In-Depth Review: Grand Seiko Heritage Taisetsu (SBGA415)

[@Yamayamauchiman]

I got this watch aswell. My first watch in fact!

[@ChronoPursuit]

@@Yamayamauchiman that’s a great first watch! Congrats

[@clo2715]

That's awesome. It took me 5 years of buying and selling watches to know what I liked. I sold everything and also got this piece.

[@defenstrator4660]

I prefer the brighter white of the Snowflake, but I do like the subtle colouring of this dial.

[@ChronoPursuit]

@@defenstrator4660 I had a hard time choosing between these models (and the Shunbun)… they are just so subtly different

[@sushivision]

Seiko is in Japan, COSC is in Switzerland. Shipping the movements back and forth for every batch of watches is time consuming and will hike the price beyond what's reasonable. Also the Swiss are still bitter about Seiko beating them in chronometer competitions, on top of the fact that Seiko and their Quartz crisis almost killed off the entire Swiss watch industry. Let's just say COSC certified Seiko movement will happen the day we have peace on Earth.

[@ChronoPursuit]

That's a great point re: shipment of movements/watches. It would be prohibitively costly to Grand Seiko to send all those movements across the world. And yes, those 5 (or was it 6) years in a row that Seiko won the chronometer competitions are still a bitter pill. I am hoping that Grand Seiko convinces the Japanese equivalent of METAS to provide certifications, but I guess we will have to wait and see!

[@HDY0903]

May i ask why you picked the 415 over the 413 shunbun? Please help me make a decision as i dont want a regret after spending few grand. Many thanks

[@ChronoPursuit]

@@HDY0903 It came down to the color combinations of the dial and second hands. I really liked the Taisetsu’s light gray dial with the iridescent blue seconds hand that provided a little pop of color. The Shunbun’s pink dial is certainly eye-catching, but the seconds hand is a standard silver color. I also thought the gray Taisetsu would go with more outfits than the Shunbun’s light pink dial.

[@dodomang7]

What store in Japan did you pick this up for such a good discount?

[@ChronoPursuit]

@@dodomang7 I believe it was Jackroad or Ginza Rasin - both located in Ginza (the shopping district).

[@ChronoPursuit]

Also the Wako department store can be a pretty good deal with the VAT back and a shopping discount card - I also purchased this at nearly the height of the JPY/USD bubble, so yen was incredibly cheap compared to USD.

[@swissnikk8412]

It’s pronounced Se-i-ko. No ‘psycho’.