GRAND SEIKO USHIO TIDE SPRING DRIVE SLGA015



Unveiled at Watches & Wonders 2022, the Grand Seiko Ushio Tide Spring and coil Drive SLGA015 redefines the actual practical dive watch featuring a strongly patterned black call, exquisitely polished case and also ultra-precise Spring Drive activity. Mark McArthur-Christie points out the reason Grand Seiko tends to be " a bit obsessed" and then gives you his thoughts on this amazing underwater timepiece.



Grand Seiko - slightly obsessed

Describing Seiko as " a bit obsessed" is probably fair and a accompany. Other watchmakers might invest in a dial from here, a set of arms there, a case from in other places, but Seiko does it all of in-house. It will also be of a high00 standard. Even a basic Seiko watch will have a look along with quality that would be the covet of many other, more expensive makers. Then there's Grand Seiko. If Seiko is " a little obsessed, " GS is the kind of place everywhere every sugar crystal from the bowl on the staff canteen table is polished personally.



Grand Seiko Shinshu Watch Studio

This isn't just nitpicking as a being nitpicky, though. Often the Grand Seiko Shinshu horological industry studio alone needs to go on the watchmaking awards they get won. The Men's Observe Award at the Grand Prix publics de la Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) 2021 goes to the particular Hi-Beat 36000 80 A long time cal. 9SA5. However , typically the brand’s talents are not on a creating mechanical movements furnished with the brand’s double-pulse escapement. Instead, they extend to help its unique Spring Drive mobility, like the one you’ll find inside Grand Seiko Evolution in search of SLGA015.



Spring Drive - Ryoichi Akabane

To be fair, Seiko's attention to detail means Seiko doesn't rush anything. Watch manufactures cannot send anything into your world that is not nearly great. It took more than 20 years by Yoshikazu Akahane's initial pregnancy of the Spring Drive motion to 1999, when it evolved into the first model produced entirely in Japan. Since then, often the movement has gone through some manual-winding calibres and twenty automatic-winding calibres, until it has the current two calibres. The actual movement saw the light connected with day.



spring and coil driven pulley

Considerably has been written about the Spring Drive movement, so you are able to say that it is a mechanical/quartz cross movement that combines the most beneficial of both methods of keeping time. You get the " soul" of a mechanical watch, like its running gear exercise (minus the balance wheel in addition to escapement), but with the exactness and reliability of a quartz watch. The escapement as well as balance wheel are exchanged by a " pulley" this powers the watch's moments hand and is regulated by means of an electromagnetic brake. You could identify the Spring Travel by the way the second hand isn't going to tick or even stutter through the dial in tiny ways, it just slides. The nearby comparison is what the just a few seconds hand looked like on an outdated tuning fork Accutron movements.



9RA5 activity

In this case, the Grand Seiko Ushio Tide Spring Drive SLGA015 is motorized by a 38-jewel Spring Commute 5 Days cal. 9RA5, self-winding movement. When thoroughly charged, it can provide you with ample power for 5 time for continued use. With regard to accuracy, as you'd be expecting, the Spring Drive mobility is very precise, with an blunder of just 0. 5 various seconds per day. It’s and a nice-looking move. The face has perlage, bevelling, heating blued screws, and the Huge Seiko name in pink.



ISO 6425 standard

Just see that black dial. Divers are meant to be all boring previous utilities, right? Not in such a case. Grand Seiko tells us the fact that texture on the dial really should reflect “…the dynamic and frequently violent tides caused by the actual Kuroshio Current…” This is the Kuroshio Current, which flows n . through Japan toward the particular North Pacific. It is on the list of largest ocean currents worldwide. Regardless of where Seiko got your site from, it's an amazing just one. The dial is just as legible as a regular black watch dial (still meets the ISO 6425 standard for immerse watches), and it looks lovely too.



Lustrous hands

The handcrafted hour and minute hands and fingers are clearly visible next to it (as is the lustrous seconds hand with its lustrous lollipop base). That time hand is almost a tall hand with three pieces of lume. The minute give is the classic Seiko diver's flared arrow tip and also again has plenty of torcia. All in all, it’s a great observe face in terms of legibility, understanding, and fun. The put on markup allows you to browse speedily.



High toughness titanium

Seiko is definitely making the cases for this special series of watches out of these people call “high-strength titanium. ” After some digging, plainly this is not a case finishing practice, but refers to the composition with the metal alloy itself; ti, iron, and niobium. The particular watchmaker also says the mix is more scratch-resistant than metal, with a Vickers hardness degree of 250-350 (stainless metallic is typically around 150-250). Conceivably luckily they decided to work with titanium instead of 316L due to the fact it's a chunky old scenario, nearly 44mm in length and about 14mm thick. Significant weight savings - typically the metal they use is about 29% lighter than stainless steel.



Grand Seiko Ushio Tide Spring Drive SLGA015 - Case Finishing

As you'd expect originating from a Grand Seiko, the a finish of the case is done directly from the highest drawer. There is usually any brushed finish on the key case and a polished finish for the faces that join the edges and top of the case. Typically the bezel has ceramic gas and is one of the clearest along with smartest I've seen for a diver in a while, having arrow markings underneath each one number. Seiko did not cover the edges of the hard to allow the texture to show by next to the knurled borders on the metal bezel edge.



In fact , often the crown screws onto some sort of smooth positive thread and is particularly protected by two dense guards that flare out of the sides of the case. The bottom limitation also screws down, in addition to Seiko are pleased to declare the entire structure will be watertight to a depth of 200m - far more than someone will ever need except when they make a living sitting in a new saturation diving chamber. Often the mirror is sapphire crystal clear with anti-reflective coating.



Technical specifications

Model: Grand Seiko Ushio Tide Spring Drive SLGA015

Case: High-strength ti case; diameter 43. 6 mm; height 13. main mm; water-resistant 20ATM (200 meters); sapphire crystal the front; screw bottom cover.

Functions: hours; minutes; middle seconds; date; power reserve pointer

Movement: Spring Drive 9RA5; self-winding movement; 34 jewels; power reserve 120 a long time.

Strap: High-strength ti bracelet with 3-fold hold with push-button release, safe practices lock and extender.