Grand Seiko 44GS 55th Anniversary SBGW289 Watch Review
The Grand Seiko 44GS 55th Anniversary SBGW289, part of the brand’s Heritage Collection, celebrates ‘Sakura’ or cherry blossom. Upholding the design codes of the 44GS, the legendary model first unveiled in 1967, this latest creation features a wonderfully textured dial intended to emulate the appearance of cherry blossom.
Grand Seiko snowflake dials
Grand Seiko often looks to nature for inspiration. Most notably, the brand enjoyed huge commercial success with its ‘snowflake’ dials. In this instance, the Japanese marque has chosen to celebrate Sakura.
Grand Seiko celebrates Sakura
Cherry blossom is very important to the Japanese, with many of its citizens tracking the sakura zensen (cherry blossom front) as it moves northwards during the first few months of the year. The country’s residents celebrate the beauty of cherry blossoms. Indeed, many of them partake in ‘Hanami’, a centuries-old practice of drinking beneath blooming sakura.
Grand Seiko 44GS 55th Anniversary SBGW289 – a pale pink dial and enriched with a subtle texture
Presented with a pale pink dial and enriched with a subtle texture, Grand Seiko has brilliantly captured the charm of cherry blossom. The Grand Seiko 44GS 55th Anniversary SBGW289 has a slightly feminine character, courtesy of its colour scheme and modest case diameter of 36.5mm, albeit I’m sure many men will succumb to the model’s charms.
The iconic Grand Seiko 44GS
In 1967, Grand Seiko released the 44GS, a model measuring 37.9mm in diameter. As stated earlier, the case of this new model is smaller but it retains the profile of the 1967 icon. The arcing sides and sharp angles grant the composition with a distinctive appearance. The case features the brand’s legendary Zaratsu polishing technique, a form of mirror-polishing that delivers distortion-free reflections, as well as hairline brushed surfaces. The boxed sapphire crystal adds a touch of period charm to the design, while the caseback is solid and adorned with the brand’s historic lion emblem.
Grand Seiko 9S64
The Grand Seiko 44GS 55th Anniversary SBGW289 incorporates the Calibre 9S64. This hand-wound movement features a Swiss lever escapement and the balance has a frequency of 28,800 vph (4HZ). It is a well-proven movement, having powered several GS models over the years. It features the brand’s MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) technology, similar to LIGA technology. The escape wheel and pallet lever are openworked and optimally shaped, meaning they are light, thereby consuming less energy. Furthermore, the teeth of the escape wheel feature small reservoirs which hold onto lubricants for longer, mitigating friction and wear. Assuming the watch is fully wound, it will run autonomously for 72 hours.
Grand Seiko 44GS 55th Anniversary SBGW289 – modestly priced
Lastly, the hands and indexes are multi-faceted, engaging with light and, as a result, augmenting readability. With its impressive specification and its modest asking price of £4,630 (RRP as of 15.4.2022), this nature-inspired model makes a compelling case for acquisition.
The brand’s press release
The 1967 44GS was the watch that first embodied the design code known as the “Grand Seiko Style”, the set of nine principles which gave Grand Seiko its distinctive look and which still inspires every new creation. Now, 55 years on from its first appearance, the 44GS design is commemorated with a limited edition manual-winding watch whose slender case profile pays full respect to the “Grand Seiko Style” and whose dial is inspired by the beauty of spring in northern Japan, where all Grand Seiko mechanical watches are made.
Blessed with four distinctive seasons, Japan’s natural world offers a rich variety of sights that are both ephemeral and lastingly memorable. One such is Sakura-kakushi, the brief moment in spring when, in northern Japan, snow and cherry blossom co-exist. The dial of this new creation is a delicate pink with a slight silver hue that, together, perfectly capture the moment when the cherry blossom peeks through the snow as it shimmers and begins to melt in the spring sunshine.
The unique quality of this watch is that it combines a slim 36.5mm profile with all the characteristics that made the 44GS such a memorable and lasting design. To make this possible, every aspect of the watch’s construction was considered afresh. The case was designed to take full advantage of the slimness of Grand Seiko’s manual-winding Caliber 9S64, while retaining the flat surfaces and sharp angles of the original 44GS. The bezel, indexes and hands are slender to match the case design, creating a fresh yet classical Grand Seiko look.
The movement is assembled by hand by the craftsmen and women in the Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi, and the case is Zaratsu polished, also by hand, to give the distortion-free surfaces that have always been a defining characteristic of the “Grand Seiko Style.”
The new Grand Seiko 44GS 55th Anniversary SBGW289 will be available in June as a limited edition of 1,200 at the Grand Seiko Boutiques and selected retailers worldwide.
Further reading