Grand Seiko as my first luxury watch purchase.?

One moment please....

*begins arcane ritual to summon @Mr.Dee.Bater for sage advice*

Yo, Brian my man! A new disciple to the church of GS needs you! 😂

cant go wrong with Grand Seiko

No regrets so far for me. I like that it's a bit outside the "mainstream" brands but still as high standards as your Swiss brands (in some cases higher). And it has lots of cred in the watch geek world.

I know the bracelets aren't amazing from what I read online and my short experience trying them on at some ADs. But on a strap a GS is right at home.

Wouldn't have one myself because of servicing - it was pricey & took a long time to have my Omega serviced and can only imagine what a pita it'd be sending it back to Japan.

Plus for me springdrive, tho I appreciate it's technical prowess, really doesn't appeal to me in the slightest as I see it has the disadvantages of quartz and mechanical - but that's just me..

Good luck & look forward to seeing what you get.

My Soko Frost is my go to. Sporty and casual. Also, your choice is especially nice.

Spring drive is a solid choice. My first luxury purchase was the SBGA407 Skyflake. Still own it, still love it, and it still runs at near perfect time after 2.5 years.

Yes 👍🏼

Picture tell

I have a long write up on modern watches and service intervals, which hopefully will answer your question - I've copied and pasted below.

Personally, haven't had any experience with servicing any of my 13 GS, because none of them have needed service.

I did, however, recently need service done on my King Seiko SPB279...

It started running about +5 seconds... per minute! 🤯

I called up the Seiko Service Center, and boy was it a terrible experience! Some lady picked up the phone - she was obviously working from home - and her voice was gravely and low due to a lifetime of heavy smoking, and there were dogs barking in the background so loudly that I couldn't hear a single thing she was saying! And then, when I would ask her to repeat herself, she would sigh heavily in annoyance! Dude, those are your dogs barking! Everyone complains about Seiko service!

But, weirdly, in spite of the horrific phone interaction, it's been smooth sailing ever since. I sent in the watch for warranty work, and the Service Center received it on November 1. I just got UPS tracking which says that the watch should be back in my hands on November 13! So, at least with Seiko, it takes 2 weeks, sent and back in hand, for them to fix a watch!

(I'm positive that all they did was take the faulty 6R31 movement out, and swap in a brand new one - which is AWESOME! That's precisely how it should be done! Years ago, I had 2 Breitlings, both of which were purchased brand new, and both broke within 1 month of ownership. Took Breitling 3 months to service those watches! Seiko's got its service down right - just replace the whole movement and get the watch back to the customer as soon as possible!)

In any event, Grand Seiko has got its own website and its own customer service, so I'm sure if I ever did need service, the phone conversation will be pleasant and refined, like everything they do.

Regardless, especially with Spring Drive, I don't expect to need to service any of my GS for at least another decade or two - see below!

#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.

Thus, am I gonna bring any of my Spring Drive watches in for service at the 4, 8, 10, 12 year marks? No siree, Bob! If it ain't broke, I ain't gonna fix it.

I've also pickup Sky Flake nor Kanro, but just because I've already have a lot of black dial GMT's. They very similar in case size/style. Marvelous heritage round look and feel case.

If you feel that GS style is for you, grab Kanro and you wouldn't be disappoint in any factor. Spring drive is excellent thing.