Grand Seiko 'White Birch' SLGH005

A watch named for a forest

All of Grand Seiko's mechanical watches are made at the Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi, in northern Japan. The surrounding area is thick with shirakaba, white birch trees, and Grand Seiko set out to capture the look of those forests on a dial: slender vertical trunks with rough, textured bark.

The SLGH005 was announced on February 12, 2021, and reached boutiques and retailers in March 2021 at $9,100. It was the first regular-production watch to carry Grand Seiko's new caliber 9SA5. That movement had debuted in 2020 in two limited editions, the gold SLGH002 and the steel SLGH003, but the White Birch put it into the permanent collection.

The watch also introduced many buyers to what Grand Seiko first called the Series 9 Design, later known as Evolution 9. It keeps the faceted, mirror-polished 'Grand Seiko Style' defined by the 44GS of 1967, but adds wide lugs, a low center of gravity, broad hands and deeply grooved hour markers.

Caliber 9SA5: a new heart

Grand Seiko's 9S mechanical movements had been in production for about two decades when the company decided to build a successor that beat at 36,000 vibrations per hour, 5 Hz, and still ran for far longer than typical high-beat calibers. The result, first presented in 2020, was caliber 9SA5, designed and made at Shizukuishi, where the first 9S movement had also been created.

Its key invention is the Dual Impulse Escapement, which combines direct impulse from the escape wheel to the balance with conventional indirect impulse to transfer power more efficiently. Parts made with MEMS technology, twin mainspring barrels and a free-sprung balance adjusted by four screws allow an 80-hour power reserve at 5 Hz. The hairspring's overcoil shape was chosen after more than 80,000 simulations.

The 9SA5 is 0.8 mm, or 15%, thinner than earlier Grand Seiko high-beat movements, and the crown sits lower toward the caseback, both of which help the case sit flatter on the wrist. The bridge's curving outline echoes the shape of Mount Iwate and a bend in the Shizukuishi River near the studio.

Six months to make a mold

The White Birch dial began as one of several prototypes from Grand Seiko's dial team. Its deep pattern of alternating peaks and valleys required a special metal mold that took six months of development. Hikaru Matsumoto, a master craftsman who develops Grand Seiko dials, said the design called for deeper relief than manufacturing normally allows, and that finding the right depth 'was a delicate balancing act.'

Each dial starts as a brass blank about 0.5 mm thick. Because the texture is so deep, it must be stamped with more force than usual and more than once, at the risk of cracking the blank. The dial is then trimmed and drilled, brushed with a gentler, abrasive-free technique and a brush about half the usual size, silver plated, given a clear undercoat, and finally covered in about 14 to 15 layers of clear coating, more than twice the number used on a standard dial, with polishing between coats.

Matsumoto explained the tension in the finish: too much brushing makes the surface too bright, but the dial needs enough shine for the stamped pattern to stand out. The printed logo and text are applied several times and dried at high temperature over a long period.

Best men's watch of 2021

On November 4, 2021, at the Théâtre du Léman in Geneva, the 30-member jury of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève chose the Grand Seiko Hi-Beat 36000 80 Hours, the White Birch, from six nominees as the year's best men's watch. Frédéric Bondoux, president of Grand Seiko Europe, accepted the prize, and Akio Naito, president of Seiko Watch Corporation, spoke remotely from Tokyo.

Grand Seiko said the 9SA5 would be the foundation for a whole new generation of its mechanical watches. Not every review was glowing: one critic saw the White Birch as a sign of 'the steadily rising price of the average Grand Seiko,' calling the brand's watches reasonable buys but no longer the strong value propositions of the past.

For Grand Seiko, which Seiko had begun presenting as a separate brand only in 2017, it was a prize won not by a limited showpiece but by a regular-production steel watch.

How to identify one

The SLGH005 has a 40.0 mm stainless steel case, 11.7 mm thick and 47.0 mm lug to lug, with a box-shaped sapphire crystal, a see-through screw caseback, a screw-down crown, 10 bar water resistance and magnetic resistance of 4,800 A/m. It comes on a 22 mm steel bracelet with a push-button folding clasp, and weighs 178 g.

The dial is white-silver with an irregular vertical pattern over a granular surface, fluted applied markers and broad polished hands, with a date at 3 o'clock. Grand Seiko rates the movement at a mean daily rate of +5 to -3 seconds per day, and +8 to -1 seconds per day in normal use.

Through the caseback, the 9SA5 shows curving, rounded bridges, a look its designers chose to give the movement a warm, almost organic feel. The SLGH002 and SLGH003 that preceded it use the same caliber but are limited editions, not the same reference.

The numbers

Caliber

9SA5, automatic with manual winding, 47 jewels

Frequency

36,000 vibrations per hour (5 Hz)

Power reserve

About 80 hours

Accuracy

+5 to -3 s/day mean daily rate; +8 to -1 s/day in normal use

Case

Stainless steel, 40.0 x 47.0 x 11.7 mm, 22 mm band

Water resistance

10 bar

Magnetic resistance

4,800 A/m

Weight

178 g

Production

Regular production since 2021; no figures published

Timeline

1. 1967

   The 44GS defines what Grand Seiko later calls the 'Grand Seiko Style'.

2. 1998

   Grand Seiko introduces its 9S mechanical movement.

3. 2017

   Grand Seiko becomes a separate brand from Seiko.

4. 2020

   Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi opens a new building designed by Kengo Kuma.

5. 2020

   Caliber 9SA5 debuts in the limited SLGH002 (gold) and SLGH003 (steel).

6. Feb 12, 2021

   The SLGH005 'White Birch' is announced at $9,100.

7. Mar 2021

   The White Birch goes on sale in boutiques and at retailers.

8. Nov 4, 2021

   It wins the Men's Watch Prize at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.

9. Nov 5, 2021

   Grand Seiko announces the award.

10. Oct 3, 2026

    Grand Seiko lists the SLGH005 at $9,800 in the U.S.

The world in 2021

• Jan 6, 2021

  Supporters of President Donald Trump attack the U.S. Capitol.

• Feb 18, 2021

  NASA's Perseverance rover lands on Mars.

• Mar 23, 2021

  The container ship Ever Given blocks the Suez Canal for six days.

• Apr 19, 2021

  The Ingenuity helicopter makes the first powered flight on another planet.

• Jul 23, 2021

  The Tokyo Olympics open, a year late because of COVID-19.

• Aug 15, 2021

  Taliban forces capture Kabul.

• Dec 25, 2021

  The James Webb Space Telescope launches.

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 'White Birch' SLGH005 is number 82 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 (79 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The mold that stamps the birch-bark pattern took six months to develop.
• Each dial gets 14 to 15 layers of clear coating, more than twice a standard Grand Seiko dial.
• The movement's hairspring overcoil was shaped after more than 80,000 computer simulations.
• The 9SA5's bridge is shaped after Mount Iwate and a bend in the Shizukuishi River.
• The White Birch won its Geneva prize from a field of six men's watches judged by 30 jurors.
• Despite adding a second barrel and a new escapement, the 9SA5 is 15% thinner than Grand Seiko's earlier high-beat movements.