SBGA211
Heritage Collection Spring Drive "Snowflake"
Lug width: 20 mm
Source: MakerCase size: 41 mm
- Status
- Listed by the maker
The story · Since 1960
The story of the Grand Seiko Heritage Collection
In 1962 a young designer named Taro Tanaka spent long hours at the Wako store in Ginza watching shoppers react to the world's watches. He concluded Grand Seiko needed one thing above all: light.
- 1960 to 1966 Precision before style Suwa Seikosha launched the first Grand Seiko in December 1960 as Seiko's best domestic watch, and the team's early focus was accuracy.
- 1962 to 1967 A grammar of light Tanaka, hired in 1959, set out nine design rules in 1962 that became known as the Grammar of Design.
- 1967 to 1975 Automatic and hi-beat The 62GS of 1967 was the first automatic Grand Seiko, and in 1968 the 61GS and 45GS moved to 36,000 vibrations per hour.
- 1988 to 2004 Quartz first, then springs The name returned in 1988 on the quartz 95GS.
- 2005 to 2017 A snowflake travels The titanium SBGA011 Snowflake arrived in 2005, when titanium was rare in fine watchmaking, and gave the brand confidence to sell abroad from 2010.
- 2017 to today The heart of the house Grand Seiko calls the Heritage Collection its very heart, reviving the 44GS and 62GS with current movements.
9
rules in Taro Tanaka's Grammar of Design
Worn by
Read the full storyHide the story
9rules in Taro Tanaka's Grammar of Design
36,000 vphbeat rate of Grand Seiko hi-beat movements, ten beats per second
15 secondsmonthly accuracy of the Spring Drive Snowflake SBGA211
CHF 59,220CHF 59,220: price paid at Phillips Geneva for an original 1967 44GS estimated at CHF 8,000 to 12,000
100 gweight of the titanium Snowflake SBGA211 on its bracelet
Chapters
- 1960 to 1966
Precision before style
Suwa Seikosha launched the first Grand Seiko in December 1960 as Seiko's best domestic watch, and the team's early focus was accuracy. From 1964 Seiko entered prototypes in the Neuchatel Observatory trials, and in 1966 Grand Seiko got its own accuracy standard.
- 1962 to 1967
A grammar of light
Tanaka, hired in 1959, set out nine design rules in 1962 that became known as the Grammar of Design. The 1967 44GS was the first watch built on them, with distortion-free mirror surfaces, razor-edged hands and lugs mixing polished and hairline finishes.
- 1967 to 1975
Automatic and hi-beat
The 62GS of 1967 was the first automatic Grand Seiko, and in 1968 the 61GS and 45GS moved to 36,000 vibrations per hour. The Japanese counterpart of the quartz crisis ended the run: the last new mechanical model came in 1972 and production stopped in 1975.
- 1988 to 2004
Quartz first, then springs
The name returned in 1988 on the quartz 95GS. In 1998 the SBGR001 brought the 9S55, the first entirely new Grand Seiko mechanical movement in about two decades, and Spring Drive joined in 2004.
- 2005 to 2017
A snowflake travels
The titanium SBGA011 Snowflake arrived in 2005, when titanium was rare in fine watchmaking, and gave the brand confidence to sell abroad from 2010. In 2013 Grand Seiko re-edited the 44GS, and in 2017 the Snowflake returned as the SBGA211 without the Seiko name on the dial.
- 2017 to today
The heart of the house
Grand Seiko calls the Heritage Collection its very heart, reviving the 44GS and 62GS with current movements. For the 44GS's 55th anniversary in 2022 it made 1,200 titanium GMTs on the 36,000 vph 9S86.
Worn by
Yuki AmamiScreen2019
Japanese actress appointed Grand Seiko's ambassador for Asia in September 2019; Time and Tide reports she wears a Snowflake.
Hiroki HasegawaScreen2016
Film role: as deputy chief cabinet secretary Rando Yaguchi in Shin Godzilla he wore a Grand Seiko SBGX063, proposed by Seiko's press office. Not a personal-ownership claim.
Yutaka TakenouchiScreen2016
Film role: as prime minister's aide Hideki Akasaka in Shin Godzilla he wore a Grand Seiko SBGR087, the pricier watch of the two leads. Not a personal-ownership claim.
Moments
2022. The 55th anniversary 44GS GMT, SBGJ255, was limited to 1,200 pieces in titanium.
2021. Phillips, Geneva Watch Auction XIV: an original 1967 44GS, ref. 4420-9000, full set with box and certificate, estimated CHF 8,000 to 12,000, sold for CHF 59,220. The lot essay calls it the model that defined the design language of all later Grand Seiko.
2017. The Snowflake was relaunched as the SBGA211, ending the double "Seiko" and "Grand Seiko" dial branding that had puzzled buyers abroad.
2016. Shin Godzilla (2016): the two lead politicians wear Grand Seiko on screen. Seiko's press office told watch journalist Masayuki Hirota the production asked for something not flashy but high-end; Hasegawa's Yaguchi got an SBGX063 (230,000 yen) and Takenouchi's Akasaka an SBGR087 (400,000 yen), matching their real rank.
2013. Grand Seiko re-edited the 44GS as the SBGW043, SBGW044, SBGW046 and SBGW047.
2005. The Snowflake nickname was not chosen by Grand Seiko: it emerged from online collector discussions as soon as the watch came out in autumn 2005, and the brand says it does not know who coined it.
1968. Seiko entered the Geneva Observatory competition with special prototypes the same year the 61GS took Grand Seiko to 36,000 vph.
Phillips, Hong Kong Watch Auction XX: a circa 1968 44GS, ref. 4420-9000, engraved on the caseback for long service at the Sumitomo Bank, sold for HK$76,200.
Designed by
Taro Tanakadesigner1967
A design graduate who joined the Grand Seiko team, Tanaka wrote the 'Grammar of Design' after studying shoppers at Wako in Ginza in 1962; the 44GS was the first watch built on it from the start, and Grand Seiko calls it his masterpiece.
Generations and strap changes
- 2017Independent brand, SBGA211
Grand Seiko became an independent brand with its name at 12 o'clock; the SBGA211 Snowflake carried only Grand Seiko branding, 41 mm wide.
Comes on a high-intensity titanium bracelet with three-fold clasp.
- 2005Snowflake SBGA011
The original Snowflake launched in 2005, signed Seiko at 12 and Grand Seiko at 6.
- 2004Spring Drive 9R
The first Grand Seiko Spring Drive calibre, the 9R6 series, was accurate to within one second per day.
- 1998Caliber 9S5
The 9S5 series was the first new Grand Seiko mechanical calibre in twenty years.
- 198895GS quartz
The first Grand Seiko quartz watch, the 95GS, was rated at ten seconds per year.
- 196744GS design code
The 44GS set the design standard with faceted, reflective hands and markers.
- 1960First Grand Seiko
The first Grand Seiko, made by Suwa Seikosha, launched as Seiko's luxury line.