The lion has been part of the Grand Seiko brand since it launched its debut “First” model in 1960. A universal symbol of royalty and ambition, the maned animal has been an emblem for the luxury watchmaker ever since.
Over six decades later, Grand Seiko has firmly settled in as among the finest watch brands in the world. It introduced its revolutionary Spring Drive system in 1999 — a hybrid mechanism that combines traditional watch mechanics with an electronic regulator for supreme precision. A few years back, its 20th anniversary Spring Drive model paid tribute to the king of the jungle with an automatic watch with a dark brown dial to look like the animal’s mane and lugs to resemble its nails. Now, Grand Seiko has followed that up with a beautiful and sporty chronograph GMT.
This new watch is strikingly different from the one in 2019. For one, it sports a caliber 9R86 chronograph GMT Spring Drive movement with an off-balance totalizer configuration on the dial. The dial itself, while textured the same to resemble a lion’s fur, is a much lighter shade of brown to look more like the animal’s body or face. 44.5mm in diameter, the Zaratsu-polished High-Intensity Titanium case allows it to be lightweight and also brighter in color.
Available now from Grand Seiko’s website, the Spring Drive Chronograph GMT SBGC253 is priced at $12,000.
