Post by timelessluxwatches on Jul 15, 2015 14:25:28 GMT -6
Grand Seiko SBGA125 & SBGA127 Review
The SBGA125 (white dial) and SBGA127 (blue dial) are Grand Seiko's newest limited editions and are part of the 62GS collection, an homage to the very first Grand Seiko automatic. These two models both feature Grand Seiko's amazing 9R65 spring drive movement, ensuring a perfectly smooth seconds hand as well as superior accuracy. Both are made of titanium, and that fact, particularly for the SBGA125, immediately feels like it's targeting the Snowflake. Of course, both of these watches will be amazing, but which one should you get?
Read on to find out.
The Introduction
Both the SBGA125 and SBGA127 are a part of the larger 62GS collection, a group of limited editions released this year (2015) to honor the very first Grand Seiko automatic watch, the 62GS. There are many models to choose in that collection--in addition to these spring drives, you can also find 9S65 and 9S85 Hi-Beat mechanical models. But today we're starting with arguably the most popular of the bunch, the blue dialed SBGA127 and white dialed SBGA125.
As is often the case with Grand Seiko, a light and dark dial of a particular model is produced. The light dial, in this case, is this SBGA125. The fact that it's a titanium, spring drive 9R65 powered watch of medium size immediately invites comparison to the legendary SBGA011 Snowflake. Perhaps it was because of this inevitable comparison that we've come to look at the dial as something of a snow flurry, as contrasted with the Snowflake's snow drifts. Hence, we've internally named it the Blizzard.
The SBGA127, with its rich, dark blue dial would most likely be compared to the SBGA105 44GS, however, unlike the Blizzard, there is no full production watch for it to compete with. Nonetheless, like the SBGA125, it features a 9R65 spring drive and titanium. Both watches feature 40mm cases, exactly 1mm smaller than the Snowflake, making them a slightly more versatile size.
Naturally, both of these watches feature the 9R65 spring drive, rated for + or 1 second per day (and in reality performs much better) and with 72 hours of power reserve. The spring drive is definitely Grand Seiko's best looking line of movements.
The Dial
The dials of these watches, sans perhaps the upcoming SBGR097, are probably Grand Seiko's finest for 2015 and some of their best ever. Let's take a look at the SBGA125 first.
The SBGA125 is...wow. It's pretty amazing.
The dial is classic GS through and through. Those mirror polished dauphine hands, the blued seconds, the textured dial--this is a prototypical Grand Seiko. Let's get right to the part you're most interested in, the texture.
It can be hard to see why we call the SBGA125 the Blizzard from far away and in photos. On the wrist, however, it's pretty obvious. The texture is not like a "popcorn ceiling" at all which is sort of the impression you get from stock photography. As you can see here, it's a series of thousands of little bumps which have some slight reflectivity to them from different angles, making it almost sparkle. It's subtle--it's not shiny, but up close, it's appreciable.
I think the slight shine to the bumps is probably the result of perfect smoothness. It's not a rough-looking texture at all.
From farther away, it's a much more discreet effect--a strange, but beautiful, hybrid between a shiny and a matte dial.
The hands take no risks on the SBGA125 and that's a good thing--these are probably my favorite hands in the entire watch world, even over other GS options. There's nothing quite like those mirror polished facets. GS hands really look like they have some mass to them, like they're big, solid things, not folded tin.
The seconds hand, too, is typical to GS and is brilliantly heat blued.
Like all spring drives (well, except for the phenomenal Eichi II which has one on the back), the SBGA125's dial has a power reserve. This aspect is often overlooked, in terms of finishing, but it shouldn't be--it's actually probably the most finely finished part of any GS dial. They almost always have several different textures that run into each other, ala Breguet.
The date, thankfully, has a frame, which is only appropriate for a watch with such bold hour markers. I actually think this watch might even be better without a date, but at least this one blends in perfectly, with a white date ring and unusually large, bold numerals making it very easy to locate and read.
The Blizzard continues the use of the shorter, broader markers that we know and love from the 44GS reissue. As usual, I love that the 12:00 marker is unique--these little aspects are subtle, and you may never even consciously notice, but it makes it easier for you to orient the watch at a glance. These have always been a good match for the shape of the dauphine hands because they have a very similar geometry to them. The GS dial is filled with elegant, simple shapes--diamonds and rectangles.
You don't need me to tell you it's beautiful--but is it as good as the SBGA127?
