Seiko doing grand seiko?

Just came across this article

https://monochrome-watches.com/seiko...-spb170-price/

These look good but I can't help thinking seiko are almost undermining grand seiko with these?
They look very grand seiko with the dial and case finishing etc..
I like them but obviously they are being marketed as a cheaper alternative?
I'm sure the actual finishing won't be grand seiko standard and obviously the movement is the lowly 6r35,
I suppose the real issue is the price??
Reasonable? Compared to grand seiko yes.
Or expensive for normal seiko?

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Not unlike the sarx series. Sure they share some likeness to GS but different movements, finishing (no zaratsu) and hands.

Seiko has always had presage and sarb models that inherit some GS dna but not enough to fully compete I think.


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I think at under a grand retail, the price isn’t at all unreasonable for a new Seiko model. Especially the way prices have gone recently.

Price is pretty much the same as the new SPBxxx divers. I think their range spans a fairly wide gamut of quality and finish these days, with appropriate spread on price too. GS start at £2k with the 9F movements so I can even see them pushing things a little bit higher perhaps with a very nicely finished automatic before they start giving customers too much of a dilemma.

I think any brand that intentionally splinters itself into sub-brands (with different pricing brackets) comes across this problem.

Fundamentally, if each sub-brand has enough Ito distinguish itself, it’s not a major problem. Eg, I don’t think Rolex were too worried about the black bay or pelagos cannibalising the sub and sea dweller.

By contrast, the prospex LX line is sailing very close to the grand seiko sports watches, with the same movement (granted without the same level of factory attention), zaratsu polished cases etc...

This particular line looks like standard presage fare to me. Credit to seiko for keeping the variety up but I don’t think it challenges GS.


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What I see is nowhere near GS standard. Not even close.

I think from pics on the web you wouldnt be wrong for assuming presage is creeping up on grand seiko but they really are a world apart when handled in person.



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Surely this is the pay-off from the existence of Grand Seiko
Grand Seiko allows consumers to see the added quality attainable, at a pretty high price (I am not doing them down, but £2k+ is an expensive watch, a cost that GS perhaps justifies over some other brands).
Once GS has been around a while at the upper end of the market, Seiko release of watches like this to fill the middle ground with models that have a fraction of the GS quality, but a larger fraction of the GS budget.
Without GS these would never have flown, as it is they are looked at as GS lite.
Dave

Good observation Dave.