Hi all
Just received this GS diver from a forum good guy after a wtb. I've made a quick initial impression review here...if you're interested ;)
https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...02#post5656002
With sincere thanks to Manxdiver who replied to my WTB I'm now the owner of this very substantial piece of Japanese excellence. It's been a while since I've felt motivated to review a watch but I'll have a go here.
Case:
It has a 43mm case, about 49mm lug to lug (46mm from drilled hole to drilled hole) and is 13mm thick. The lug width is 22mm. It wears very similarly to the SD43, perhaps just slightly noticeably smaller given the reduced height.
It's heavy! Set up for my 7" wrist on the bracelet it weighs almost 196g. The SD43 is 185g for reference. It's not annoyingly cumbersome though and I think its mass is well centred and with the bracelet properly adjusted it feels comfortably planted on the wrist.
I love the design of the case, both in terms of shape and finishing. The angles of the lugs give a compact, purposeful look to the watch and help to make it work well on a smaller wrist. There are alternating and brushed surfaces - the case top and sides are finely brushed but between the two there is a highly polished bevel which extends into the angles surfaces of the lugs. It's an attractive look but quite clearly those zaratsu mirror polished lugs are going to pick up hairlines over time. Given their accessibility and profile it will also be easy to mirror polish them again however, if OCD kicked in.
Kudos to GS for keeping drilled lugs - these are massively welcome in any watch for ease of bracelet removal and strap changes. In a tool watch worn on a strap it's also important to allow shoulderless spring bars to be used which avoids the small but potentially catastrophic risk of accidentally releasing the springbar in torsional movements.
The crown is signed GS and is part recessed at 4 o'clock for protection. It seats in about 4-5 turns.
TLDR: It's a GS....as you'd expect the case is exceptionally designed and executed in every way.
Bezel:
I understand that this is steel. It has a piano black gloss finish with recessed white painted numerals. The pip is lumed and recessed very slightly further. With this watch GS have returned to a less controversial typeface for the bezel when compared to its predecessor the SBGX117. I prefer this one but that is just personal preference....along with some confirmation bias given that I own this one!
It's a 120 click bezel and has a smooth but solid action. Feels like a standard spring under there clicking away - very similar to the SBDB001 - and is pleasing to use. It is not on the same level as a Rolex ceramic ball bezel for tactility, but still good.
Dial:
It's black, totally flat and not glossy but not totally matte. Has a very slightly fine bead blasted texture under bright light but looking at it right now it appears to be a flat, smooth black hole.
GS have gone minimalist with the text here, for the better imho. Applied gold GS logo with small Grand Seiko printed text below, and a very, very small "DIVERS 200m" above the 6 marker.
The markers are all hand applied obviously. They have a highly polished metal rim which is angled at about 45 degrees up from the dial and which all hold a generous dose of perfectly applied lume. There's no date here so the symmetry is excellent.
The chapter ring angles up from the dial to the rehaut and has small and unobtrusive yellow numerals at 5 minute intervals. I wasn't sure how I felt about this in photos but on the wrist the effect is just to subtly add a bit of interest to the dial.
Hands:
The now well recognised GS diver style continues here. It has grown on me over the years. The hour and minute hands appear to be longitudinally brushed titanium. The finishing is perfect and beautiful. The minute hand extends onto the chapter ring and has a 0.5mm point at the tip of the arrow. It's a pleasing mix of solid legible bulk tapering to fine precision. The second hand is polished steel with the counterbalance side painted black, ending in a lumed dot. The second hand appears to be capped although there is a tiny dot in the very centre. The lume is easily legible throughout the night as you'd expect with any Seiko diver at any price point.
The second hand has the characteristic 9F quartz solid purposeful tick and hits all of the markers all of the time.
Bracelet:
It's a brushed oyster style bracelet. The only polished bits are the sides of the links and the raised bits of the GS logo on the clasp.
The endlink fit into the case is impeccable with zero play.
The GS clasp is moderately bulky, appears to be steel and has a fliplock then two button opening system for security. There's the familiar Seiko ratcheted diver extension/fine adjustment system which, imo, looks pony but which works well. Rolex glidelock refined elegance however this is not. There are also four fine length adjustment holes in the clasp.
Most annoying really is the continued use of pin and collar links. They're fine if you have the right kit and never, ever lose a collar onto the floor. If is the key word here, otherwise they're not fine. Not at all.
I've seen some really nice photos of this watch on a canvas strap so given the drilled lugs I think I'll give that a go in due course....
Movement:
It's a 9F so arguably part of the greatest movement family of all time. More specifically it's a 9F61 - which is a smaller version of the 9F8X which is in my SBGV207 dress watch, despite the diver being a bigger watch.
Clearly a smaller movement allows for a thicker case which would account for its weight...and presumably is a design choice to allow a stronger watch given its intended purpose.
I've never had a 9F run at anything other than significantly better than its +/- 10 sec per year tolerance and indeed this is +/- 0spd as you'd expect.
Slowed down the second hand takes two small jumps per second which to my eyes is not perceptible in real life. It does give a really unique, slow and precise tick to the second hand however.
Conclusion:
Well, it's a great watch, solid, not over large for the smaller wrist as long as "solid lump of steel" is your preferred look. Grand Seiko quality - which is to say is everything on the watch head is perfect. And the bracelet is good, with some room for improvement....
All photos taken on an iphone 12 max with zero furtling...apologies
Last edited by Plake; 27th January 2021 at 22:34.
Thanks for this really useful review. I've been mulling over getting one of these for the past month or so and the more info the better. I had an SBGX117 and have always regretted letting it go. This does look like a suitable replacement - especially with the crown at 4pm. ATB Jon
This is an exceptionally good watch.
Enjoy it.
BTW, if this is a short review wonder what your detailed review looks like:-)
Looks great, but too heavyweight for me. Given the profile of their domestic market you’d have thought they would do a smaller version.
Greetings Plake. Nice review. I had a 117, lovely watch that I foolishly sold to a friend. And he won’t sell me it back.....when you think about it, quartz makes a lot of sense in a dive watch. And the GS dive models are seriously tough. Shame they’re not openly marketed for the UK.
good review, enjoyed reading that and a great result from your wtb.. I prefer this incarnation to the previous one though I do find all the GS divers to be a bit bulky for me..
What a gorgeous watch and an excellent review!
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