The SBGA127 may be the best argument against the SBGA125 out there with its stunning sunburst blue dial.
It's this deep, dark blue that only shows its true nature in direct light. Otherwise it merely hints at the brilliant hues that live just beneath the surface.
Here's a good view of what it looks like in less direct light--its blue character is still visible but it's a much darker color. This, more than the SBGA125, features that famous dynamic character to GS dial work where different lighting gives it a wide variety of potential appearances.
Getting close (really, really close) to the dial reveals the smooth surface. You won't enjoy the texture you find a Snowflake or SBGA125 here, but you do gain a sunburst finish that's really mesmerizing.
As is traditionally the case, dark dialed GSes receive hands that are finished differently than light dials. In order to increase visibility, the hands are beautifully brushed, providing a lot of contrast. Naturally, a steel seconds hand is used instead of a blued one for purposes of visibility, but this watch doesn't need any extra color in the first place.
As nice as the hands are, the hour markers are perhaps a bit more impressive. They feature tiny lines that run the length of each marker, accomplishing the brushed-look but in a much more refined way.
The power reserve remains textured in a basically identical way to the SBGA125 and it looks amazing in blue. Catch the light just so and it will give off almost indigo hues.
The date is perfectly identical to the SBGA125's, color and all. White compliments blue nicely, but I think I'd like to see it with a blue ring and white text. Still, given that it sits in the space of a steel hour marker, it fits in very nicely.
So the SBGA127 is absolutely gorgeous, and a worthy successor to the SBGA105. But is it better than the SBGA125?
That is, of course, a matter of taste. On the one hand, I think I like the SBGA125 more--I think the dial texture is more unique and I like the mirror polished hands. I also just tend to like light dials generally. But there is another factor to consider--the similar Snowflake exists as a full production model, yet blue dial fans have no permanent GS to rely on. If the SBGA127 attracts you as much as the SBGA125, then, I might err on its side if only because you may not have any luck getting something similar later. And, at any rate, they're making far fewer of them.
The Movement
Both watches feature identical 9R65 spring drives. While some might lament the lack of a 9R15, as seen in last year's SBGA103 and SBGA105, except for losing the beautiful "special rotor," I don't mind much.
And that's because the 9R65 performs so phenomenally well anyway that I literally don't think a human being could appreciate the difference between a 9R65 and a 9R15 over the course of a month. Maybe if you wore both every day for 6 months you might be able to discern a difference, but in terms of observable, day to day precision, humans just aren't capable of seeing it. Consequently, the watch is more affordable than it would have been with the 9R15 with no appreciable loss in performance. You still get the same great looks (minus the rotor, anyway) and 72 hour power reserve as well.
As we've already discussed the 9R65 in great detail in other articles I think this is a good time to get a really, really close look at the movement .
I've said before that Grand Seiko's spring drives are their prettiest movements. I won't be backing down from that claim today. Look at the beautiful anglage here.
9R movements are also much better at revealing the workings of the watch--much of the top plate has been removed to reveal the craftsmanship underneath. Here you can actually see one of the pawls of Seiko's famous magic lever automatic winding system. Grand Seiko spring drives are the only GS movements left that utilize this elegant design.
One of the more difficult aspects to photograph on a Grand Seiko is the laser etched lion logo. It's very subtle and I suspect many people who even own a Grand Seiko don't know it's on their watch. This is a great touch because it replaces the lion medallion that you'd find on the back of a vintage GS without compromising your view of the movement.
The rotor, conversely, lacks the medallion you might find on a 9R15 or or 9S85 SPECIAL but it still looks terrific. It's a surprisingly bold looking rotor for such little embellishment--it's simple, austere even, but the diagonal Tokyo stripes are remarkably deep and sharp.
Here we see the glide wheel, the key to the tri-sychro regulator on which this whole technology depends. What's a tri-synchro regulator? Well, remember the time traveling Delorean in Back To The Future? Without its flux capacitor, it was just a Delorean (which is still pretty awesome).
The tri-synchro regulator is the spring drive's flux capacitor.
Basically, the tri-synchro regulator is the interface between the mechanical aspects of the movement, which is the vast majority, and the tiny subset of electronic components. This quasi-magical device basically takes a high end mechanical movement but lets a quartz subsystem control the speed. Unlike in a quartz watch, however, the electronics provide no propulsion--they're not even capable of it. Instead, the electronic components provide resistance.
