The fall auction season is right around the corner, and Grand Seiko figures to be one of the most closely watched brands at the upcoming New York Watch Auction: SEVEN presented by Phillips. Grand Seiko has been provided a brand chapter at the auction, which will feature a selection of important historical vintage pieces, along with a handful of modern pieces. One of those modern watches, a unique version of the Kodo, which debuted earlier this year, is already garnering a lot of attention.
While there have been a bunch of truly impressive watch releases this year (we just covered something fairly substantial from Omega) the Kodo looms large when considering the biggest and boldest releases of the year. It effectively put Grand Seiko’s T0 Constant-force Tourbillon concept movement in a production watch (with a movement now designated as Caliber 9ST1, and reworked component by component), showcasing the absolute best watchmaking and engineering on offer at Grand Seiko. The movement is designed to deliver stable accuracy through its entire power reserve through the use of a tourbillon and constant-force mechanism housed together on a single axis, a watchmaking first. The highly skeletonized dial and case of the SLGT003, a limited edition of 20 pieces, was both unlike anything Grand Seiko had ever created, while still possessing clear Grand Seiko design hallmarks that make it recognizable to the brand’s collectors and fans.
The Kodo that is part of the Phillips sale carries reference number SLGT001 and is a unique version of the watch that has a few key differences from the production version. First and foremost, the entire case structure of the SLGT001 is made from Grand Seiko’s Brilliant Hard Titanium. On the production version, only the outer case of the watch was made from titanium, while the inner case was crafted from platinum. According to Grand Seiko, this dramatically reduces the weight and alters the wrist feel of the SLGT001 compared to the SLGT003. Another aesthetic difference on the unique piece is that the bridges and mainplate are now silver plated, and the power reserve gets a yellow gold accent. This is reminiscent of the original T0 concept movement.
An estimate for the unique SLGT001 is not available at this time, but it’s worth noting that the winning bidder also receives a trip to Japan to pay a visit to the Kodo’s creators and the Grand Seiko team. Grand Seiko is also donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale to Children’s Heart Foundation. More information on the upcoming auction at Phillips to be held December 10-11 can be found here.
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