000 mark… Piaget charged 70,800$ for their version…. Is it worth it? Well, that’s not for me to decide.

Allow me to introduce the SBGM235, Grand Seikos Dress Watch with a GMT Function. The SBGM235 is a limited edition produced for Grand Seikos Elegance line and Is limited to 1000 pieces. The watch comes in at 39.5mm with a thickness of 13.7mm & a strap size of 19mm incase this cool alligator strap isn’t your cup of tea. Personally, the strap has a summer time vibe to it.

Allow me to show you how to ultize the GMT function. The watch has a typical hour minutes and seconds hand. However, the watch has a forth hand which is heated blue not painted and that hand is your second timezone reference. All you need to do is set your watch to your home time or whereever time you would like to set it & then set the second timezone to where ever you would like. The only gripe I have is that the second position moves the hour hand which is useful for setting the time quick when traveling……but to rotate the gmt hand you would have to go full circle setting the time. It’s a bit of a hassle at when setting but easy when you just have to jump the hour hand afterwards. Personally I would use the GMT hand as my hometime & the hour hand as my away time to where ever Im going.

The movement inside this watch is the 9s66 movement which has a GMT function, a date and has an accuracy of +5 -3 seconds per day. With this movenent you get an impressive 72 hour power reserve so you can put it down on the weekend & pick it back up on a Monday & it will still be running for you to take it back to the office.

I do believe most watches could be dress up and down. This particular reference is definitely on the dressier side. The size and the Zratsu polishing on the watch really push it towards dressy which was Grand Seikos goal woth the piece anyway.

The last thing we need to talk about is that Mosiac dial. Honestly, the dial speaks for itself. It’s nothing short of incredible. The artistic Mosiac pattern mixed with the suttle silver dial is something to behold & trust me in person it’s even crazier & more beautiful that any video can show.