People often ask the question: “Isn’t Grand Seiko Spring Drive a quartz watch?” Not so, at least in the sense that we usually think of a quartz watch. The electromechanical drive system in Spring Drive is regulated by a quartz crystal, yes. However, there are so many fundamental differences between Spring Drive and quartz watches that it is indeed a different technology. In the end, Spring Drive is not a mechanical watch in the general sense, but it is not a quartz watch, but Spring Drive. The texture of a snowflake dial is usually on the same level as a snowflake that has just snowed, but it is certainly not a literal representation of a snowfield, nor is it a literal representation of anything, which is one of the reasons it is so noticeable. It has many different things-for example, the texture of watercolor paper or rice paper screen-and it will not be particularly suitable for anything, which means it looks and feels different to everyone. This is also very characteristic of Japan. Many aesthetics in Japanese traditional culture are related to what you have forgotten and what you put in.

The dial is certainly not ink painting, but in this case, some of the same aesthetic standards are at play. The composition must be balanced, but not static, and the negative space must be offset by enough contrasting elements to keep things dynamic without becoming chaotic. In terms of providing dynamic elements, the single most important element on the dial is the power reserve. Its location and execution will destroy the two surface textures of the dial, otherwise it may appear too monotonous-and balance the existence of the date window. Another important part of the appeal of the dial is of course the contrasting textures – the diamond-like bright reflective surface of the hands clings to the surface of the snowflake dial, and the blue steel seconds hand slides silently on the entire case. One of the most attractive aspects of the watch is that its design elements do not give the impression of special efforts to create effects. It looks natural and relaxed. cheapest replica watches

The creation of the dial is a multi-stage process that involves stamping the initial pattern onto the dial blank and then adding a continuous coating to create the subtle translucency of the final dial. The index table of the Grand Seiko watch is cut using a rotary cutting tool with a diamond edge and is supervised by a technician who manually operates the cutting machine and uses a small hand mirror to ensure that the index table surface reflects light in the desired way. Once the letters are printed, markings are applied and inserted around the date window, the dial is ready to become part of the watch. Snowflake dial creation is very labor intensive, but like many other dial production processes in Shiojiri’s Shinshu Watch Studio, it is a lot of work. The manual work of dials, hands and markers is very heavy, and the result is the full production of high-quality products in Grand Seikos, which is well-known by Seiko.

As we said at the beginning, Grand Seiko Spring Drive Snowflake SBGA211 is a very stable watch. The whole thing seems to have been carefully designed to create a serene and boring effect. There is no sterile minimalism. At the most basic level, wearing it is an experience, it can fully satisfy the most basic social contract of the watch, and the watchmaker and the owner: can read it immediately, provide all information in an absolutely clear way, and extremely precise , And are very useful and usable under almost all conditions that you can reasonably expect to meet. In terms of functionality, not only is there no compromise, but active pursuit of functionality is a meaningful goal in itself, and the desire to achieve aesthetic effects by pursuing functionality without wanting to produce results is common in traditional Japanese culture – perhaps nothing compares The Japanese sword is even more iconic. The most basic question of a katana is not “how does it look”, but “does it work?” However, its appearance is of course the direct result of how to make it work exceptionally well.

This year, cheap Grand Seiko has become an independent Seiko brand from Seiko as a whole, which means Snow now no longer has the Seiko logo at 12:00. The Grand Seiko logo has been changed from the original position at 6:00 to the position at 12:00, so the entire dial has become more tidy-“Seiko Grand Seiko” watches always seem to be superfluous to some extent. The differences between models are large , But for Snowflake, I think this change is an obvious improvement, and it does give the dial a sense of quietness that has never been seen before.