Just look at those large hour and minute hands with their rich amount of luminant and brushed metal surfaces that don’t sloppily reflect light. I always urge European watch makers to carefully study what Seiko does with its better dials and learn from them. There are polished elements to their dials such as the metal base of the applied hour markers, but they don’t cause blur coming from reflective light. That is because the surfaces are very flat thanks to diamond polishing.
The dial of the Grand Seiko Spring Drive Diver SBGA029 features the time, date, and power reserve indicator for the movement. The lume is silly how good it is, and again, I just think its dedication to quality and readability make the Grand Seiko Spring Drive Diver SBGA029 beautiful. At its core, you have a dial that is unmistakably a Seiko diver, but the Grand Seiko element to the product just ups the quality all around.
Inside the Grand Seiko Spring Drive Diver SBGA029 is the Seiko in-house-made caliber 9R65 Spring Drive movement. This is one of the first Spring Drive family movements ever released, I believe, and it is accurate to one second per day with three days of power reserve. If you don’t already know what Spring Drive is then I will simply explain that it is a special Seiko invention that combines the best of a mechanical movement with the accuracy of a quartz movement. That is because the 9R65 is powered by a traditional mainspring, but rather than using a traditional regulation system, it uses a quartz crystal regulator.
The unwinding of the mainspring feeds a system which constantly generates a small electrical current which feeds the quartz regulator. You also have the added benefit of a hand that not only sweeps, but it “glides” with the smoothness of spreading warm butter.
While Seiko designed the Grand Seiko Spring Drive Diver SBGA029 and its kin to be ultimate tool watches, the truth is that only enthusiasts are going to be buying items like this. Price for the watch is still near $6,000, and you can get a pretty darn good mechanical Seiko dive watch by knocking an entire “0” off of that price. As a watch lover, I am drawn to all the appeal and allure of the Grand Seiko Spring Drive Diver SBGA029 even if I know elements of its over-thought construction will be lost on most people. Seiko must also deal with the fact that while many people know the company, most don’t have the same association with “Seiko” as they do a brand name like “Rolex.” Thus, the guy who gets the Grand Seiko diver doesn’t buy it so much for status purposes as he does to live the lifestyle of owning something very good and ultimately not caring if only a few people he encounters can give it a solid thumbs up.
I can easily say that given its simplicity, dive-watch nature, and “Grand” status, this is among the Grand Seiko sport watches that I really want. Will there be future Grand Seiko dive watches? Sure. Will some of them be Grand Seiko Spring Drive divers? Yes. But for now, this one hits the sweet spot for me in a few ways, and I’ll continue to fawn over it accordingly. Price for the Grand Seiko Spring Drive Diver ref. SBGA029 is $5,700. The titanium SBGA031 model happens to be $6,700. grand-seiko.com
