What time is it? Watches and horology

You tried the green on? Preferred the faux one myself, green didn't have much depth to it for me, was a bit flat.

Interested to here your take on the lume @bur70n_ as I found the colour on the hands differed to the colour on the markers.

Don't you think they've gone all Presage though? Takes away all the refinement for me. Think they have way more misses than hits, need to slow down a little.

Thank you for this. I have gone with the tiny citizen eco drive in gold stainless. It was far and away the nicest feel in the price range. Now fingers crossed it will be the right choice to have made.

That is generally Seiko’s modus operandi. They make SO many variants and just see what sticks, and then do more of that. The 62GS-cased four seasons watches were originally US exclusives, but they were so popular they now sell them globally. They don’t care if you bought one thinking it would be an exclusive.

There was a similar situation with a limited edition Alpinist that was for the UK market but the following year they released it in Japan with a different strap. The UK division of Seiko were so embarrassed that they offered customers their money back if they wanted to return the watch.

Re: the Presage thing, I think it is more Presage imitating GS with the OTT dials.

Lume seems to match and very readable -

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Looks great! Was that from kibble watches?

Yes it was, it was the second time this watch has been sold by them, due to a trade in.

Had spoken with James before about my old BB58 and other options earlier this year and then made contact with him last week after seeing this on their site.

I would check how much a refinish costs.
There was someone who did a nice job with a pad on their bracelet...

That’s very cool, well done!

Now on NATO

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Thanks

That's lovely!

Thanks dood.

Looks wicked! I actually was referring to the colour of the lume when not illuminated. The one I tried, the hands had slightly different colouring to the numerals but this looks great!

Definitely looked up the phrase 'modus operandi'. Yeah fair enough, but it just dilutes all of their milestones and decent pieces for me. Too much noise.

They don’t care if you bought one thinking it would be an exclusive.

Puts me right off to be honest. Not saying I'm super keen on the tsunami of limited editions by any company, just more the fact they don't care to really honour it. Doesn't make sense when they're always so detailed and descriptive about their process, finishing and story behind the watch.

A shame, as I love Japan.

Was very odd going into BIC Camera and seeing £5000 Grand Seiko's lobbed in a glass cabinet next to suitcases and workout gear though. Kinda killed the whole ethos for me.

Ahh I see, was it a SeaQ or one of the other variants they do of this range?

To be fair the seasons 62GS watches and the euro Alpinist are just two cases, when they do hundreds of other LEs and exclusives that stay that way.

Which is another question in itself tbh. My SBGY029 is one of 50. Which is pretty limited right? But on the other hand they have done getting on for a dozen other limited editions of essentially the same watch (the Omiwatari hand wound spring drive model) in different dials / colours for different markets and as different boutique exclusives. You could be a collector just of those if you wanted to.

People moaned that Omega used to love releasing special editions all the time - they had nothing on Seiko / GS. And if anything Seiko are increasing. They’ve released so many watches this year, it’s nuts.

Was very odd going into BIC Camera and seeing £5000 Grand Seiko's lobbed in a glass cabinet next to suitcases and workout gear though. Kinda killed the whole ethos for me.

This I think is why a lot of Japanese collectors think westerners are idiots for valuing Grand Seiko over Swiss brands. The grass is always greener etc. Even if objectively a Grand Seiko is a much better watch than a Swiss watch at the same price (which it is 90% of the time).

(Objectively being a key word there.)

Anyone after a last minute pressie for themselves I have just had some more Tudor , preowned but unworn.
A blue Pelagos , and a bb 58 amongst others

The value gap isn't as big as it was when the good Seikos were only available in Japan & parts of Asia. A Marinemaster used to be a third of the price of a Submariner with an arguably better movement and case.
IMO Seiko have always been a company with an alignment problem between East and West. That's what makes the watches interesting.

Yeah that’s all very true.

They’re going to have a problem with Credor at some point. In the west they’re trying to make it the brand above Grand Seiko - basically, like GS but with hand finished movements and porcelain dials. The Japanese Vacheron. In Japan it’s more of a jewellery / dress watch brand that stretches from quartz watches well below GS price points up to the (admittedly mega) Eichi stuff and beyond (tourbillons, enamel, gemstones etc). It’s a very different sell.

Watch antiporn imo.
19.000€ second hand...

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Always want to like that brand but never really feel like they are my kind of watch brand. Appreciate what they do

I didn’t realise the mm300 was discontinued. Is it coming back with marine master on the dial and a few grand extra on the price tag?

It might be ugly on the outside but the movement is the opposite of antiporn IMO. One of Ludwig Oechslin’s most well known complicated movement designs. A GMT perpetual calendar with a +/- GMT offset function. It’s really brilliant.

There’s one in a white gold case for under £10k on C24 which is a bargain, frankly.

https://www.watchprosite.com/ulysse-nardin/tales-from-the-crypt-in-depth-review-of-the-ulysse-nardin-gmt-perpetual/13.1197111.9684106/