Yesterday We went to the Clash exhibition then we met others at the Antony Gormley exhibition (interesting as an engineering concept,pretentious as hell otherwise).
While the rest of them went on ahead to the Wolsey,I noticed Burlington arcade which I had heard mentioned of on this site.
So I nipped over the road everything was closed except the Grand Seiko shop and it was empty.
So the very knowledgeable,friendly young woman had time to show me many watches and tell me details of them.
I was really impressed, seeing them in real life as opposed to photos gave me a greater appreciation of the quality and reasoning behind them.
The dial mirroring the snow seen from the workshop was stunning.
The watch I liked best was a relatively simple hand wind, light in weight with a beautiful clear dial.
The prices though expensive seemed far better value than a certain Swiss brand you have to jump through hoops to obtain.
But more than that these where works of art more than time tools.
Sadly my camera battery ran out but I got a few photos.
I left with a book on the history of the watch line which is a very good read with beautiful photographs.
I wouldn't worry about the Zenith, definitely the pick of the bunch!
I have owned 5 GS and there is just something slightly off with all of them (now all gone). Generally it's the awkward thickness of them. I certainly don't expect a dress watch to be 14mm thick. That is very clumsy watch-making.
I think maybe the Japanese style just doesn’t place that much importance on thinness.
The chrono is reassuringly thick and it works perfectly with the overall size while being surprisingly comfortable due to the smallish caseback size.
The Snowflake is a good height. Comparable to a 5 digit sub or even a gmt.
The Peacock is perhaps a tad thick but running at 5Hz hi-beat with the best dial I’ve ever seen on any watch you’d hardly call it clumsy. I don’t these watches claim to be dress watches. That’d be the Credor range.
I think GS are starting to get the recognition they deserve among a wider audience and not just WIS guys who’ve done their homework.
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Went to that store on Saturday and a had down to Earth chat with the gentleman there about GS and watches in general. The peacock dial is definitely striking. I was also surprised at how well the GMT with the leather strap wore. Despite being thick and nearly 40mm it didn't feel clumsily large at all. The manual wind spring drive felt like it would make for an excellent dress watch in the traditional sense.
What is the consensus on obtaining discount on GS (SBGA229 or 231)? There are some on Chrono24 being sold new at 80% of rrp. Not sure whether these are AD's or not. Will an AD be able to offer that sort of discount?
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Someone I know at my work got over 20% off a Grand Seiko 9F at Jura watches last week. That did have something to do with a voucher for Black Friday.
I’ve always managed a 10% discount on GS in the Seiko boutique.
I’d trust Jura over C24 for a Seiko. But if you can get a close enough discount their boutique is a great place to buy.
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Thanks for the pictures, I'm looking forward to dropping in to the pop-up soon. I agree that you need to see these in person to really 'get' them. Photos (lovely as yours are!) can never capture the play of the light or depth of the dials.
It really does depend on which ones you choose. I agree that the autos are thicker than I'd like and I hope they address this, but the Snowflake wears very well and the 9F quartz are spot on. They're also making some much thinner hand wounds now, like the dress watch in the photos with the power reserve. Their 40mm quartz is a revelation, I thought 40mm was too large for me without a tool bezel, and have previously sold a 39mm from another brand for being oversized, but GS make it work perfectly. Sorry to hear you never found 'the one'!
Try SC. A truly beautiful GS awaits, epic dial, slimline at 10.2mm and it is very well priced indeed. I love mine. No connection.
I was there on Friday & fell for the sbga293 as pictured. The dimensions are much better than usual.
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