Reply With QuoteAbsolutely stunning, exactly what i would buy if i could....congratulations!! Would love to know the strategy but probably safer i dont
If I live to be a hundred, then yesterday, I reached the mid-point. I've been indulging in all sorts of self-indulgent fantasy about what I might treat myself to recognise the occasion and have gone the rounds from vintage Rolex DJ to a brief flirtation with the red Black Bay but in the end, my heart won over. I am afraid I am Seiko through and through. The large majority of watches to have passed through my hands have been vintage Seiko, and over the years my tastes have moved from the predictable obsessions with divers through to the more understated, most recently 1960's Seikomatics. With that process providing the sub-text, I settled on a plan to buy something new but referencing my favourite watch period. Unlike a great many folk here, it is not part of my routine to splurge thousands on a wrist watch. The most I have ever spent was about £1100 but most of my expenditure goes into tatty old stuff to renovate. So, any really significant expenditure is likely to be a one-off and I would hope, something to keep and use for a long time. With all of that in mind, I found myself considering Grand Seiko.
This year, coincidentally, Seiko released five limited edition watches in a Historical Collection paying homage to the 1964 Grand Seiko Self-Dater. The original watch was fitted with a manual wind chronometer movement and featured wonderfully sturdy lugs, giving the watch a beefy yet still elegant appearance. Three of these new interpretations are fitted with Spring Drive movements and are consequently well outside my price range. The other two however are fitted with the Grand Seiko 9F82 quartz movement, accurate to ±10 seconds per year and unlikely to need costly services every three to five years. Decision made, I settled upon the silver dialled SBGV009 and opted for a purchase strategy which did not involve coughing up anything like the £3500 required for a UK purchase. I received the watch about 6 weeks ago but it's remained in its box until yesterday. I'll resist waffling on any more and let some pictures do the talking:
Needless to say, I am rather chuffed. The watch is pretty bloody spectacular in the flesh, very comfortable on the wrist and I think will slip in with the other regulars in my collection without looking too out of place. It did come with a lovely bracelet hidden out of sight in a compartment at the bottom of the box and I got half way through fitting it this morning before reverting back to the strap.
Martin
Absolutely stunning, exactly what i would buy if i could....congratulations!! Would love to know the strategy but probably safer i dont
Congratulation on the milestone and a terrific watch :)
Congratulations on your 50th and a lovely watch too.
Congrats on both the birthday and the cool GS. Discrete beauty.
Happy birthday and that watch is spectacular! Well done and enjoy it for the next 50 years!
Ben
Great choice.
Congratulations on both your 50th and a really beautiful watch. Class.
oh and great pics.
Congratulation on reaching your half century Martin.
And what a wonderful way to mark the milestone. An achingly beautiful watch, with a superlative movement and a fantastic set of photographs too. You're a lucky man, enjoy.
Cheers,
Gary
Congrats on your milestone and great watch. Lovely dial and great photos
Happy Birthday.
I think that is an absolutly fantastic choice of watch. I really like that a lot and would love own this model.
I have a vintage one that I enjoy wearing.
Congratulations on the milestone and on buying a beautiful watch, it truly is stunning.
David
Double congratulations, lovely watch and happy birthday!!
Again congratulations on your birthday, Martin!
Great choice to celebrate it and very nice shots here, just as I was expecting.
Thanks everyone. These sorts of purchases can often lead to second thoughts once the deed is done but in this case, none such. Oh, and for those of you on the run up to this particular milestone, it ain't so bad :)
Martin
Congratulations twice over!
Want one.
Congratulations on both reaching the half way stage, and a very beautiful watch.
Here's to the next 50!
Happy Birthday and a great choice of watch.
That goes for me as wellOriginally Posted by TaketheCannoli
Huge congratulations
Stunningly beautiful, yet typical GS understated. Bling just isn't necessary.
Lovely watch - may it serve you well for the next 50!
Perfect!
Nice to give yourself a 50th birthday present. Just passed mine and got the family to get me something special (a Sinn). Kids are already fighting over who is going to inherit what from me!!
Congratulations, I also recently passed the half-century milestone. And a fantastic watch indeed, wear it in good health for many, many years!
Happy birthday, and congratulations on a great choice
Double congratulations - on reaching 50 and choosing a lovely watch.
Congrads and welcome to the "I hope/pray that's indigestion" club.
Thanks all for the kind messages of felicitations and so forth associated with my entry into the period of my life where only increasing degrees of dicrepitude await. A colleage at work cheerfully informed me that he hit his prime at 50, before pausing and then going on to say that from there on in, it was rapidly down hill. Still, another colleague gave me a tea mug which proclaims that it is 'Better to be over the hill than under it'. Happy to go along with that one. A couple more snaps to follow:
A side view of the signed crown, the downward curve of the lugs and that significant box sapphire:
Croc strap with classic signed buckle:
and a stock shot of a 9F62, looking rather glam.
Martin
The details on that watch!
Congratulations :)
Ohhh Very nice Martin! Belated Gratz on both counts.
Love the details on GS the care and attention is obvious when you hold one.
I beat you to 50 by one week, but I congratulate or commiserate with you!
Very nice Grand Seiko. They are truly masterpieces! Enjoy it for as long as you can!
Congratulations! What a great choice and perfect treat!
A truly wonderful piece - I have an old vintage one and it is probably one of the favourites in the collection.
Congratulations! I was lucky enough to try one on the other day, posted in another thread but worth repeating here... I wasn't sure how such a shiny watch would work before I saw it, but I can now say it worked very well. Here's the dark dailed twin.
Did you take any pictures with the optional bracelet on? I'm quite curious how that would look and have never seen a picture.
Lovely vintage example in the previous post too.
'Fraid not. I knew pretty much straightaway that the bracelet was not for me. All of the elegance of the watch is swallowed up by all that steel. It just needs the croc. As for the dark dialed version you tried, I am not sure whether Seiko ever actually released a black dialed '64 GS. I've seen a couple of pics on Google but those link to Ebay auctions where the dial is described as refinished. Either way, I prefer the classic sliver finish.
Martin
Lovely. I particularly like the earlier style of crown you have fitted to yours.
I'm sure you're right, I've never seen such a thing. The dark dial does look good in person, it's very nicely done and one of the better GS dials, but yours looks amazing in the original silver - great photos too.
Congrats on hitting the big 50! I managed it 18 months ago and still feel the same....
Congratulations, truly stunning.
Enjoy.
Drop dead gorgeous watch.
My WIS journey is turning further and further towards GS.
Many happy returns Martin.
What a totally lovely GS too, clean, simple and gorgeous.
Here's to the next 50 years!
Very nice! I´ve tried that on a couple of times at my local AD. Great watch!
Best regards,
Gustav
Congrats from another '64 baby!
I like it a lot. So clean and crisp!.
Classy!
chuffed...who won't having the piece like yours..
So happened I found out that I got myself this, the first GS as well at 50.
Congratulations to both of you!
John
+1
Cheers!
Wow - what an incredibly refined and sophisticated watch! Well done! Something where the quality leaps out at your without any gimmicks or garishness! Happy 50th!
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