Worn & Wound
Grand Seiko Celebrates a Big Spring Drive Anniversary with a Pair of Limited Editions
How long would it take you to invent an entirely new kind of watch movement? Five years? Ten years? If your answer was 27 years, you’d be on the right track. That’s how long it took the Spring Drive movement to go from idea to reality at Seiko. Initially conceived of by Yoshikazu Akahane in the 1970s, the development of the Spring Drive movement grew out of efforts to solve problems endemic to early quartz movements, though the project would not bear fruit until Baselworld 1999 when the first trio of Spring Drive watches was released to the public (something Akahane would, tragically, not live to see). Five years later, Spring Drive would finally reach Grand Seiko with the introduction of the 9R series of movements in 2004. 20 years later, the 9R series of Spring Drive calibers remain a core pillar of the Grand Seiko catalog, and GS is ready to celebrate that anniversary with the introduction of two profoundly autumnal limited editions. Each of these limited releases is powered by a Grand Seiko 9R series movement and each is inspired by the fiery red tones found throughout the Hotaka mountain range come fall. First up, we have the SBGY035, driven by a hand-wound Caliber 9R31 Spring Drive movement. Similar in execution and design to the popular SBGY007 Omiwatari, this thin dress watch claims inspiration from the vibrant leaves that coat the landscape of Hotaka each fall. An ombré finish made up of deep red tones is paired with a textured dial, and is accented by sparin...
