Gs sbgz001

[tom2517]

Here is the latest watch from Seiko’s Micro Artist Studio, for those who doesn’t know what it is, it’s basically a 10 man workshop that makes true hand finishing watches. I am not sure the exact figure now but in the past they only make around 20~30 watches a year, and they are all spring drive watches. There are five models in their portfolio, Credor sonnerie, Credor minute repeater, Credor Eichi ii, GS 8 days, and SBGZ series.

Micro Artist Studio’s watchmakers learned from one of the best, in Philippe Dufour for movement finishing (Japanese has a deep fascination for Dufour, according to NYT over half of his 204 simplicity was sold to Japan, and he used to regularly travel to Japan to teach or lecture). In fact, in a recent interview by NYT, Dufour was quoted saying “watchmakers at Seiko have similar techniques as mine, they also took some elements and improved them”. The finishing is best of the best, not everyone likes spring drive, and not everyone likes how the movement is designed aesthetically (for instance one might prefer the more open look of Akrivia Chronometre Contemporain), but putting them all aside and just look at the bridge beveling, countersink polishing, blued screws, and etc., it’s hard to find any that is better. And like Hodinkee mentioned, MAS loves to demonstrate their finesse by having countersink polishing near, touching, or cross over bridge anglage.

I was told Seiko chose not to do Geneva wave with any of their MAS watches because they don’t want to feel like they just blatantly copy everything Dufour does, they want to have a style of their own. Although ironically on this limited edition it comes with a 18k gold plaque that is either engraved with “Micro Artist” or name of your choosing. Dufour’s simplicity has an engraved gold plaque of his full name.

There are also some details that I didn’t know until recently, for instance the underside of the screws are polished, and the mushroom shaped blued screws, actually came as flat head screws, the watchmakers grind it with sandpaper to make the slight curved shaped head before tempering. These are the little unnecessary things that MAS do to make their watches special.

To the front of the watch, the dial has GS’s snowflake texture but in silver. The GS logo/name are engraved and polished underneath to reflect light. There is a star logo under “spring drive”, so what does it mean? It means the hour markers and the hands are made of 18k white gold.

The case is not hammered, but rather it was zaratsu polished and then cut up with a handheld motorized tool (Seiko has a video showing this). Is it everyone’s cup of tea? probably not, but I suppose it goes well with the silverflake dial. The entire watch looks like it was milled from a block of platinum.

Ok now onto some negatives for me, no watch is perfect, at least to me. I can always find some things that I don’t like, or not quite perfect.

First is the size, I sold my GS 8 days because I felt it was too big for a dress watch at 43mm, and because it has 8 days of power reserve, the movement was thick and hence the case was also thick. It’s just too big. But 001 on the other hand, I wish it was a little bigger, like 40ish such as Rolex DD40 instead of 38.5mm.

Second is the case, I have mixed feeling about this, in general I don’t like hammered, engraved, or what not case finishing, I find myself sometimes wishing for a traditional shining polished case.

Third is the movement aesthetics, for this money perhaps Seiko could have redesigned the bridge plate. The 9R02 movement is basically Eichi II’s 7R14 with an internal angle, it looks too similar. The original Eichi had a different bridge plate design than the Eichi II, I guess maybe Seiko is saving the new design for Eichi III or another future watch.

SBGZ001 is actually an extremely expensive time-only watch with a MSRP of $76,000. Looking up and down at the Patek catalog, the only time-only watch more expensive than the GS is the hard to get, hand engraved, black enamel 5088P. The up and coming Rexhep Rexhepi platinum Chronometre Contemporain is cheaper at around $50k. Only Kari’s platinum is a little bit more expensive (but I like Rexhepi over Kari personally). I suppose we can also throw Gronefeld and Roger Smith in here, but I don’t particularly like the style of Gronefeld movement finishing nor Smith’s. Smith’s watches doesn’t really have anglage, but rather it has a lot of engraving (not a fan) and black polished parts, price is also way out there.