This has a few consequences, some of which are quite interesting. The most obvious one is accuracy--you can have a watch with a beautiful movement, powered by the motion of your wrist or the winding of a crown, that has the accuracy of a very high quality quartz. But less obvious is the fact that spring drive movements are silent, and that's because they don't tick. Consequently, the spring drive has, without exception, the smoothest moving seconds hand in the world. Check it out in our videos.
Those aren't all the perks of the 9R65 though. In addition to date and power reserve complications, it'll run for 72 hours straight. Unlike a mechanical watch, however, spring drives suffer no instability due to a varying reserve--it will be just as accurate in the last hour as it is in the very first.
Long story short, both the SBGA125 and SBGA127 are equipped with world-class movements. The 9R65 is going to give you a great looking mechanical movement look and feel without sacrificing any accuracy. It's almost the perfect all-around movement.
The Case
The 40mm titanium cases of the SBGA125 and SBGA127 are identical. This makes them just a hair smaller than the Snowflake.
The case differs from their 44GS predecessors mainly in the lugs. These are much more like the SBGR081/83's lugs, being sharper and more angular. The SBGA105, conversely, had shorter and rounder lugs. In this SBGA125 they come off as a bit sportier.
The well-executed crown screws down for 100 meters of water resistance.
Although the watches are made completely of titanium, bracelet and all, and are consequently incredibly light, they don't really look titanium. Titanium usually has a dark finish to it--it can be kind of thought of as the opposite on the metallic spectrum as platinum. Grand Seiko uses a proprietary alloy, however, called high-intensity titanium. You can tell that it's a little darker than a similar stainless steel watch if they're side by side, but on its own it just looks like steel, which for most is a nice plus.
The watch is slightly on the thick side at 12.8mm, a hair thicker than the Snowflake but slightly thinner than a Hi-Beat GMT.
One thing to note before we move on is that these bracelets, like other titanium Grand Seikos (as well as steel GS divers) use friction pins instead of screws. This is probably because titanium is softer than steel and it can be pretty easy to strip the thread when adjusting the bracelet.
The Video
You really need to see these watches in person to appreciate them, but if you can't do that, check out our high definition video of the SBGA125 here and SBGA127 here instead.
The Conclusion
Grand Seiko, as far as I can tell, has yet to make a mediocre watch, so it's no surprise that both the SBGA125 and SBGA127 are winners.
The SBGA125 "Blizzard" is probably the most highly publicized of the two and it's easy to see why. Grand Seiko's dial work has become one of its main selling points, and especially in recent years, their textured dials have been very well received.
The SBGA125 is certainly an amazing watch and one you're going to want to pick up. It offers a thoughtful alternative to the Snowflake, or perhaps for the truly hardcore GS faithful, an addition to it. It's slightly sportier, at least in my view, and slightly smaller as well. Perhaps the most relevant difference between the 125 and the Snowflake isn't the dial's texture but the production numbers. Only 1000 of these will be made and, at least for the foreseeable future, Snowflakes will remain available. On this basis I would probably suggest people to err on the side of the 125 as it's going to be much easier to go from an SBGA125 to a Snowflake later than it is to go from Snowflake to SBGA125.
The SBGA127 is situated a little differently in the overall picture of Grand Seiko. It has no production model equivalent to compete for your attention. Grand Seikos with these vibrant blue dials are not only limited production watches but they're actually even more limited than other LEs--GS, for whatever reason, makes fewer of each dark dial LE than light dial, and this is no exception at just 700 pieces worldwide.
That alone should make you think about picking an SBGA127 up, but it's hardly the only thing the watch offers. That blue dial is really a work of art and as brilliant as GS' textured dials are, they lose some of that dynamic character that made them famous. This blue dial has it in spades.
In either case, the famous 9R65 will be ensuring your Grand Seiko remains incredibly, almost unbelievably, accurate. Thankfully, unlike last year's nonetheless-great SBGA111, the beautiful movement is visible on both watches.
Which one would I get? I think I lean towards the SBGA125--that blizzard dial is just amazing and somehow feels more special to me. But perhaps you shouldn't take my opinion too seriously, as it has been fairly well established that I'm a sucker for white dial/blue hand combinations. If you love blue dial Grand Seikos, you also owe it to yourself to look at the upcoming SBGR097 limited edition as well. You can't miss with any of these models, but then, it's Grand Seiko we're talking about--what did you expect?