Grand Seiko Snowflake

We begin with perhaps the most popular watch within the Grand Seiko range. The Snowflake, originally the SBGA011, and now SBGA211 with the new GS livery. The watch sports a proprietary Spring Drive movement, and is finished to the high and exacting standards needed to make it a Grand Seiko.

The dial is a very special textured surface, and provides hours of fun watching it play with the light. Amazing watch, and represents a good introduction into the great horology world of Seiko.

Seiko Pressage 60th Anniversary Automatic Limited Edition with Urushi

Moving to a more affordable price,  priced at €,2,800 (about S,$4,500). This is the Pressage 60th Anniversary Limited Edition, and the one we picked is  presented with a traditional Japanese Urushi dial.

This Seiko features a fully in-house automatic chronograph movement and is limited to 1000 pieces. More than anything, the visual design is very appealing with a sleek curved case.  The black base is made from the application of numerous layers of sap from Japanese lacquer trees. This is done under the watchful eye of Mr Isshu Tamura who is a master of the art of Urushi lacquer techniques.

Seiko PADI Automatic Diver

With an even more affordable price, the Seiko Automatic Diver priced at a mere S$ 667.70. This watch features its very atrractive red and blue “Pepsi” styled bezel. The case is a tonneau shape, which in fact Seiko enthusiasts have named Turtle. It is rated for up to 200 meters and the indices on the dial are wonderfully large to allow good legibility under the dark conditions of the deep.

Also known as Day of the Dead, it is an annual event at the end of October celebrated in Mexico meant to remember the dearly departed, explaining the liberal use of skulls on the L.U.C Perpetual T, named after the Mexican patron saint of death, which boasts a perpetual calendar, (invisible) tourbillon regulator and nine-day power reserve. It makes for surely the most extravagant, and oddly appealing, L.U.C complicated wristwatch in a long, long time.

The dial is a solid 18k gold disc with a radial guilloche edge and a hand-engraved skull that’s been painted with black lacquer. Each of the sub-dials for the perpetual calendar form the eyes, while the skull has mother of pearl inlaid for its teeth, and the black-coated tourbillon bridge forms a moustache of sorts. But because of the dial design, the tourbillon is entirely hidden, a discretion almost unheard of in modern watchmaking.

The case is a large 43mm, and in 18k rose gold, with the front, sides and crown fully engraved by hand. The L.U.C Perpetual T Spirit of la Santa Muerte (ref. 161941-5005) is a unique creation, priced at SFr244,500. However, similar timepieces are available as custom orders.