Grand Seiko has been known to take a different approach to making dress watches and, this year, the Japanese watchmaker is turning heads once again with its new Elegance Collection.
The new timepiece boasts a new case shape that draws inspiration from Grand Seiko’s classic 44GS and 64GS watches. Though it may appear like your standard 39mm round watch, this watch is anything but ordinary. At just 11.6mm thick, the case size sits perfectly on any wrist. Part of the attractiveness of the Elegance Collection’s design is the use of short lugs that are dramatically arched, enabling the case to sit comfortably on the wrist.
Each case is polished by a special Zaratsu method that is created to accentuate the beauty of the watch’s curved surfaces. This can be seen in the dials and sapphire crystals that are curved to give the watch a classic look. Even the minute and power-reserve indicator hands are bent ever so slightly so that they follow the exact domed contour of the dial. Without a doubt, the defining feature of this new collection is the Urushi lacquer dials, a showcase of traditional Japanese craftsmanship. It is within the amber-coloured Suki-urushi lacquer that one can see the subtle Mount Iwate pattern on the dial. This pattern gets its name from the mountain that dominates the skyline above Grand Seiko’s Shizukuishi Watch Studio. It is an exquisitely detailed dial with deep colours that pull your eye towards the centre, thanks to the sunburst pattern.
The watches are available in two rose gold maki-e dial models and one Mount Iwate pattern-dial model in steel. There is also a black dial that uses the same lacquer but is mixed with iron to give it a distinctive deep jet black colour.
The movement housed inside is the new Grand Seiko Caliber 9S63, which is based off the older 9S64 but adds a running small seconds at 9 o’clock and a power reserve indicator at 3 o’clock. This hand-wound watch comes with a power reserve of 72 hours.
One other detail to note is that the hour markers and the Grand Seiko initials, ‘GS’, are decorated using the traditional maki-e technique by Urushi master Isshu Tamura in his studio in Kanazawa on the west coast of Japan. The carefully applied layers upon layers of lacquer give the dial a three-dimensional profile, while retaining a delicate yet strong presence.
The new design series consists of three limited editions. The two Urushi dial executions are in 18K rose gold cases and are editions of just 150 each, while the third, with its blue Mount Iwate pattern dial, is in stainless steel and is an edition of 1,500 pieces.
Grand Seiko’s new Elegance Collection is available at Grand Seiko master shops and Seiko Boutiques. grand-seiko.com
