cazalea introduces his new Grand Seiko SBGX103, a limited edition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the high-accuracy 9F movement. His post delves into the symbolic meaning of stars on Grand Seiko dials, the intricate process of Seiko's in-house quartz crystal growth, and the exceptional accuracy of the 9F movement. This detailed exploration offers valuable insights into Grand Seiko's commitment to precision and craftsmanship.
STARS
As Children we are rewarded with stars ... why? What do they represent? Nothing more than comparative ratings on an Amazon evaluation? Or are stars essential to the human psyche? I asked my wife the elementary school teacher, and she doesn't know. Maybe Grand Seiko knows?
In early Grand Seiko watches, an "SD" 8-point star mark meant the dial was made of gold. In the next line of GS watches, a slightly simpler star mark meant the indexes were applied. Finally, the simplest star meant the dial was gold or nickel plated.
See Seiya for sample images. We can summarize by saying the star on a GS dial represents a high-grade watch, or watch with high-grade component parts.
MOVING ON
Seiko grows its own quartz crystals. You know - like the kind you can grow as a kid in a glass full of Epsom salts and a bit of food coloring.
Only Seiko grows better crystals. They look like this and are about the size of an eggplant (aubergine).
Seiko crystals grow in a giant oven at 350ΒΊ C under pressure ranging from 15,000-25,000 psi. A set of crystals takes several months to form, then they must be dried out and stabilized. Once the crystals are sliced into tiny slivers, those slivers are tested for 90 days with an electric current applied that simulates the power of a watch battery.
The ideal quartz crystal vibrates at 32,768 Hz without varying much, including with temperature, pressure or position. But nothing is 'perfect' so Grand Seiko sorts the crystals into batches and picks the best ones for their 9F watches. The rest go to lower lines and movements.
Note: I am speaking of common earthly quartz crystals, not dilithium crystals from Rigel 7 that power the Enterprise and other starships.
Naturally there has to be a "first class" section even in the Grand Seiko starship, thus they put a star on the dial of watches with the "most best extra special ultra super fine" crystals, and they assure us those movements can maintain accurate time within +/- 5 seconds a year. In fact, you can send it back for recalibration if you are not satisfied. I think that's within the first 5 years.
ENOUGH DELAY -- SHOW US THE WATCH!
OK. This SBGX103 was made in a limited edition by GS to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their high accuracy 9F movement. Notice the gold star. And the nicely aligned and blued second hand and extremely long minute hand.
I found this for sale on the Internet a couple weeks ago. The watch arrived for Thanksgiving, so I didn't have to hit the malls today to shop.
The dial is awesome - in addition to the star it has blued GS logo, diagonal lines, snowy surfaces, and lions marching rampant across the dial to the left...
Except one guy who is aiming for the 20 min marker to indicate the 20th anniversary. Sometimes GS is a bit TOO subtle.
From some angles the dial just looks snowy white, and as you tilt your view the lions come and go.
It joins its teammate which I bought years ago, and which commemorated the 15th anniversary of the 9F movement. Notice the silver star.
It has fine stripes on the snowy dial, and no lions, but the beautiful hands and markers decorating the dial are more than adequate.
Thanks for reading!
Mike
