Grand Seiko

Spring drive should last, effectively, forever without any service.

Manufacturer-recommended service intervals are like these kinds of warnings...

... designed solely to protect against tort law and overly litigious fraudsters that all consumers are deep down inside.

You know, here, let me just copy and paste my canned answer from previous threads about service intervals...

#1 - Warranties and what they tell us about manufacturing quality

• Most respectable manufacturers used to provide 2 years of warranty

• Even today, almost any ETA-powered watch will typically come with a 2-year warranty

• Why is that?

• Well, because manufacturing used to suck - we were just AWFUL at manufacturing

• Look at any car manufactured by the Big 3 from the 70's and compare that car to one produced today - it isn't a difference in degree, but a difference in kind entirely

• Or, better yet, go check out a vintage example of the supposedly vaunted, robust tool watches of yore - like a Rolex Sub - and you will find it to be the jangliest, jankiest, junkiest piece of junk out there!

• Today, almost all of the big brands offer 5 year warranties, because manufacturing techniques and technologies are so advanced that the manufacturers can comfortably offer longer and longer warranty periods

#2 - Lubricants

• In the bad old days, watch movements used to use mineral oils, and they sucked

• If they weren't in constant motion, they would gum up

• If they were in operation too long, they would break down

• You couldn't let a watch sit around all the time, nor could you have it running all the time!

• Service intervals were short, because the mineral oils had short useful lifespans, and watches needed to be re-lubricated often

• Nowadays we have the wonders of synthetic lubricants - they don't gum up, they don't separate, and their heat tolerances are far, far, far superior

#3 - Combination of factors

• Given this combination of factors, should we take our watches in for service at the recommended 4 year mark? 8 year mark? 10 year mark? Whatever it is that the manufacturers recommend?

• Why?

• If modern materials are robust and resistant to corrosion, and all the parts are precision machined, and they continue to operate flawlessly, and the lubricants can last 50-100 years at normal operating temperatures... why would one take that machine apart?

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

Now, with regard to GS in particular, I have 14 GS, and have had no issues whatsoever. But, then again, I've only had mine for, say, 2 years. But, then again, I had a couple of brand new Breitlings that broke within 1 month of ownership! Ha! Haven't had that experience with GS.

At this point, one should ask, "What is the most common failure mode for mechanical watches?" Well, in the bad old days, it used to be bad things happening due to the breakdown of the oils in the movement! Next on the list, the fiddliest part of the watch is the escapement and the balance spring. Well, GS Spring Drive watches don't have traditional escapements! It's the tri-synchro regulator that's a magnetic brake that does the work of an "escapement" - and that's why you can't magnetize a Spring Drive the way you can a normal mechanical watch! There is no balance spring to magnetize!

Given the tri-syncro regulator set up, the Spring Drive movement has fewer parts and doesn't even have the fiddly parts that typical mechanical watches have.

My take is a bit different. It’s still a mechanical watch. There are still gears pushing gears, pivots turning in jewels, mainspring winding and releasing, rotor rotating, etc. There will be wear, dust and debris. I don’t think GS denies that. It may take many, many years for the effect to become noticeable but like every mechanical watch, there will be wear.

The unique bit about Spring Drive is that quartz, electronic control will act to keep the watch dead accurate even if/when the movement is grinding itself to dust. You will have no warning short of catastrophic failure where the electronics can no longer keep control.

My overall view of Spring Drive is that it’s a Rube Goldberg machine. It’s a complex and expensive solution to a problem that nobody asked to be solved. Quartz were already dead accurate. Mechanical were already very, very accurate. Spring Drive has the heart of quartz with the service requirements of a mechanical, literally the worst of both worlds.

My leading GS contender is the blue Hi-beat version of the GMT shown above. Too bad it’s such a massive case. Still, I would choose any Hi-beat over any Spring Drive. But that’s just me. YMMV

I think your nicely reasoned and thoughtful response is why I posted this. Plus I did a search and did not see anything. Which is strange given GS usually offers in both SD and HB. These were the thoughts going though my mind and they are valid concerns. I guess lack of battery and that smooth sweep second hand would have to outweigh the concerns.

I’d probably prefer spring drive.

I like spring drive better compared to high beat. More accurate (but i have no highbeat watch to do an actual comparison just based on specs), smoother seconds hand sweep.

I can't tell you about movement longevity or servicing though because i'm only 3 years into my seiko LX and so far so good.

Spring drive just doesn't appeal to me tbh. I love auto's and quartz, but springdrive just does nothing for me. I get it, it's the best of both & has a very smooth second hand but it's not for me. I'm a big Seiko fan but I guess GS designs don't appeal to me either. Maybe I'm just odd 🤔

Spring drive is an amazing movement and I love that GS created it, but if it was my money I would definitely go double barrel high beat

I would definitely choose a spring drive over a high beat