Grand Seiko SBGW231 (Elegance hand-wind)

Back to the first Grand Seiko

The first Grand Seiko was introduced on December 18, 1960, by Suwa Seikosha, one of the two Seiko companies that made watches. It used the hand-wound caliber 3180 with 25 jewels, beating at 18,000 vibrations per hour, in a 35 mm 14k gold-filled case. Seiko put it through an in-house certification equivalent to the superior grade of the chronometer standard, with a target of +6 to -3 seconds per day, and it has been called the first chronometer-grade watch made in Japan.

That first model was built from 1960 until 1964, when it was replaced by the 57GS. It had no model name on the dial, a knurled crown stamped with an 'S', and a lion medallion on the caseback marking its chronometer status. Its simple round case and clean dial are the look Grand Seiko has returned to again and again for its dress watches.

In 2001 Grand Seiko revived the idea with the SBGW001, a hand-wound watch inspired by the 1960 original but, as the company put it, never intended to re-create it exactly. A separate model, the SBGW004, was the direct re-creation of the 3180.

A new name on the dial

For decades Grand Seiko was simply Seiko's top line. Mechanical Grand Seiko production ended in 1975, the name returned on a quartz watch in 1988, and a new mechanical movement family, the 9S, followed in 1998. Grand Seiko began selling internationally in 2010.

In 2017 Seiko began presenting Grand Seiko as a separate brand and took the Seiko name off new Grand Seiko dials. With that change the brand's mainstay hand-wound watch was revived as the SBGW231. It joined what Grand Seiko calls its Elegance Collection, beside the more architectural designs descended from the 44GS of 1967, the model that defined the faceted 'Grand Seiko Style'.

The SBGW231 is assembled around the 9S64, one of the 9S family of mechanical calibers produced by Grand Seiko's mechanical watchmakers. One reviewer noted its use of MEMS technology to help keep good timing even as the mainspring runs down, and it has a hacking seconds function for setting the time precisely.

How to recognize one

The case is stainless steel, 37.3 mm across and 11.6 mm thick, and about 2 mm of that height comes from the domed, box-shaped sapphire crystal, which recalls the acrylic crystals of vintage watches. Unlike the sharp, sloping 44GS case, the SBGW231 has a round case with Zaratsu mirror polishing all over and gently downturned lugs beveled at the outer edges. The lug width is an unusual 19 mm, which one reviewer called its only real flaw. Water resistance is 30 meters, and there is a sapphire display back.

The dial is a soft cream off-white with no date. Faceted, elongated steel indexes are polished on every side, and the hour, minute and seconds hands, also Zaratsu polished, curve slightly down toward the dial at their tips.

The 9S64 beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour, has 24 jewels and a 72-hour power reserve, and is adjusted in six positions to +5 to -3 seconds per day.

Successors and re-creations

In 2020, for the brand's 60th anniversary, Grand Seiko made a set of permanent-collection re-creations of the 1960 watch in a larger 38 mm case, also powered by the 9S64: platinum at $38,000, 18k yellow gold at $26,000 and Brilliant Hard Titanium at $8,000. These are separate references with their own prices and should not be confused with the steel SBGW231.

From December 2023 and January 2024 the SBGW231 gave way to the SBGW301, with an ivory-toned dial, a 37.3 by 11.7 mm case, a box-shaped sapphire crystal and changes to the case and crystal construction to improve serviceability. A silver-dial SBGW305 was offered alongside it. Grand Seiko priced the SBGW301 at $4,900, up from the $4,300 the SBGW231 carried in 2019.

In a catalog full of textured dials and new movements, the SBGW231's appeal was restraint: a 1960 silhouette, a hand-wound movement and finishing that one reviewer said matched watches costing three or four times as much.

The numbers

Caliber

9S64, manual wind, 24 jewels, hacking seconds

Frequency

28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz)

Power reserve

72 hours

Accuracy

+5 to -3 seconds per day

Case

Stainless steel, 37.3 x 11.6 mm

Lug width

19 mm

Water resistance

30 meters

Production

2017 to about 2023-2024; no figures published

Timeline

1. Dec 18, 1960

   Suwa Seikosha introduces the first Grand Seiko, caliber 3180.

2. 1964

   The first Grand Seiko is replaced by the 57GS.

3. 1967

   The 44GS establishes the 'Grand Seiko Style'.

4. 1969

   Grand Seiko's accuracy standard is tightened to +5 to -3 seconds per day.

5. 1975

   Production of the original mechanical Grand Seikos ends.

6. 1998

   Grand Seiko introduces its 9S mechanical movements.

7. 2001

   The SBGW001 revives the hand-wound Grand Seiko inspired by the 1960 original.

8. 2010

   Grand Seiko begins international distribution.

9. 2017

   Grand Seiko becomes a separate brand; the SBGW231 is introduced.

10. Sep 12, 2019

    A review lists the SBGW231 at USD 4,300.

11. 2020

    Grand Seiko releases 38 mm re-creations of the 1960 watch for its 60th anniversary.

12. Dec 2023

    The SBGW301 and SBGW305 begin to replace the SBGW231.

The world in 1960

• Jan 22, 1960

  The bathyscaphe Trieste reaches the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

• Feb 1, 1960

  The Greensboro sit-ins begin at a lunch counter in North Carolina.

• May 1, 1960

  An American U-2 spy plane is shot down over the Soviet Union.

• May 22, 1960

  A magnitude 9.5 earthquake strikes Valdivia, Chile, the strongest ever recorded.

• Aug 25, 1960

  The Summer Olympics open in Rome.

• Sep 14, 1960

  OPEC is founded.

• Nov 8, 1960

  John F. Kennedy wins the U.S. presidential election.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Grand Seiko SBGW231 (Elegance hand-wind) is number 99 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (80 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The original 1960 Grand Seiko was a gold-filled 35 mm watch beating at just 18,000 vibrations per hour.
• Early Grand Seiko casebacks carried a lion medallion to mark chronometer-grade accuracy, a detail dropped around 1966.
• About 2 mm of the SBGW231's 11.6 mm height is its domed sapphire crystal.
• Its 19 mm lug width is unusual enough that a reviewer called it the watch's one flaw.
• Even the hands are curved: their tips bend slightly down toward the dial.
• Grand Seiko's 60th-anniversary re-creation of the same 1960 watch cost $38,000 in platinum.