BY JOVAN KRSTEVSKI
Grand Seiko introduced the Seasons collection in 2019, which aimed to pay tribute to nature and the 24 seasons, or “sekki”. Japan enjoys a culture that’s inherently very nuanced, including the seasons and everything else. The changes that the seasons bring are associated with different expressions. There have been quite a few models under the Seasons collection already and the Seasons collection itself morphed into the “Flow of Seasons” over the past few years since its debut. Now, Grand Seiko once again expanded the Flow of Seasons collection with the introduction of two new models, SBGW281 “Bantō” and SBGW287 “Boshū”.
The significance of Bantō and Boshū is that Bantō is the name given to the phase in time and season when the season is transitioning from winter to spring, while Boshū refers to the transition of season from autumn to winter. The colors of the dials in both the models reflect that, the gradual warming of the sunlight, the trees, and the soil that appear when the snow starts to melt in the case of Bantō and the beautiful scenery of the transition of seasons when the trees shed their deep red leaves in the case of Boshū. The refined textured dials have an equally refined hour and minute dauphine hands and diamond-cut polished indexes.
Stainless steel is the encasing material for both references, measuring 37.3mm x 11.7mm and 44.3mm in length. The case is meticulously finished using Seiko’s proprietary Zaratsu finishing technique. The large crown provides ease of winding for these manual wind models. A highly scratch-resistant box-shape sapphire crystal protects the dial from the front while an exhibition caseback allows the viewing of the movement. The watches aren’t strictly water-resistant per se, as they are “Splash resistant” officially.
The movement in question is manual wind 9S64 caliber with an accuracy of -3 to +5 seconds per day and 72 hours of power reserve. There’s a large gear train bridge for added strength and stability to the movement.
The Grand Seiko “Flow of Seasons” references SBGW281 “Bantō” and SBGW287 “Boshū” comes on alligator straps. Availability will start in November 2022, with a retail price of $4,800.
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