It has been quite a year for Grand Seiko, 60 years after it was spun out of parent company Seiko and a decade since it launched watches for the first time outside of its native Japan.
Hodinkee and Grand Seiko have followed similar growth trajectories in the United States and the two have worked together as principal and authorised dealer for several years.
Today the relationship is celebrated with the creation of a 500-piece limited edition Grand Seiko Automatic GMT (SBGM239) exclusively for Hodinkee. Remarkably, it is the first special edition the two organizations have co-produced.
GS and Hodinkee say they have been working for three years on the design, which uses a muted blue dial color, described in Japanese as Yūgure, meaning dusk.
The watch uses the same 39.5mm steel case as the Grand Seiko Automatic GMT SBGM221, but is offered for the first time in the United States with a three-link steel bracelet.
Each watch will be individually numbered, another first for Grand Seiko outside of Japan.
It uses the in house-manufactured self-winding 9S66 caliber with a three-day power reserve, which is rated accurate to +5/-3 seconds per day.
The Grand Seiko Automatic GMT SBGM239 Limited Edition for Hodinkee is available exclusively on the Hodinkee Shop from today priced at $5,400.
Over half of the 500 watches are available for immediate delivery, with the remainder shipping by the end of February 2021.
really like it but the fact it has hodinkee engraved on the back is the reason I won’t buy it, but I do like it.