Grand Seiko Hi-Beat 36000 GMT

 
Grand Seiko is simply the very best of Seiko. Since its birth in 1960, the ideals of Grand Seiko have remained precisely the same. Grand Seiko embodies the pure essence of watchmaking: high accuracy, legibility, and reliability. Every Grand Seiko watch shares these values and has its unique combination of functional beauty and design purity. With sales rising rapidly since its global launch in 2010, Grand Seiko is increasingly recognized as one of the world’s great luxury watch brands.
 
The hi-beat GMT caliber, 9S86, is new, but Seiko’s tradition in hi-beat watchmaking stretches back to 1967, when the first Seiko hi-beat 36,000 vph was launched. The new caliber 9S86 has been created on the platform of the hi-beat caliber 9S85 that has been the leading watch in the Grand Seiko collection since 2009. This caliber has all the features of the existing caliber, with the addition of a 24-hour GMT hand and independent hour hand adjustment. To ensure the hi-beat calibers maintain their high accuracy, Seiko created a new alloy, Spron 610, for the balance springs, delivering greater resistance to magnetism and shock. The escapement wheel and pallet fork are engineered using MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) technology for enhanced precision and durability, and a new reverser was created to increase the winding efficiency. The result is a hi-beat watch with accuracy of +8/-1 seconds a day in normal wearing conditions and a power reserve of 55 hours with a single barrel.
 
The case design is typical Grand Seiko. It is a contemporary reinterpretation of the iconic Grand Seiko design back in the 1960’s and offers highly polished, distortion-free surfaces, clean edges and perfect comfort on the wrist. The dial texture complements the simplicity of the case. It has a delicate radial pattern that is inspired by the many-ridged contours of Mt. Iwate, the mountain that is visible through the side windows of the Shizuku-ishi Watch Studio where all Grand Seiko mechanical watches are manufactured and assembled, by hand, by the studio’s craftsmen and women. The razor-sharp edges to the hands and hour markers are signature characteristics of Grand Seiko. Through the sapphire case- back glitters a specially designed titanium oscillating weight. The upper part of the oscillating weight is treated with an anodic oxidation of the titanium to deliver a special gold tone. Titanium is used for its high elasticity and vibration absorbency, which reduces the distortion of the oscillating weight and impact on the weight bearings.