Grand Seiko Spring Drive SBGA403 20th Anniversary Limited Edition

This watch is in excellent condition.

Watch comes with original box, outer box, booklet, hang tag and dated warranty card.

It's an incredibly rare privilege for a watchmaker to have its name associated with a piece of watchmaking history. Breguet got it with the tourbillon, Rolex with the Oyster case and Perpetual automatic movement, while Omega more recently achieved this with its popularisation of George Daniel's co-axial escapement. Grand Seiko, meanwhile, has the Spring Drive.

Introduced in 2004 after a development process of 28 years, the Spring Drive combined the best of both worlds. While it has the precision of an electronic regulator, the movement is powered by a conventional mechanical winding system that needed no battery. The result was a watch with a second hand that glided, rather than ticked.

This watch features an angular case which shows off the best of the brand's Zaratsu polishing, as well as a stunning dial.

GRAND SEIKO

In 1967, a Japanese company shattered a century of Swiss supremacy in the watch world. During the Neuchatel Observatory trials (a competition that sought to find the most accurate watch movements), Seiko and its subsidiaries took second and third place as one of the best movement manufacturers in the world, only losing the top spot to Omega. The following year, the trials were permanently cancelled. When the trials returned in 2009, one rule was added: "All parts used to build the movement must be made within Europe."

This origin story may sound highly dramatic, but it's how Grand Seiko was born. Today, the brand has gone from strength to strength. While it made its name shocking the industry with its highly accurate chronometer movements, Grand Seiko continued innovating by releasing the 9F Quartz, Hi-Beat and Spring Drive movements.