Grand Seiko Heritage 44GS Spring Drive Men's Watch

The 'point' of spring drive is that its able to deliver the accuracy of a quartz movement without a battery. It's powered by the movement of your wrist (or winding the crown) instead like an automatic watch.

In a conventional automatic watch the movement of your hand winds a spring which stores energy. The energy is released slowly into a watch escapement mechanism that gives the 'tick' of a watch and regulates the second hand. But the watch escapement wears with time and is relatively imprecise.

In spring drive the energy is released into a continually spinning wheel instead of an escapement. This means it's less prone to wear but also instead of a tick you get a continuous sweep of the second hand. The tri synchro quartz regulator is the genius bit that regulates the speed of the second hand. As the wheel spins it induces a current that powers the quartz mechanism which in return induces a braking force on the spinning wheel which ultimately regulates the speed of the wheel and the second hand.

It's a feat of engineering. Which is the point.

Grand Seiko is to Seiko as Ferrari is to Fiat.

you....... cant see the difference between an automatic and a spring drive?

the seiko samurai loses 35-45 seconds a day
a rolex loses 4-6 seconds a day
a grand seiko loses 10 seconds in a year

nothing compares to the spring drive.

What did they fix? And how long did it take?

Snap!

Let's pretend for a moment that you are correct - which Rolex would you recommend for £3950?

I’m sure it’s cool to like GS and criticise Rolex, but Rolex make incredible watches with near perfect quality and finish - yeah, they may be overhyped but let’s not pretend they’re somehow inferior. 

I don't mean to sound flash, but I think this site would be far better if it banned the £2 cashback rubbish. I'm here to buy proper stuff at great prices (including luxury watches).

Yes. Mad dials...

beaverbrooks.co.uk/012…h/p

Watches fall into the same category as fine wine and classic cars. A complete punt in the dark. Some models will soar in value others will tank. It's true that Rolex, due to fantastic marketing, generally appreciate quite well but if you buying these kind of watches as "investments pieces" you are doing it wrong. They are meant for wearing.

Here is the real issue. Every plumber (sorry plumbers) and his dog thinks he has made it with a "Rolly", so they all want one. Rolex has a nasty stigma to many a collector for this reason but that did not stop the the prices going crazy. Things have just started to correct as they got frankly ridiculous.

There is a vastly superior quality than Rolex to be had for the money. During lockdown you could get a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms for LESS than a sub, a JLC Reverso in white gold for less than a Hulk and a VC Overseas for same price as a GMT Master 2. All three of these examples are better watches than Rolex has ever, or will likely ever make in it's entire history BUT you can't brag to billy-bob the sparks about it at the local sporting dinner - as he probably didn't even know they exist. (edited)

Curiously where might be the best place to buy a grey imported GS spring?

Yeah. most places in England, yes

Not the best looking GS example as they have some of the most beautiful dials found on any watch like the snowflake, spring and white birch

This model is no different though to other luxury watches like the Oyster Perpetual/Explorer that don't look like £6-8k+ watches but brand snobs overlook how boring these are because of the crown

Normally brand chasers not actual watch connoisseurs, those only interested/heard of the usual high street luxury brands, Tag, Omega, Breitling, Rolex etc (edited)

It’s diminishing returns much sooner than that. Best watch you can get for your money is an F91W. However, people like nice things and enjoy the engineering that goes into mechanical watches. It’s jewellery at the end of the day. Most hobbies are this way.

I’ve got a shunbun. Such a beautiful watch.

Are these even collectors pieces?

Why?

You can get a nice vintage 36mm DJ for £3-4K quite easily.

Rolex is still a quality, and imo a date just looks far better aesthetically than this

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you can buy this model anywhere in the UK for that kind of price. It's not especially relevant how much they sell for in Japan, for example.

M8 that is a belter Okay if I share with all the lads on me facebook? Do you do open mics or summat?

So this gets slightly complex - there are a lot of companies within a bigger group that have seiko in their name. The company that makes seiko, grand seiko and credor are all the same.