Monday, July 18, 2011

Another GS masterpiece; Grand Seiko SBGR019; 9S55-0050




This is the watch that appeared in so many watch magazines during the early 2000's. It is one of the most detailed watch among the Grand Seiko family of that era.  This is a full stainless steel watch characterised by its hexagon shaped bezel and crown. What sparked my interest in this watch is the oversized, highly polished arabic numbers six and twelve. My this particular GS was produced in 2001.


All the newer GS came with a dual curved sapphire glass with anti-reflective coating. This make the watch seems like without the glass. Worth mentioning is the dial on this watch... it looked black on this photo, but it has a carbon mesh patterned dial. The indexes and the hands are brushed and highly polished to make them easily visible even under very dime light.


Seiko affection to detail is just simply stunning. Just by appreciating the beauty of the crown, you will know what I meant. The crown is screwed in type and this watch has a water resistant of 20 bars. The four holes at the bracelet lugs remind me of older days Rolex.


The caseback is simply exceptional... The Lion engraving is my all time favourite. The Lion used to symbolise the status of Seiko Chronometer during the early 60's. Now Seiko declared its own in-house GS standard which is even more stringent than Chronometer testing. SBGR019 is powered with a 26 jewels automatic 9S55 movement that can be manually winded. 9S55 has an accuracy of  -3 to +5 sec per day.  



The bracelet on this watch is one of its kind... it is incredibly complex in a sense. In fact, per link of the bracelet is consist of 7 parts. Well, personally I am not a great admirer of this bracelet. I think a simple one will put more emphasis on this spectacular watch. This bracelet has a 3 fold clasp with push release button that ensure the watch holds ergonomically onto our wrist.


 This watch comes with the original Grand Seiko box which is a dark blue velvet box with the gold GS wording and lion symbol printed. What a shame, this watch is without its papers. Well life ain't perfect... we just have to make the best up of it and enjoy it.