Grand Seiko Sport Collection Spring Drive SBGA481 “Tokyo Lion” - Legacy Perfected, A Review (plus Video)

 

I am keen on the Grand Seiko Tentagraph Tokyo Lion Chronograph SLGC009. However, the price for the timepiece is beyond my financial capacity.

 

At a Grand Seiko event a few weeks ago, I was able to express my interest to get a few of their models into the collection. Luck has it that it was heard and I was offered two watches for a special price. What makes the deal sweet is that both watches have two elements that are missing in the collection: The Tokyo Lion watch design and the brand's mechanical manual winding movement. 

 

The Tokyo Lion in question is the Sport Collection Spring Drive SBGA481 which will be the watch being reviewed in this report.

 

There are three styles of Tokyo Lion currently available for fans using the Spring Drive series of movements. There is a chronograph version, a GMT version and the standard 3-hand version. I did not have a free choice but the option that was given to me, the standard 3-hand version is good enough for a start.   

  

Head-To-Head: Seiko 5 Sport Military 100M SNZG09K1 versus Hamilton Khaki Field King Automatic H64455133

In this article, I will conduct a simple head-to-head comparison between two iconic field watches from Seiko and Hamilton, the Seiko 5 Sport Military SNZG09K1 (left) and the Hamilton Khaki Field King H64455133 (right).

 

Both have the classic field watch dial arrangement with a main 12 hour scale and an inner 24 hour sub-scale. The day and date complication overrides the 3 o'clock markers for the Seiko whereas the same set of complications overrides the 12 o'clock marker for the Hamilton. Apart from this major visual difference, there are some size differences as well. Please refer to the comparison table provided below.