What time is it? Watches and horology

Wow! Nice!

That escalated quickly! Love it, couldn’t ever get tired of looking down and seeing that. I remember doing some googling to source proper GS leather/croc straps and deployants, Japan seemed to be the consensus. If you can’t find what I’m talking about I’ll try to locate a link. Congratulations, well jell.

I mean to be fair, I’ve wanted this GS for a long time, I’ve just never been in the position to buy one, but when my tax return magically and unexpectedly fell into my lap (American’s are weird) it was difficult not to.

Apparently ADs and boutiques do get straps but if they’re horribly expensive I’ll contact Higuchi or Seiya Japan.

What size is the strap? I have a genuine Seiko leather and deployant clasp stray from one of my seikos. I don't like the clasp but the strap is nice. I'm in Aus, but if you don't find anything reasonable in the UK I could post over to you?

It’s 19mm. Thank you but I’m reaching for a GS strap due to the buckle. Options are better here in the U.S. so I should be able to find one.

exquisite!

so awesome JB. well done mate :-)

Beautiful. Excellent choice.

Believe it or not ( and probably not coming from me ) but we have an appointment with Grand Seiko in Basel this year. And not just a five minutes spare between Rolex and Tudor but a proper meeting.
I think they wore us down and wouldn't take no for an answer.

They’re really pushing hard to be get ADs. They’re popping up left right and centre. I think getting into Watches of Switzerland must’ve been a really big deal for them. @ejay2.0 have fun at Basel if you’re going!

If you start selling them, I'll buy one from you.

I'm not going this year as it's my birthday on Friday ( 50th !) and have a weekend of shennanigans planned.

I'll hold you to that.

All I’ll say is ADs were willing to give me a 20% discount straight off the bat. That seems pretty standard on this side of the pond.

Have fun with your shenanigans, in that case!

Unfortunately that's what devalues a brand almost immediately. very sad when people feel they need to do so almost without asking. Yes I look after anyone who looks to buy from me from here for example but that's part of a "friends and family type "scheme".
I am tight as a gnats chuff on current product that's desireable!

devalues a brand

In fairness though a lot of brands' RRP are pretty arbitrary.

I know you can say that for any luxury good, but given the number of standard stainless steel cases housing the same ETA, some are outstandingly cheeky.

Yeah, it's interesting. Most of the big ADs here who ship to different states like Topper's in the Bay Area and Timeless Lux in Texas seem to say 'Call for up to date pricing'. They definitely don't advertise the discounted prices. The Seiko boutique definitely do not do that though. ADs here in the U.S. seem to willingly discount on all mid-range watches outside of Rolex without much convincing. You can easily get the same discount on JLC, GS, Omega, Tudor, IWC and so on.

left hand watch on left wrist blows my mind

I wonder if there's a cultural element too.

If you ask in shops in the UK you can haggle more than people think. But in the US I feel it's more accepted. Wages are often low with people working on commish, so depending the point of the month/quarter you can get differing discounts.

When we were in Coach in Chicago looking for a bag for Mrs H. a sales woman was quick to match the NYC tax as soon as I started to check the price differential.

@JB - idk if Mrs JB has already discovered this, but the US prices for Coach are much lower than the UK and their sales are pretty good.

It appears as though GS prices in the UK are the highest in the world with few ADs, so there's not much haggle room. In the U.S, they're far more favourably priced and are stocked in many ADs so are perhaps seen as less exclusive? GS ADs are not supposed to discount at all according to the guy who works in the Seiko store here, though.

Yeah, it's like that with loads of stuff. Mrs JB got a relatively nice DKNY bag the other day for $46 that she'd seen at $350 just a couple of weeks before. Macy's buy so much stock that when they clear it out, they really clear it out.

Currently lusting over one of these:

Would love a matching black shark mesh on it as well.

is that made out of their fancy ti that turns the metal black when heated or something?

I think that’s the normal ceramic version as it has a silver crown. The new “ceratanium” or whatever they call it, they can make the crown and everything all out of the same material.

swoon