Oh, they did? That's exciting. I heard that it was discontinued 6 months - 1 year ago, but that's great that it isn't really gone! 

I'm pretty sure the VHP is dead, though you're right that new ones are probably still out there. 

Seiko positioned Credor as an overtly luxury line in the 80s and 90s (above Majesta and Dolce), while Grand Seiko was a more sporty, or at least more conventional, business watch. Credor has been pushed up to the ultra luxury price range these days, with Grand Seiko filling the 4-digit luxury price bracket. 

Seiko still has some weird product delineation, with Dolce still existing, along with the Brightz line, in Japan as a quartz entry level luxury watch in the same price range as the Presage models the rest of the world gets. There's also a ton of Astrons that are only sold in Japan.

I'd buy a fancy Swiss quartz watch if the Swiss would stop half assing their quartz offerings. Seiko/Grand Seiko, Citizen, and Casio (Oceanus) have them roundly beat with any of the following: extreme independent accuracy, solar charging, perpetual calendar, jumping local hour hand, radio/GPS time sync, etc.

The best Swiss competitors are the Cartier Solarbeat and a few Breitlings. I understand that the Swiss brands hitched their horse to the mechanical-watch-as-a-luxury-item marketing pitch and are loath to change direction, but quartz took over the market for a reason, and there's merit in offering high end quartz models to the luxury market. I'd love to see a return of the Rolex Oysterquartz (in a more modern case design) and other Swiss brands offering solar HAQ options.

I like this a lot. The Gemini is one of the nicer Seagull chronos in my opinion, with a good size, useful 12 hour bezels, and classic styling. Everything Lorier has done with the update is something I like - the hour hand without the goofy arrow head, the lumed hesalite bezel, and shorter lugs better suited to straps. 

I'm looking forward to seeing the updated blue model. That was my favorite of the previous versions and the updates will make me like it even more.

The only problem I have with pointer dates is that there's (up to) 31 days in a month, which isn't symmetric with anything else on the dial. Guinand has the same problem with pointer dates and solved it in a clever way - with a 30 day pointer date and an indicator window that flips to red on the 31st day (with the pointer date hand staying on 30).

Erika's are by far the most attractive elastic strap on the market, but I find them on of the least comfortable. They're stiffer than most and the triple layer of folded over material at the hook and end of the strap doesn't play nice with my wrist. A Nick Mankey Hook Strap is thicker overall, but has fewer bulges and bumps so it's more comfortable for me.