BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
Grand Seiko is known not only for its modern and progressive sports watches featuring unique Japanese touches but also for remaking nearly every model it’s ever made. That sounds like a bad thing when I put it that way, but it’s not, really. If you have a long history of making watches you’re bound to have people who love the older stuff but can’t get their hands on it. So, every so often (or every week in some cases), brands re-issue their older watches with modern touches.
These two new watches from Grand Seiko, the SLGW004 and SLGW005, bring back the design of the 45GS, which was introduced in 1968 and came with Grand Seiko’s first 5Hz Hi-Beat movement. These new watches bring back the look of the 45GS including a Hi-Beat movement.
They come in cases measuring 38.8mm x 10.4mm and are made of 18k yellow gold for reference SLGW004 and stainless steel for reference SLGW005. Water resistance is 30m for both models.
These watches are clean and crisp, with applied numerals; the applied Seiko logo and the Grand Seiko logo add texture and depth. There’s no date window squeezed in, thankfully, and the watches do seem to be more faithful recreations of the original.
These watches don’t have the original movement in them, though. They have the thoroughly modern hand-wound calibre 9SA4, which is a Hi-Beat movement featuring a long 80-hour power reserve and is completed with a power reserve indicator on the movement side. There’s also plenty of fine finishing to be found as well, as one would expect from a watchmaker like Grand Seiko.
Both watches are limited edition pieces, 1,200 for the stainless steel SLGW005 and 200 for the yellow gold SLGW004. The retail prices are $9,700 (pre-tax) and $30,000 (pre-tax), respectively, and they’re available in boutiques and authorised dealers worldwide.