So to be honest, value wise, probably not good. I don’t know about 20 years later, but I am certain if I were to sell it now, I will lose a lot money. Dress watches are not trendy, and expensive Japanese dress watches are for sure even worse. And movement finishing is only one aspect of a watch, even though you have to pay a lot to get the best of the best, but it is something few truly appreciates. The name on the dial is in the end, matters more on the open market. However, there is something romantic about owning independent/atelier watches because they take time to make. It’s a time-consuming work that will not make the watchmakers wealthy because they are not able to make too many of them. Even though Simplicity now goes for $200k + on the auction market but he is too old now to take advantage of the late fame, at the age of 70 I heard Dufour is only able to make a couple of Simplicities a year. MAS obviously can output more watches because it is a 10 person team and with Seiko’s resources behind them, but it is still a miniscule amount, 30 or so watches a year is not a moneymaker for Seiko.

Final thoughts, this watch is probably a barometer for Seiko, to see how high they can push the price before people push back. Back in 2007 when Lexus came out with a MSRP $100k LS600 Hybrid, people in the industry said Lexus wanted to test the market receptance for a 100k Lexus sedan, to see how far they can go. More than 10 years later in 2019 their most expensive sedan is still just around MSRP $100k. I would guess Lexus found out $100k is about the limit of people willing to pay for a Japanese sedan through their sales data.

GS has gone on record said they wanted to hit the MSRP $100k mark eventually, but it’s hard for me to see them do it with another time-only watch, they would need some kind of complications/functions like a tourbillon, which Credor line does have. Even though all 30 of the SBGZ001 is sold out, but they are sold to the retailers, not individuals. While Taiwan is only allocated one piece, and I know Japan is all sold out to customers (they no longer show the watch at their Japanese website), but Chronopassion in Paris has received one over a month ago and I still see it for sale on their website, so maybe GS has also hit their limit, it’s not flying off the shelves even as a limited edition.

[tom2517]

Sorry for close up photos I am borrowing pictures from watch blogger SJX because I don't have equipment for macro pictures.

[bondtoys]

[tom2517]

Originally Posted by Chewbacca

Thank you for this post.

Very well written and easy to follow.

And I agree, they may have hit their MSRP plateau but they’re still growing and getting the word out.

There’s a part of me that actually doesn’t want GS to me a 1/1 vs Swiss. I think the charm is they kinda do it their way. On the island in their traditions.

The PD connection is new to me by the way. I didn’t know that.

Thanks again

Welcome. Yes, MAS is heavily influenced by PD.

Originally Posted by GB-man

Wow that’s a interesting piece. Enjoy it and thanks for the nice write up.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Txkill

That is phenomenal. It’s definitely a wow piece. Wear it in good health!

Thanks.

Originally Posted by 1William

I really like the watch. The price is the stumbling block as I would be in another brand at a certain money point. Don't know why but around 10k is my limit on Seiko products to date. Enjoy your watch.

Understandable.

Originally Posted by Fat_ninja

Thanks for the writeup...

Thanks.

Originally Posted by bearxj86

I really like the steel piece (SBGY003) :)

003 is a great watch.

Originally Posted by bondtoys

[Chewbacca]

Thank you for this post.

Very well written and easy to follow.

And I agree, they may have hit their MSRP plateau but they’re still growing and getting the word out.

There’s a part of me that actually doesn’t want GS to me a 1/1 vs Swiss. I think the charm is they kinda do it their way. On the island in their traditions.

The PD connection is new to me by the way. I didn’t know that.

Thanks again

[GB-man]

Wow that’s a interesting piece. Enjoy it and thanks for the nice write up.

[Txkill]

That is phenomenal. It’s definitely a wow piece. Wear it in good health!

[1William]

I really like the watch. The price is the stumbling block as I would be in another brand at a certain money point. Don't know why but around 10k is my limit on Seiko products to date. Enjoy your watch.

[Bearxj86]

Originally Posted by 1William

I really like the watch. The price is the stumbling block as I would be in another brand at a certain money point. Don't know why but around 10k is my limit on Seiko products to date. Enjoy your watch.

I really like the steel piece (SBGY003) :)

[Fat_ninja]

Thanks for the writeup...

[nyc2la]

Beautiful! And what a wonderful, thoughtful, and balanced write-up.

Congrats and enjoy!

[sensui]

The finishing on this watch is simply out of this world......I don't think I can ever stop looking at it with a loupe if I had it in my possession. Congrats.