Grand Seiko’s First Limited Editions of 2023 Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the 9S Caliber

It’s an often repeated mantra around here: every year is an anniversary year. And if a watch brand is going to be successful in today’s hyper competitive market where, frankly, a lot of brands are offering products that are remarkably similar to one another, they need to differentiate themselves. And looking at a calendar, and figuring out how many years it’s been since “X” accomplishment or “Y” watch was first released is (usually) a decent runway for explaining what makes you special. To that end, Grand Seiko is embarking on what will apparently be a year of celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Caliber 9S, a movement which has become foundational to Grand Seiko in the decades since its debut. 

The Caliber 9S has become a broad family of movements over the years, as Grand Seiko has continuously refined the caliber, including adding GMT functionality. Grand Seiko has used the 9S movements as a platform for their MEMS engineering techniques, which allow for insanely tight tolerances in movement making for certain key components, and you could probably argue that 9S movements represent the most traditional watchmaking currently practiced by the brand. Today, 9S movements are universally known to be reliable and rock solid high frequency calibers that often perform even better than the specs would indicate. Most recently, the 9S served as the springboard for the creation of Grand Seiko’s next generation Hi-Beat movement, the 9SA5. 

While it might not be the flashiest movement in Grand Seiko’s arsenal, you might say that it’s very much the backbone of the whole operation, and is certainly worth celebrating as it turns 25. Out of the gate, Grand Seiko has announced two new watches that serve as a tribute to the 9S, with more likely to come throughout the year. 

First up is the SBGH311, which pairs the 9S85 Hi-Beat movement to a 37mm stainless steel case, the same size as the first Grand Seiko to feature a high frequency caliber. The dial here uses Grand Seiko’s new dial pattern that is meant to evoke the clouds surrounding Mt. Iwate, the peak that is viewable from the brand’s home in Iwate Prefecture. The silver dial is quite beautiful, and it’s nice to see new textures and patterns from Grand Seiko, as they’re known to recycle these textures across model lines until every imaginable combination has been made. The dial is accented with the traditional diamond cut hour markers and hands, and includes a heat blued seconds hand that looks great against the cloudy dial. 

Released right alongside the SBGH311 is the SBGR325. This 37mm watch features the same case design, but substitutes the movement for a Caliber 9S65, Grand Seiko’s 4 Hz time and date caliber. The dial on the SBGR325 is a very nice shade of sky blue and has a subtle sunray finish. According to the brand, the color is inspired by the sky on a clear day in Iwate Prefecture, so this reference has a kind of backdoor Mt. Iwate inspiration, whereas it’s more explicit in the SBGH311. 

Both watches are limited editions of 1,200 pieces. The SBGH311 is available this month through Grand Seiko’s online boutique, and will be sold through select retailers beginning in February at a retail price of $6,600. The SBGR325 will be available through Grand Seiko boutiques and retailers beginning in April and carries a list price of $5,300. Grand Seiko