A week on the wrist Grand Seiko SBGK005
An eccentric watch exudes style and connotation.
I feel tired easily in my work. I watch every day, every day, trying to find the most interesting and compelling examples to share with you. This is a great show, don’t get me wrong, but it will cause some fatigue. It seems useless to distinguish a perfect round gold dress watch from another watch, and it is only 40mm to 42mm in black diameter, and the ceramic bezel chronograph can be used by one person. So, as you might imagine, I will be very excited when I see something striking that looks really new.
On the spec sheet, Grand Seiko SBGK005 may not sound revolutionary, but on the metal and the wrist, it provides something special, and it is difficult for me to directly compare with anything I have seen or worn before. The core of this watch is a dress-up watch with a manual winding, but the unusual case design, excellent dial and attention to detail all put it into a category. I have seen it a few times since its release in February, and I know I have to spend some time on SBGK005 to see what it really means and whether it can withstand my good first impression.
“Elegance” and Design Grammar
Before entering the SBGK005 itself, I think it is important to place it in the different watch combinations of Da Seiko and the design history of Seiko and Da Seiko more broadly. These will give you a look at the appearance of this watch, Grand Seiko’s attempt to fill the vacancy in his statement and why the design expresses a feeling to me so clearly.
SBGK005 is one of the four new products added to the so-called “Slim Hand-Wound” of the Grand Seiko Elegance Collection. In addition to the stainless steel models you see here, we have three gold models: one is gold with white dial, one is rose gold with black maki-e lacquer dial, and the other is rose gold with red maki- e disk. Paint tray. Although the Elegance series has not heard the name of the collector talk too much (if any), it contains many popular models, including SBGW231, SBGM221 and the latest Spring Drive works. All this has in common is that the watch is elegant in nature, not a chronograph, and is mounted on an alligator leather strap. It seems to me that it is difficult to draw some specific conclusions from the tables in this series, except that Seiko wants you to know that they are delicate, elegant and can be compared to “tie” if you choose.
However, more importantly, when this watch was placed next to its Elegance Collection siblings, it did scream “design syntax” to me. If you are not familiar with it yet, the design grammar is a watch design theory created by Taro Tanaka in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although I have never really liked a similar product, sometimes Tanaka can be compared with Gérald Genta. Genta is certainly revolutionary. It can be said that he has done more to shape the modern Swiss watch market than any other designer, but what Tanaka has done is to create a brand new The watch design method is based on national identity. Part of the design grammar is that it is Japanese, as opposed to Swiss watchmaking in the middle of this century. Tanaka didn’t just create something to shape Seiko’s bestseller,
Tanaka did participate in the design of the so-called “Grand Seiko First”, but later models (such as 57GS, 44GS, and 62GS) embody the method of designing grammar. A complete description of the design grammar is another matter, but the key principles include keeping the geometry of the case clean so that the mirror can be mirror polished and separated by clearly defined boundaries to ensure that the pointer and other elements are legible and legible. Forget those boring circles, and replace it with a slightly more attractive silhouette. This is an oversimplification, but the problem can now be solved.high quality replica watches
In the context of this theory and Tanaka’s earlier masterpieces, SBGK005 was born. You start to notice that the shape of the new case can be traced back to the design of the middle of this century, and its prominence compared to other Elegance Collection watches. It has a strong point of view, and it requires the wearer to think more seriously about why they wear this watch instead of more basic things. This is a watch that can never get out of Valléede Joux, and is entirely from Grand Seiko.
SBGK005
Considering all of the above, let’s delve into the watch itself. When I first saw SBGK005, I was not quite sure what I was looking at. Everything took a little time. This patience paid off. The SBGK005 watch will open over time, and as you spend more time, it provides you with some new details that you can enjoy – by the way, I like this watch very much. As a customer, do you really want to feel that you have run out of time for “surprise and joy” when you take your watch home? Yes, neither do I.
This is the most striking aspect of the design grammar principles I mentioned above. On the specification sheet, the stainless steel case has a width of 39 mm and a thickness of 11.6 mm. The dial has a circular opening. But when you hold the watch in your hand, calling it “round” seems like a kind of damage. The short lugs flow seamlessly from the bottom of the dial and bend downward to make contact with the wrist to give the watch a more barrel-like feel-but the lugs themselves are still striking and can be used as the opposite direction. The spherical shape of the middle shell extends the length of the entire package. The shrinkage and tension in the case design are what make the appearance so successful and pleasing.
Most cases are mirror polished, and only the center facet of the middle case is brushed to help define the content above and below. Each piece of metal has high reflectivity and smoothness, and the transition between the components is described by sharp edges (for example, where the bezel meets the case) or a curved curve (for the shape of the lug) So that it can be kept polished and the reflection accurately emphasizes the changing geometry. This makes it almost impossible for the watch to shoot correctly, but it looks damn good when viewed in person.
