Post by timelessluxwatches on Mar 29, 2018 14:21:04 GMT -6
Our Grand Seiko, Prospex & Presage Photos from Baselworld 2018!
Grand Seiko
We’ll kick it off with the stars of GS’ show this year.
These are my personal favorite GSes of this year. These dials have proved divisive, with many loving and many others hating the look. But I’m here to set the record straight: they look great.
Not technically a Basel release, but this is the first time we’ve seen them in person. Gorgeous.
Perhaps the watch that should have been the real star, the only one with an all-new movement from GS. It makes a powerful statement that Grand Seiko is going to be focusing a lot more on watches for women than they have since the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.
The most untraditional offering has to be the SBGJ229. Yes, it’s still too big at 46mm, but I think it looks a lot better than its predecessors like the SBGC221. GS seems to be homing in on the look they want for their really aggressively styled models. The dial on this is gorgeous and, somehow, the blue ceramics blend quite nicely with the rest of the dial.
These two unofficial releases have received quite a lot of attention here on the forums. They’re old-school GS, so they’re going to be the go-to watches this year for GS traditionalists.
Presage
The SJE073, along with its slim new movement, has gotten more attention than any other Presage in recent memory. Presage is beginning to develop a reputation as a more obtainable version of Grand Seiko, and as they begin to receive newer, more accurate movements in the future, I can only imagine this perception will strengthen.
Here are the new “Shippo” dial models. These didn’t receive quite as much attention, but they are nonetheless visually remarkable. I suppose that as Presage becomes ever more focused on enamel dials (a very good thing), they’ll need to find more diverse ways of making them to give the collection variety. These Shippo dials might be a successful attempt at doing just that.
Overall, a very small and focused release from both GS and Presage, which is precisely what I want from brands. Do a few things and do them right. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of these two brands is that they both showed a renewed focus on mechanical movements. For GS’ part, this is somewhat due to the timing of the release, but when I look at the two new movements we got this year, I can’t help but notice that they’re both dedicated to being smaller and thinner than existing movements. I’m not sure how precisely to interpret that, but I hope that it means that we might get thinner GSes down the road.
Prospex
These are probably my favorite new Prospexes, the SRPC91s. I just love the color and dial.
On a similar note we have the SSC675.
The new SPB077 for those wanting something more understated.
This model has been very well-received this year. The green color is apparently inspired by the cedar trees of the island of Yakushima, an area known for its popularity among divers.
Of course, we had to take some photos of the new Hi-Beat SLA025.
