By The thing you quickly learn once you start getting into grand seiko is this. Whether or not you can get past the Seiko branding, the quality & attention to detail they put into their watches is unmatched. They put so much care into their watches over at the house of Grand Seiko, which is what gives us the comfort of knowing that we have a flawless watch. I wasn’t even able to find a single flaw under extreme macro….& that says it all.
Allow me to share with you what makes this watch extremely cool. it may or may not be obvious but the dial is Inspired by the Lions Mane. Typical Grand Seiko to have a reason behind every design which is why many love the brand. They captured the Lions Mane perfectly with this brown color & asymmetrical brushing on the dial. The lions mark was born together with the first Grand Seiko in 1960. Which symbolizes Grand Seikos goal to make the King of watches.
Now the watch doesn’t only have a pretty face,…… as you can see it also packs a ton of complications. it’s definently a busy watch but with good reason. You get a chronograph, a date, a power reserve indicator, a running seconds with the beautiful sweep the spring drive movements provides & last but not least you also get a gmt function with a 24 hour bezel. While it is a bit busy for my taste, I have to admit having all these complications along side the Spring Drive movement makes it more appealing to me.
Now there’s no getting around it, to make a watch this complicated obviously will come with a bigger case size. in this case it has a 44.5mm case & a thickness of 16mm. However in typical seiko fashion the lug to lug makes it quite wareable. The watch is also fully titanium despite it looking like it’s stainless steel which helps aid the wareablity of the bigger size. I think what will divide many with this watch is the case shape.
While it is an acquired taste no doubt, the one thing I enjoy is how modern the design of this case is. The sharp angles & unique styling is a good thing because it means the company isnt relying on past designs like many brands tend to do. Rather than constant vintage reissues, they designed a bold modern case which people will either love or hate. That said, similar to Bvgari octo finisimo, Grand Seiko designed a futuristic design. The mirror like Zratsu polishing mixed with the brushed surfaces elevates the watch the a whole other level
The final thing that aids the comfort of this beast is the bracelet. it is a fully brushed light weight titanium bracelet with a divers extension which is always great for adjusting through out the day. That said, tho it is a comfortable bracelet & a good looking one. It isn’t the best bracelet out there, having pins rather than screws is somewhat disappointing. Although it is unclear whether that choice has to do with the titanium material, it does have room for improvement.
Similar to the 9r65, this watch ultizes Grand Seikos iconic spring drive movement. Though this time it’s the 9r96 which is their more complicated spring drive caliber. However, just because of all the added features doesn’t change what we love about the movement. The accuracy remains the same at + or – 1 second per day and about + or – 10 seconds per month with a power reserve of 72 hours
