Horological Meandering

Can we have too many beautiful watches? So far (10 years along this path) I say no.
Many of you have seen my SOTC (state of the collection) post in the past 2 years, and I read encouragement.
And I was able to encourage some of you to justify your collections to your families by comparison ("See, I'm not as nuts as he is")

Today I am at a pinnacle of Grand Seiko watches of a similar look and feel. I will do this introductory post, and if you tell me I am nuts, I will stop here.
I'm maybe go join Facebook or Google=, or something. And cry.
If you invite me to continue, I'll explain how I got here, and why I think these watches differ enough to buy them all.

Cheers

Cazalea

 

This message has been edited by Dr No on 2011-09-25 10:33:27 This message has been edited by MTF on 2011-09-27 17:33:14

I would like to hear how you ended up with all of these pieces.  I have tried to not purchase any watch that looks similar to anything I already have.  More specifically I want one example of all the brands I like before I double up.  I don't think my watch count is as high as yours, so it is easier for me to find styles or complications I don't have.  Do all the Seikos get wrist time?  Looking forward to hearing the story.

Stewart 

.... there are still many out there to collect
Congrats and well done and go for it!

Ken

NT

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I find your collection very divers in fact.

Best regards,

George

Nice collection!

Beautiful Seikos.

 

 

Vte

Always nice to see a focused selection of watches like this.  Yup, they are different enough to all have a place.  So how about the rest of your story with GSes

Stay tuned, I''ll be back tonight.

And bOcy, that's most everyone's favorite. Known only as SBGW003. And I thank SteveG for my obsession with that one!

A great group that can only get even nicer! Best

Andreas

. . . pins and needles, Mike!  Pray tell . . .

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In Chapter 1 I will cover 2 things - how I got into Grand Seikos, and how I prepared for this post.

STUMBLING ONTO GRAND SEIKOS
I had only Swiss watches at the start, and a couple American pocket watches. My foray into good watches began with a very expensive Seiko Kinetic Sportura Titanium watch. I realized that Japanese watches were more than just inexpensive quartz, but could also be fine machinery. But then I didn't really know that much about fine watches at the time.

I had always collected cars, and I was tiring of the insurance, government regulation, thrill-seeking, etc. I sold a Lotus Seven, one of 12 cars I owned at the time, and decided to pour that money into watches. If I had only put all the money into one Patek this story wouldn't be as long ...

In my quest for watches that appealed to me, I "accidentally" bought a Grand Seiko watch from a collector named Jimmy. I'd been looking for something like a Milgauss and ended up driving up the freeway for an hour to meet this Jimmy guy half-way. I still have that watch - you'll be able to identify it by "Magnetic Resistant" on its dial.

I loved everything about that watch - it's precision, great construction, heft on my wrist, intriguing dial, etc. Since then I have owned more than 20 Grand Seikos (and related Credor, Galante, and high-end Seikos). From the outside it seems like I've been relatively indiscriminate but I've only purchased about 1 of 5 that I've examined or bid on. And sold on everything I didn't like. Two of the watches I currently own are replacements for ones I bought, sold, and wanted back. I'll point them out later.

Many more Grand Seikos come on bracelets than "regular" watches that I own. I have however taken several off the bracelets and put them on leather straps, more for "saving" the bracelet than any other reason. Although I own a number of deployant buckles, I have not liked most of the GS deployants I've tried, so with the exception of the two Spring Drives, all these watches have tang buckles.

PREPARATION FOR THE REPORT
Not so easy, this assignment I gave myself!

First I decided I finally had to construct a light box of some sort, that could hold all the watches. This took some thinking, rummaging, and cleaning. Ok, it's a bit lame, but it worked today.

Then I found a display pedestal from one of my Swatch watches. It turned out to be just the perfect size to prop up the watches for side shots.

And finally I wanted a way to display the group of watches without having to put them on my carrier insert (as I did for the intro shot). I once bought a Seiko store display 50-watch setup, and I ravaged it and came up with a stand that could hold 7 watches at once. That was my initial inventory but after some consideration I felt the "other" Grand Seiko watches NOT mentioned yesterday should be part of the group.

