Seiko automatic full#
A full 100 meters of water resistance, screw down crown, and stainless steel bracelet also help to strengthen the case for the SLGA007 as an everyday timepiece. The handset in particular feels like an evolution for the brand, and as Zach points out in his review of the White Birch, this newer hour hand design feels sportier thanks to hand’s thickness and the ridge running down the middle, which feels like an invite to make these new watches everyday wearers. Hour markers and hands appear to be in the same style as the White Birch, which means everything is thick, diamond cut, and highly polished. The blue is given gold accents by way of the Grand Seiko wordmark at 12:00 the smooth gliding seconds hand.
Grand Seiko has been crafting dials inspired by the natural world for years, and the textured pattern here is not too far removed from the aforementioned White Birch or the recent batch of new Grand Seiko “Seasons” watches. This, of course, is a familiar formula at this point. The new watch is part of Grand Seiko’s Heritage Collection, and features a textured blue dial that Grand Seiko explains is inspired by the water of Lake Suwa, located near the brand’s Shinshu Watch Studio. Well, with the new SLGA007 that Grand Seiko has just unveiled, that time has (almost) come. But what if Spring Drive is more your thing? Grand Seiko’s next generation 9RA5 Spring Drive caliber was introduced last year in a limited edition dive watch that was anything but thin, which has led enthusiasts to wonder when an automatic, Spring Drive equipped watch would take center stage. Grand Seiko has been moving in this very direction with an assist from the 9SA5 movement, a high frequency caliber found in the White Birch that Zach W. Still, there’s no doubt that the trend in the watch industry, particularly among vertically integrated brands that have know-how, is to make watches thinner, and more wearable, with the help of new movements that allow for more svelte dimensions. The thickness on these watches is often disguised behind generous Zaratsu polish, and even transformed into an attribute if you’re into admiring expansive and expertly finished bevels. A large part of the discourse on forums and such is “But they wear thinner !” And they do, thanks in large part to the unique geometry of many Grand Seiko cases. Grand Seiko watches, as beautiful as they are, and as much as many of us love them, have always had some heft to them. If you engage with Grand Seiko collectors in a meaningful way on the internet and social media, you’ve almost certainly been part of a conversation that relates to watch thickness.