KMII recounts his extensive journey into Grand Seiko collecting, detailing how a quest for a 'nice watch' led him from a Chopard LUC Chrono One to discovering the nuanced world of Grand Seiko. His narrative highlights the pivotal role of the WatchProSite community in educating him about the brand, culminating in his acquisition of the grail SBGH035.
In a thread recently (here
www.watchprosite.com
it is) - where I posted my original grail Grand Seiko, the SBGH035, Captain Scarlet mentioned it would be quite helpful if I expounded on how I started appreciating GS and what got me down that particular rabbit hole. So with a slight delay, hereβs an attempt to condense the story into a post length format (spoiler alert - I fail) π
Weβre going back in time to 2014 and my wife insisting (little did she know what got unleashed) that I get a nice watch for myself. After lots of to-ing and fro-ing and a long list of over a hundred, I discovered this forum and ended up with the Chopard LUC Chrono One. The thinking back then went that this would scratch the itch for a long time to come and that this particular category would get a tick mark next to it.
Little did we both know. After the initial posts enquiring about the watch I occasionally posted my experience with it and the odd picture (some 30k posts later we see where that ended π).
As our baby was small and needed to be put to bed at a time literally before my bedtime, I often found myself with a sleeping child next to me and too much time on my hands that needed to be spent in a dark room, meaning I probably spent too much time reading up on watches ππ€·π»ββοΈ
While I was the owner of a Seiko 5 at that point in time (my first automatic) that I got as a present some years prior and kind of knew about the brand existing, there really was not that much more of a starting point.
Then I passed a watch shop at Vienna airport and saw a - shocking though it was - Seiko watch (was a GS of some sort, back in the days of double logos) for over β¬4K, which without prior exposure to the idea that Seikoβs could cost more than β¬200-300 appeared unbelievable. That watch display disappeared and I forgot about it.
Then in another watch shop (again at Vienna airport) I saw the Snowflake for the first time and really liked the dial. I remember asking here if anyone knew of a Grand Seiko with a dial looking like crumpled paper (remember, this was before the days of most social media gently or more forcefully pushing the brand). Itβs a decade ago but I seem to remember Cazalea - gentleman as always - enlightened me about what it was, which also got me down the route of reading much more about Seiko in general and Grand Seiko specifically.
On another note by that point in time our family has been driving a variety of Lexus cars for about 8 years already and I appreciated that the Japanese can very well come up with different, yet highly effective solutions (compared to the Germans, when talking automotive). This, plus the fact that I was working in a company under some strain - a restructuring was happening - I felt that further watches (just like the LUC) better display a certain level of stealth, something that Grand Seiko would be perfect for at the time (in most parts of the world it probably still is now).
Still, all of this was academic until I read two articles here on the SBGH035, the watch I truly fell in love with (one by hieraklion
www.watchprosite.com
and one by Gnkt that I cannot find).
So off to the German GS site asking if it was still available anywhere, them pointing me to several ADs, none of which had one or deigned to answer π€·π»ββοΈ Of the members in addition to the two mentioned SalmanPK was an owner and Cazalea has seen one live. I remember some discussions with a Turkish dealer on C24 that ended in nothing. So it looked like I was going to look for a long time (a concept alien to me back then but one weβre all fully acquainted with nowadays) ππ
So to get over it I got myself a first GS, albeit a different one - the SBGX097. A 9F quartz piece that had a lot of the qualities of GS, including a superb zaratsu case finishing and beautiful and thin proportions (something the automatics of the era werenβt so blessed with).
I continued reading and learning about the brand and in addition to the gentlemen already mentioned Ken, Art and several others added significantly to my knowledge and appreciation.
Then completely by fluke the same dealer in Spain where I got my SBGX from suddenly had my grail - the SBGH035 on offer. My communication and attempts to secure it must have broken a sound barrier and I finally got it. So thatβs the story.
Why this particular one? Several elements played a role - the high beat (5Hz) movement (one of my collecting themes), the Special regulation, going beyond the COSC and standard Grand Seiko norms, it being the first modern Special in stainless steel, and letβs not forget the dial. Back in the day a limited edition was also a much rarer event - with maybe 10 or so annually and not as many as nowadays.
Four more GSs joined since, the 4520-8000 entering first after, then the SBGR077 Anti Magnetic, the SLGH005 White Birch and finally the first modern single logo one, the SBGR305. A Snowflake will join sooner or later for sure.
Some of the old, stealthy appeal might be gone and while a certain level of ubiquity makes it easier to access them and for more people to enjoy them, the new pieces - wonderful as they are individually - do not generally exert the same pull on me as the SBGH035 did back then. I will probably add some going forward but there is a lesser desire or urgency to it nowadays.
They have kept some aspects that appealed, such as the fantastic Zaratsu finishing, have improved in others (movement finishing has taken huge leaps forward in some models) but with the development also came a significant increase in the price point, changing what they compete against.
For a long while wearing the SBGH035 while going to a watch shop was a sure fire way of not buying anything, as Swiss watches below β¬10k generally all looked rough in comparison. In the meantime my watch browsing is rare and I perhaps care less about the stories behind things (call it marketing) than I might have during my earlier collecting days.
I find the brand alluring still, even if not so strongly and believe it is helpful to add one to the collection as a compare and contrast piece. Some of us will appreciate the brand more and have many more pieces and the aspects of stealth, horological content and great service should make it a good relationship for those who commit. But like every brand, itβs not the be all, end all and finally like all watches, itβs a trinket that makes our lives a bit more colorful.
So while I probably failed on the compressed bit a long while ago, I hope this is a useful perspective for at least some members contemplating a dip into the GS ecosystem.
