For the first time, writing a small review (sorry for my poor english), more like my personal feeling towards the watch after having it for a week, most pleasant watch compare to some swiss watch i acquire before.
Grand Seiko is highest range of Seiko (not to mention Credor), one of the finest hand made and best quality in Seiko. The brand itself is not so famous for most people but those who known well in watch will understand how good and how well worthy it can be, Seiko brand name is always the low range affordable watch yet very reliable in quartz or automatic. Spring Drive, a movement came into market not too long ago, based on Seiko they had spend years in prototype to manufacture the best accuracy and best reliability for mechanism watch. Some says its not a 100% mechanism watch due to some electronic parts were used in the movement, for me, reliable and long lasting watch are always my concern because eventually, you are paying for a worth every penny watch instead of the brand name itself, at least for me who loves stuff that can last long
I've been eying on the GS diver titanium since back to 2007 when i'm still in my college time, the watch is only can be dream and never though the dream came true earlier than i expected :p I've tried or own mid range swiss watch like omg, roc, pam, br, ball and etc, each watches have their own style, feeling and characteristic. Until i have it on hold of GS, i told myself, there is no longer for me the need to keep so many watch, GS (for now) is the only watch i'll keep
GS SBGA071, originally announced to have 150 limited pieces at Basel Fair 2012, due to demand they had increased to 200 pieces limited. I'm pretty lucky to hunt it down since i'm been waiting a good chance to own one, and the LE with blue face launched in market just right in time for me to grab one. The first feeling when holding on hand is like, wow, solid piece of steel, and i started to touch the smoothness of the watch itself, before hand, I've actually tried Joseph one of the MWF member here and been my very best consultant (as know as bad poisoner too, LOL) and getting know him for quite some times via photography interests. He is kind enough to lend me the GS chrono to molest.... and yes, the smooth of the polish is unbelievable! GS use the Zaratsu or so call Japanese's Katana polishing method on the watch case itself, impressive...
the great blue face, interesting enough, it reflect different color in different lighting situation, under bright sunlight it looks like a royal blue while in the dim light it turns to a navy dark blue alike (as you can see in the pix 1 and 2)
another interesting idea, a second hand with two done, the blue and the gold mix. 72 hour power reserve with a texture behind clearly show the separation and easy read in any light condition. a 3D looks on Seiko and GS words but not sure if its pure gold or gold plated. with the iconic Grand Seiko wording follow by the use of Spring drive movement with 200m water resistance. Somehow 200m is consider quite low compare to most of the diver watch which rated at least 300m above, but hack, i'm not gonna bring this to swim anyway :p
nice crowd, function like a charm, very smooth to operate with not much tension and quick adjustment on date and minute hand. the logo is very detail and fine made, my camera is not strong enough to capture the macro since its only a small PnS. The uni-directional bezel as well easy turning with a very nice contrast and shiny harden black coated.
is pretty hard for me to take a pix of the polished area, it always reflect myself into it, so i just put it on my micro fiber jacket and you can see the mirror alike polish reflect every single micro fiber so clearly. like i mention before, GS are very well in details and finishing, the case polishing used Zaratsu method at its best.
bright lume are well known in many Seiko diver watch like those monster, sumo, marine master, tuna and etc. read from one of the review and it say it all "The proprietary Lumi Brite luminescence is the same utilized in the highly acclaimed Seiko Space Walk. This is some of the brightest natural lume you can find in the watch world." From the pix, it shows bright even with a little shade in indoor
last but not least, the case back, the Lion Logo and the limited edition numbered. Some fren told me why not go for a see thru back case since paying so much for a watch. As for me, i'd love to see the Lion case because its a logo of truly high end quality watch.
I'm still consider new in watch world, so i cant tell much in terms of the movement, it use Spring Drive model 9R65 and till today (7 days of use on hand) the accuracy is just +6 different ! Another impressive invention from Seiko i'd say, two thumbs up !
UPDATED : tested another 1 week using time.is website, accuracy till date is 0 second diff ! conclusion, no regret spending so much on a "Seiko" watch :p it worth paying every single cent compare to most of other watches i have so far, its total in-house made from every single little small parts, quality control on every single GS are much more tougher, just like PP and Lange, hand made at this point of price GS watch is really reasonable.