The dial is one of the true stars of SBGK005. This is a dark blue, textured pattern, and after a large volcano near the company’s Morioka watch factory, Seiko called it the “Iwate Mountain” pattern. I describe it as a combination of coarse grain treatment and sunrise coating-but most importantly, I describe it as great. This was the reason that initially attracted my attention to this watch. When I wore this watch day after day, the feeling of staring at it did not diminish.
In terms of the dial layout, we applied markers to the hours, and set a printed minute record in these markers, there is a running stopwatch (with a printed scale) at 9 o’clock, and a power reserve indicator at 3 o’clock. And apply/print the logo at 12 o’clock. The hour and minute hands in the center are polished at the top, and the edges are diamond cut and polished, while the seconds and power reserve smaller hands are black polished. The asymmetry is pleasing, and I am very happy that Grand Seiko has retained this date and number freedom. Without any numbers and dial openings, you can freely enjoy the surface treatment and precise positioning of the fake watches.
One of the most striking things about this watch is the way the dial seems to explode almost from the center of the case. Compared with the overall size of the watch, it is so large, the ultra-thin reflective bezel provides enough frames to set off it. This makes the watch look much larger than 39mm, because you can get such a high-impact dial in a relatively compact package.
The power source of SBGK005 is the 9S63 movement, which of course is a movement produced inside Seiko (if you don’t know, all Seiko watches are applicable). 9S63 is an improvement of the existing movement 9S64, but it adds a small second hand and power reserve indicator to this new dial layout. You can still get a power reserve of 72 hours, and the movement is adjusted to + 5 / -3 seconds. Grand Seiko helpfully stated that under normal use, it will produce about + 10 / -1 seconds per day. Finishing is the classic Grand Seiko, with wide stripes on the plate and bridge, dark blue screws, and very beautiful countersunk holes in the barrel. You can see all this information through the sapphire case. Now, regarding that case.
This is my biggest complaint about SBGK005: the lion logo on the sapphire bottom cover. I know this historic logo is important to Grand Seiko, but the backplate with the logo printed on the back feels to me the ultimate compromise. If the logo is important, please bring a sturdy bottom cover to make the watch a purist’s dream; if the logo is not critical, please keep it crystal clear and let customers revel in the unobstructed vision of the movement. The sapphire back cover cannot clearly see the movement below (in this case, it is well done) and cannot meet the requirements of any camp. For me, this is not a destructive deal, but if you really want to enjoy this watch, it will be something you want to harmonize with.
Now, when I first picked up this watch, the only thing I didn’t like was the strap. Although this watch is a slim, elegant dress watch, but I think its significance is far more than that. Yes, it works well with bright suits, but I think it looks just as good as a T-shirt and jeans. In order to make the watch more versatile, I changed a smooth blue crocodile leather strap to a gray slate matte leather (if you are interested, you can choose this one). It needs to be clear that there is nothing wrong with the blue crocodile leather strap, I just want to trim the watch a bit. Personally, I think things like soft suede or matte leather straps are perfect for watches that are related to clarity and precision.
The foldable buckle is a better example I have seen recently (read: not too striking), but I am still a standard tangle buckle. My wrist is small, and the excess metal under the strap will never fully stick to me. However, the buckle part of this watch is indeed very beautiful, and its old Grand Seiko engraving pattern gives it a lot of personality.
SBGK005 is equipped with a lower key strap, so I plan to wear it for a week every day (well, in this case, I like it to be worn for a few days longer, which should tell you what is going on). As I mentioned earlier, this is a watch that benefits from quality time, but this does not mean that it has a “break-in” period or a similar time. From the moment I first put it on, I fell in love with it. The blue dial shone to me, it was hard to argue.
Although I spent a lot of time, I only knew its advantages. On the one hand, this situation is one of the more comfortable ones I have tried on for a while. The sides taper toward the back of the watch, and then the bending of the short lugs join together to reduce the wrist wear of the watch. The result is that what you wear is thinner than its 11.8 mm size and feels more like a 37 mm or 38 mm watch than a 37 mm watch. On the contrary, the dial makes the watch look larger than 39mm on the wrist. This contrast between the feel and appearance of the watch is one of the more interesting things about it. I don’t know if I have ever experienced this degree.
Over the years, I have worn a few Grand Seikos (Grand Seikos), and like my compatriots, SBGK005 can provide excellent performance in a small area. The hand is the best hand you can find on any watch on earth-I mean it is the same at any price point. Similarly, the sub-dial pointers are polished to black, so that when you turn your wrist, they seem to go in and out of shadows, which is incredible. Time scales never look exactly the same because they capture light slightly differently. The dial is indeed the top dial-although the more expensive rose gold dial has a maki-e lacquered dial, I think this is the best looking dial among the four new Slim Elegance dials. In the end, it is very simple: the more I wear SBGK005, the more I like it.