So here is the pack. At the moment I have two Spring Drive movement watches, in the far left row. A steel Credor in the back, and a titanium GS in the front. There is a single black dial, automatic movement sport watch in the 2nd row, on bracelet. The 3rd row contains 4 manual wind watches all in steel cases. The final row has 3 steel quartz watches.

I almost forgot. I had to set all the watches. Having finally, after 6 months, run wires throughout my house so I could have exact satellite time and date in each watch-occupying room, I just pulled them out of the case and set them, one after the other.

Stay tuned for part 2.

Cazalea

You don't need more Grand Seiko, you need all Grand Seiko:-D LOL

Eagerly await part 2

Best
Tyler

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You are so thorough and I salute you for it.

I've been considering the best way to display the watch photos. Let's try it view by view, first.

This is SBGM001, sports watch modeled after the Rolex Explorer, a 39 mm, automatic, steel, solid back, GMT hand, date set by rotating the hour hand (first position on the crown), GMT set by turning the crown (second position), non-rotating bezel, 155 grams

This is SBGA011 aka "Snowflake". It's a 40 mm Spring Drive automatic, polished titanium, sapphire front and back, date with power reserve indicator and 72 hour running time. It comes on a bracelet but on the strap as shown, a featherweight 70 grams

Credor GCLL997, a steel, 40 mm Spring Drive automatic with moonphase and power reserve; sapphire front and back, ompletely different decoration on the movement, and a different case architecture compared to the snowflake, and 85 grams.

This is SBGT027 the 15th anniversary of the Seiko 9F quartz line of movements. Specially selected for 5 seconds/year accuracy. Steel case, day and date, blued center hand, sapphire on the front and gold medallion embedded in the solid caseback about 37 mm and 55 grams. It's on a Seiko strap that belonged to another of these GSs.

Ah, my oldest GS. This is SBGX039, the steel case, 39 mm extra-shielded 9F quartz movement, 135 grams on bracelet, sapphire front, solid back.

This is my wife's Grand Seiko. It's 36 mm, thin, steel case, solid back, quartz movement, sparkly white dial, no date, numerals (rare on GS) no lume, nice little bracelet. Total weight is 95 grams

Here come the trio SBGW001, SBGW003 and SBGW005. All the same size - about 37-38 mm, same movements perhaps decorated a bit differently. One is on strap, with blue second hand, one is on bracelet with silver second hand, and the other is on a special quality strap with all blued hands, gold numerals, sapphire caseback and high lust factor! Straps are 55-60 grams, bracelet is 100 grams.

SBGW001

SBGW005

SBGW003

The newest that others have been posting about - the Seiko 130th anniversary model. It's steel, 37mm, 50 grams, snap-on back - a replica of the first GS 50 years ago. Blued second hand, brand-new movement with 72 hours power reserve.

Stay tuned for Part 3.

(In case I got this totally wrong, you could go back and re-check another posting I did with Art several years ago.) Click Here
This message has been edited by Dr No on 2011-09-27 13:11:43

And mostly white dial with the exception of the SBGM001. Purely for aesthetic reasons I suppose.

This is quite some dedication or addiction towards GS watches and I applaud you for the enthusiasm and for sharing it with us.

I only have one GS so far but my thoughts are now for a second one.

cheers

fernando

As I look across my entire collection, I have a more balanced mix of dark and light dials than the GS sub-group would indicate.
I think there are more attractive light dial models with GS, and the few non-black dark dials (green, blue) are extremely rare.
Thanks for reading along with me on this

Cazalea

a remarkable watch--but of course all of your GSs are remarkable

when it was released especially with the blue second hand.  On hindsight I should have got it but i am happy that I waited until now to join the Grand Seiko club even though I am a late entry 

Here they come, in the same order as the last post. Let's look at the backs.

The "explorer" with waterproofness and sturdiness its primary concern. No window. Drilled lugs. Hefty, protected crown.





Snowflake decorated Spring Drive movement





Credor different decoration to same basic Spring Drive movement

Quartz, real gold medallion inset in the steel





Shielded quartz movement





Plain Jane GS

  SBGW001





SBGW003





SBGW005

Newly arrived anniversary model

 
Are you seeing differences? Noticing the subtle distinctions?

More views to come, more analysis in Part 4

. . . a wrist shot - Mike's SBGW001 . . . 

. . . on my wrist.