Seiko Grand Seiko 44GS Historical Collection


Seiko Grand Seiko 44GS Historical watchThese days, watch brands view just about any anniversary as an opportunity to issue a limited edition. This proliferation diminishes the impact of truly significant anniversaries. This year, Seiko is celebrating one of them with this week’s Watch to Watch, which comes to us from WatchTime’s October 2013 issue.

It was 100 years ago that Seiko introduced its first wristwatch. To mark the occasion, Seiko is bringing back a Grand Seiko classic launched in 1967, the 44GS. That watch, named for the caliber inside, established the design codes that would come to define Grand Seiko. In the company’s words, the 44GS “invented the grammar of Seiko design,” the foundations of which are precision, practicality, and comfort.

The set of watches, in white, rose and yellow gold and in steel, is called the 44GS Historical Collection. In creating it, Seiko strives to be as faithful to the original as possible. The case is the same size, and the emblem on the caseback was also borrowed from the 1967 model. In the stainless-steel version, the dial, hands and indexes are identical to those of the original watch.

Seiko Grand Seiko 44GS Historical - front

The case measures a mid-’60s-appropriate 37.9 mm wide and 11.5 mm high. The edges are clean and the surfaces perfectly flat. The case’s wide sides are highly polished. The sapphire crystal has a nonreflective coating on the inside.

There are 70 pieces in each of the three colors of gold and 700 pieces in steel. All use the 9S64 caliber, first launched in 2011. The movement runs at 28,800 vph in 24 jewels and has a 72-hour power reserve. The accuracy is claimed to be -3 to +5 seconds per day, which is better than the -4 to +6 seconds required for COSC certification.

The gold models are $24,000 and the steel version $6,000.

Seiko Grand Seiko 44GS Historical -rose gold

Seiko Grand Seiko 44GS Historical - yellow gold

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  1. Promaster citizen watches

    Wow!! Very nice watch. Good features. whenever i will want one i will buy this watch for sure!

    Reply
  2. Seiko kinetic perpetual

    Leather belt and coloration with simple and best dial design makes it unique

    Reply
  3. Apples and kumquats, Fabio.

    There is a >significant< difference between the Seiko and Grand Seiko lines of watches, both in price and in overall finish quality. There is absolutely no comparison between a Seiko 5 and any of the Grand Seiko watches, as the prices indicate. Indeed, 6000 USD is near the lower end of the spectrum for the automatic GS watches… a simple check of the Seiko websites will demonstrate that rather quickly.
    http://www.seikowatches.com/
    http://www.grand-seiko.com/

    Reply
  4. Fabio Anderaos

    Seiko produces good watches at a reasonable prices in its traditional collections like the Seiko 5 with automatic movements. I have one of this. The navy blue color dial is very elegant, similar to that of some top Swiss brands, but 90% cheaper!. The daily rate is also good. Regarding the 44GS Historical collection, I consider the price not attractive, even for the steel case version (US$ 6,000). What justifies the price difference between the gold and the steel case version – US$ 18,000? The response belongs to Seiko.

    Reply
  5. Great to see something in connection with Watch Time that’s not from one of the uber-luxury brands. There’s more to life and watch collecting than six figure watches, and Seiko makes some great timepieces. Happy Anniversary Seiko!

    Reply
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