Grand Seiko GMT Green Dial Spring Drive Limited Edition SBGE033 (SBGE033G) - An excellent timepiece, A Review and Video

My first watch purchase for 2016 is this Grand Seiko GMT Spring Drive Limited Edition SBGE033 which has a beautiful green dial. This watch was specially made in honour of the 55th anniversary of the Grand Seiko, the most famous premier line for the Seiko Watch Company.


Grand Seiko quietly released this sporty new GMT watch, the SBGE033 without the fanfare it had with the 62GS Historical Collection back in 2015. This subtle marketing strategy is very common with  Seiko. The Company believes it is unnecessary to promote an excellent product. The product will naturally promote itself, if it was designed and made to impress by its sheer effectiveness and quality.

I believe this is one of the only few sporty watches under the Grand Seiko line of watches (excluding dive watches). Granted there are a lot of GMT Grand Seikos but this is the only one with a contrasting chapter ring colour compared to the dial (white on green). It also has luminous hands and markers which are not seen before on its GMT watches.

Apart from the GMT hand, there are two other additional complications such as a date function in an aperture at 3 o'clock and power reserve indicator located near the 7 o'clock position.

It is powered by the in-house 9R66 caliber, the GMT version of the Seiko's Spring Drive Technology 9R65 movement. More about this later.

The case is made of stainless steel. With a 41 mm diameter case, the surface has been given a special hand finishing technique known as Zaratsu. Only 500 examples of this watch were made.

The Grand Seiko SBGE001 Spring Drive GMT – A Beautiful Watch in All Aspects, A Review

Another week of so will be 1 April 2015. It is also April Fools Day as well as the birth date of my first child. For avid watch collectors in Malaysia, it is also a day when the country formally introduces the Goods and Services Tax of GST. When I was looking it up, I was surprised to note that Malaysia is one of six countries in the world that have yet to introduce GST. As it is, by 1 April 2015, all watch purchases will come with an additional GST charge of 6%.

So, in view of this additional cost in funding my WIS addiction, I did what every WIS would do. Get another piece before the tax free window closes! The piece that would forever remind me of this momentous occasion is a watch brand that I have yet to get into the collection – The Grand Seiko SBGE001 Spring Drive GMT.

 

This time around I got this piece by negotiating with an authorized dealer, AWG in Kuala Lumpur. I was able to get a price that is even better than the internet merchants such as Higuchi and Seiya (more about this later). As the watch is not in stock, the shop needs to make an order and by agreeing to a price at this point, I guess they are willing to give a lot away from the difference between merchant price and retail price. After three weeks of waiting, the watch was delivered.

Since this is the first time I have a Grand Seiko (let’s call it GS for short) in the collection, I would like to spend some time on the packaging.