The Natural Elegance Of The New Grand Seiko SLGH005

Japan is a country blessed with stunning natural beauty. No wonder that also the designers of Grand Seiko find their inspiration there. Close to the Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi, there are white birch tree forests. They provide a beautiful yet mystical atmosphere, in part because of the distinct bark of these trees.

For Grand Seiko, this was the main reason to take the intricate texture of the white birch tree bark and turn it into a dial. It gives the SLGH005 a unique look, as the distinct pattern is cut deep into the dial. As a result, there is also plenty play of light, which makes this watch just as captivating as the forests it was inspired by. As it is a Grand Seiko, legibility is never allowed to suffer because of design, so also with this watch, the time can be read at an instance. To achieve this, they used rather bold hour markers with one or more grooves in them. They match the steel hands’ style, not in the least because they all benefit from Grand Seiko’s signature Zaratsu polishing. A dash of color is provided by the blued seconds hand, a stroke of brilliance in terms of design, as this gives the watch a dynamic touch, which balances out so nicely with the dial.

With caliber 9SA5, is Grand Seiko delivering a movement that combines high performance with a superb finish and exciting architecture. The balance wheel is covered by a complete bridge, making the movement very robust despite that it is quite slim. This is thanks to several innovations that Grand Seiko introduced in this caliber, which they launched just last year. Next to a dual impulse escapement and Grand Seiko free-sprung balance, it also features a horizontal gear train, which significantly reduces the overall height. It runs at 36,000 VpH/5Hz and has a power reserve of 80-hours. This makes the new Grand Seiko SLGH005 not only a beautiful watch, with a sense of natural elegance, but also an ample performer.