Last year we managed to get hands-on with one of Grand Seiko’s finest releases in a good while, the GS Sport Spring Drive 20th Anniversary Edition. We loved it and if you want to find out precisely why, you can check out our full hands-on review, here.
Now that it’s become available to buy – specifically at Fraser Hart, One New Change (details on which you can find here) we thought we’d take a closer look at what sets the watch apart more than its design: the movement.
Fraser Hart’s One New Change Store
First off it’s worth an aside about the difference between Seiko and Grand Seiko. In 1960, Grand Seiko was created with one aim: to build the perfect luxury watch. They did so by taking the technological advances of Seiko and turning them into true haute horology with exceptional finishing – such as their now-signature Zaratsu polishing – and timeless designs to match. The Spring Drive movement too has been a big part of that.
The calibre 9R15 is the latest iteration of that phenomenal Spring Drive series, movements that combine the mechanical power of a rotor with the accuracy of an oscillating quartz crystal. It’s essentially a hybrid movement, but with the lion stamp becomes a bit more, too.
You see, the 9R15 is an enhanced version of the 9R65; it’s been adjusted to deliver an even higher degree of accuracy than the already intimidatingly-accurate standard Spring Drive. Part of that has to do with the quartz crystal itself. Not all crystals are born equal and only the best are used for the 9R15.
Along with a few other minute adjustments, this has led to a movement that gains or loses just 10 seconds a month – that’s the equivalent of just 0.5 seconds a day. It’s obsessive but makes sense; if you’re going to create a showstopping tribute to a movement, use the best version of that movement possible. On paper it seems almost too good to be true, but given the Spring Drive’s enduring reputation, it’s a specs sheet you can believe in.
If you need hands-on proof of that and you’d like to test it out for yourself, the Grand Seiko Sport Spring Drive 20th Anniversary watch is now available from Fraser Hart at One New Change. Click here for more info.
