Watches - another OCD problem

[Neru-6]

@Giles first one, date and power indicator are nice

[yannis]

The 3rd one for sure. Spring drive and a clean elegant dial in a 38.5mm timeless case size. No brainer

[JDelage]

THAT: I have one of those small manual wound GS, and I love it to bits. It's fun to wind every morning, it's beautiful and clean, with no text or subdials, and you can wear it up or down. As a side note, GS sells a super fancy bead of rice bracelet that fits them beautifully. That one has a nice dial too.

I had a spring drive; it did nothing for me. I realize it is a very innovative movement, but it's just not that interesting to me (although the dial of that 3rd GS is lovely).

Edit: that's the bead of rice bracelet (on yet another version of the 37mm manual watch). It can be hard to find at times, and it's not cheap.

[Graeme]

I like the 37 mm manual wind best, closely followed by the 38.5 mm Spring Drive.

But I'd want to try both on to see how they sit on the wrist. You might feel, for example, that the 40 mm sits better than the others, or the 38.5 mm is much prettier in the metal.

[Giles]

I'm currently tempted by the 37mm.

[Giles]

I've decided on the Grand Seiko SBGA407 Skyflake.

• I can get an amazing deal in Japan
• I have large wrists, so the 40mm size will work well
• Because I have large wrists, I'd probably need to immediately swap out the strap on the 37 for a longer one. And to date, I have not had to do that with a strap that comes with folding buckle - The 37 comes with a tang, the SBGA407 comes with folding
• I think that the Spring Drive sums up the brilliance of Grand Seiko, and as a confirmed Japanophile, that ticks a big box
• The dial is amazing
• The power reserve indicator is an irritation, but I can live with that
• All in all I think the watch is a perfect demonstration of Japanese beauty, artistry and mechanical excellence.

[Neru-6]

@Giles perfect choice

[Giles]

Thank you....

[Neru-6]

I want to change my metal bracelet by an ostrich one. What do you think ?

[Giles]

I'm not a great metal bracelet fan - though I have a few....But I personally prefer the metal to the Ostrich, but it is you who's going to be looking at it most

[Neru-6]

@Giles my heart bounces, but I think I prefer also the metal one.

I wanted to have a similar look to this one, but the result is not there. The only choice left for me is to buy it haha.

[Giles]

You know it makes sense

[yannis]

Great choice @Giles

[goosehd]

@Giles Congrats in advance and please let us know your thoughts when you get it.

[Giles]

I think it unlikely that it will arrive in The IH Japan offices before I leave for China, so may be a few weeks of (painful) waiting.....

[mclaincausey]

Getting a GS that doesn’t have Spring Drive would bother me on some level. Good choice!

[yannis]

Their high beat movement is very nice also. You cannot go wrong with either Spring drive or the high beat. Accuracy wise Spring drive is in a class of each own.

[mclaincausey]

Yeah I like all of the movements and respect them but if I had one GS it would need to be SD just because it’s so damn Seiko and so damn Japanese to optimize the escapement in such a clever way.

[Danimal506]

There was a watch show today here in Austin. A bunch of micro brands showing their stuff. Some of my favorite brands I saw were Vertex, Baltic, Raven, Lorier, Farer, Fears and Artefkt. I didn’t get a pic of Raven or Artefkt, but they’re both very cool watch designs, especially the Artefkt. I’ll add a stock image of both.

The cool thing about the show, was the owners of the brands were at most of the booths. So I got to meet the people who designed and brought these watches to life! It was a free and very fun and simple event called Intersect.

Images from the web

[JDelage]

I like Fears a lot. They have an excellent eye for design.