Grand Seiko Historical Collection 44GS Automatic SBGR083

Along with our delivery yesterday of the the Grand Seiko 44GS Automatic SBGR081, we received its black dialed counterpart, SBGR083.  This piece only differs in dial color and that the watch has yellow gold accents for the second hand and GS logo.  The design on the 40mm stainless steel case is exactly the same, which is truly impressive and inspired by traditional Japanese aesthetics.

The original 44GS that came out in 1967 not only paid close attention to precision mechanics, but also to beauty of design.  As I mentioned in the review for the 081, these pieces utilize flat surfaces and straight lines to play off of light and shadow.  The broad flat surfaces expose more of the beautiful Zaratsu finish, which give a pure mirror reflection with no distortion.  The design is elegant and is made to fit beautifully to the wrist.

The bracelet also has design elements to ensure comfort and beauty, with a perfect shape and thickness and each link individually hand polished.  The dual curved AR coated sapphire crystal along with the diamond cut / Zaratsu finished hands and indexes also make for incredible legibility, on top of its gorgeous look.  All design elements on Grand Seiko are incredibly well thought out.

Another impressive attribute to this piece is its in-house manufactures 9S65 mechanical automatic movement.  The watch not only has a 72 hour power reserve, due to Seiko’s Spron 510 mainspring, but also a higher durability hairspring, which is the Spron 610.  This along with MEMS manufacturing of parts enables Seiko to put the watch through an incredibly strict testing period.

The Grand Seiko standard was developed to rival certified chronometer grade.  Its current standard was developed in 1998 and is tested in 6 positions (instead of 5), 2 temperatures (instead of 1), 17 days (instead of 15), and has a -3/+5 second a day deviation rating (instead of -4/+6).  To make all this possible, there are several steps to ensure its quality.  The movement is assembled, then tested for over 300 hours.  The movement is then fine tuned, and goes though another 400 hours of inspection.  The watch is then fully assembled, and goes through its final inspection stage.  This totals up for over 1,000 hours of testing to certify a Grand Seiko timepiece.

The Grand Seiko 44GS Historical Collection SBGR083 is not only a gorgeous watch, but an incredibly built timepiece.  At a MSRP of $4,600, it is also an incredible value.  Only 700 pieces were made for the world and will not be around long.

Please feel free to call us at 1-800-486-3996 with any questions or if you wish to add one to your collection.  Don’t forget to see all the other new introductions from Seiko on AZFineTime.com.

Thanks for reading!

 

See our video review below…