Last Week (In Watches) Today

One thing is starting to become clear in the 2020 watch world. 2020 has a blue watch quota that has to be met by watch brands. Grand Seiko has been one of the brands pushing blue dial watches the most this year in honor of their 60th Anniversary. This week saw not one but two new blue watches from the brand. One of these new blue dial Grand Seikos is the 60th Anniversary SLGH003 limited to a 1,000 pieces. While a blue dial in a Grand Seiko is expected at this point the 9SA5 movement is a work of art and a revelation as the movement design is unusual for the brand. The movement design is apparently meant to evoke Mt. Iwate at the bend in the Shizukuishi River. I do not see Mt. Iwate in the movement architecture but I do see a movement with a beautiful architecture. Moreover, the movement’s 80 hour power reserve in a 36,000vph high beat automatic movement is impressive as is the fact that the movement is slim, that is slim by Grand Seiko standards, at only 11.7mm. Although, the blue dial may not stand out from the crowd of Grand Seiko 60th Anniversary blue dial watches the movement makes this watch one of the more interesting releases from the brand this year.

What’s better than a one brand limited edition? A double branded limited edition. This past week Grand Seiko also joined forces with Hodinkee to help Hodinkee hit their quota for limited editions for the year with the launch of the SBGM239 limited to 500 pieces. This new SBGM239 limited edition is basically the Grand Seiko SBGM221, you know that Grand Seiko GMT with the vintage evoking cream dial and blue GMT hand,

but here Hodinkee and Grand Seiko decided to remove the charm of the SBGM221 by switching the dial out for a blue dial that lacks the soul and charm of the SBGM221 but the watch does come on a bracelet unlike the SBGM221.

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Grand Seiko is not the only brand who is celebrating an anniversary year with blue dial watches  as Chronoswiss is also celebrating their own anniversary. 2020 marks the 20th Anniversary of Chronoswiss’ first Tourbillon Regulator. However, Chronoswiss has raised Grand Seiko’s anniversary blue dials with an all blue watch. To celebrate this anniversary Chronoswiss has launched a 15 piece limited edition called the Open Gear Tourbillon. There’s not much more to say but if you like blue, regulators, and tourbillons, this is the watch for you.

This past week also saw the new Oris caliber 400 gain a watch with the release of the new blue dialed in-house Oris Aquis date. The brand new Oris Caliber 400 was announced a couple of weeks earlier but this past week the caliber was announced in what is likely to be the first of many new watches using the new movement. Unsurprisingly, Oris chose to first use the movement in their modern icon, the Aquis. The new watch also sees the introduction of a new quick strap changing mechanism to switch between an Oris bracelet or Oris rubber strap. The watch is of course more expensive than the previous Sellita based Aquis but at 3200 CHF the new Aquis is in line with pricing for other Swiss in-house divers on a bracelet.

The final new blue watch of the previous week was the new Christopher Ward C65 Chronograph. The watch evokes the color and flash of watches of the 1970’s much in the same way as the forgotten Tudor Heritage Chrono Blue. This new C65 Chronograph would have been a perfect summer watch but alas 2020 is going to 2020. Although, the next time a Christopher Ward voucher appears in my inbox this is the watch I’ll be thinking about and is arguably the most fun blue dial watch released last week.

Words: Sean O’Tormey (IG: @the_complicated_wrist)

 

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