Grand Seiko Divers

[Mikelancs]

Hi All,

I’m hoping to pick your brains yet again, this time regarding Grand Seiko and specifically their divers.

Spring drive vs Hi-Beat…….which and why? The Spring Drive system is interesting and unique tech to GS, but I’m not sure if it will feel a bit electrical/soulless…. I know that sounds a bit daft!

Pricing…. We seem to get a hard time on pricing here in the UK and they don’t seem to come up very often on the nearly new market. Would you pay list price or is that silly on these?

Cheers
Mike

[Highroller1]

Hi All,

I’m hoping to pick your brains yet again, this time regarding Grand Seiko and specifically their divers.

Spring drive vs Hi-Beat…….which and why? The Spring Drive system is interesting and unique tech to GS, but I’m not sure if it will feel a bit electrical/soulless…. I know that sounds a bit daft!

Pricing…. We seem to get a hard time on pricing here in the UK and they don’t seem to come up very often on the nearly new market. Would you pay list price or is that silly on these?

Cheers
Mike

I’ve had both variants and having seen the inner workings of both I’d personally be happy with recommending either. The only caveat here would be is whether you’re a stickler for accurate timekeeping. I for one am not but those who are should definitely go down the Spring Drive route as they are incredible and the sweeping hand is mesmerising. My Hi Beats on the other hand didn’t fair quite so well but if you’re more into your totally mechanical timepieces then this would be the obvious choice. Either way you wont go too far wrong. In terms of pricing, neither seem to hold up well initially on their RRP’s so buying second hand would be a no brainier.

[shalako]

Spring Drive would be my choice, I’ve had a lot of problems with the GS high beat diver I owned, very poor accuracy and GS had no appetite to fix it.

[scwazrh]

Another vote for spring drive from me . They are so different on the wrist compared to anything else .

[notenoughwrists]

Hi All,

I’m hoping to pick your brains yet again, this time regarding Grand Seiko and specifically their divers.

Spring drive vs Hi-Beat…….which and why? The Spring Drive system is interesting and unique tech to GS, but I’m not sure if it will feel a bit electrical/soulless…. I know that sounds a bit daft!

Pricing…. We seem to get a hard time on pricing here in the UK and they don’t seem to come up very often on the nearly new market. Would you pay list price or is that silly on these?

Cheers
Mike

Discount is readily negotiable on GS. Do not pay list. 15% should be easy, and plenty of online dealers that will sell discounted without a haggle.

I would counter Shalako s comment on having had a couple of the hi-beat movements and they’ve been as accurate as you could possibly wish for.
I don’t dismiss his experience on warranty service though - he obviously had a shit old time from them and that sounds unacceptable.

I moved away from the Spring Drive for exactly your soulless comment. Although it is unjustified, I did worry about the part electric aspect.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[misterzero]

Would recommend you look at pre-owned ones ,they depreciate a lot and some good deals on chrono and ebay

Sent from my Pixel 6 using TZ-UK mobile app

[Mikelancs]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I’m leaning towards hi-beat, so will keep my eyes open for one popping up on here, and in the meantime I’ll email a few online dealers and see what can be had in terms of discount.

[goody]

spring drive for me the accuracy on that movement is killer

[gunner]

Plenty of manufacturers do hi-beat, only one does spring drive...

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[notenoughwrists]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I’m leaning towards hi-beat, so will keep my eyes open for one popping up on here, and in the meantime I’ll email a few online dealers and see what can be had in terms of discount.

There was one here recently, was going for silly (low) money, but think it went off forum as no interest. A bargain missed. Search the SC threads and maybe reach out?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Mikelancs]

There was one here recently, was going for silly (low) money, but think it went off forum as no interest. A bargain missed. Search the SC threads and maybe reach out?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Yeah, I saw it a few weeks back and was dithering about. As usual, I’ve gone down the bloody rabbit hole and now I want one 😂