I was invited to SEIKO Office by PR team for the
2013 Novelties show.
To me, the highlight
was/is the re-issue of 44GS. I know some people prefers
"original" and so do I whenever it is possible. But this
re-issue is a different story, IMHO.
Please read on for what is so special about this 44GS re-issue.
From
left to right - PG (LE of 70), YG (70), WG (70), and SS
(700).
SS
WG
YG
PG
SS
WG (blued second
hand)
YG
PG
SS
WG
YG
PG
As some may remember,
the factory as well as the equipment of the GS case supplier, Hayashi
Precision ("Hayashi"), were almost completely lost. Keep this
in mind reading through.
(read my 130th Anniversary Edition
article here, at the very bottom -> home.watchprosite.com
)
So, why did they decide to
re-issue this particular model? Actually, this is
being done in series - the first one being the original GS re-issue as
SEIKO's 130th Anniversary LE a few years ago (or maybe the re-issue of
Quartz Astron before that...?). And now this one - being
remembered one of the best hand wind, non-hi-beat GS (18,000
vph). Perhaps the next one - don't know when - may be 45GS,
the best hand wind hi-beat whose movement which actually won the
Observatory Chronometer Competition in late 60s.....
44GS, launched in 1967, was chosen this anniversary year
because it is THE GS that established the definition of "GS Style"
design code going forward - one of the best Japanese watches ever made
for sure.
What is so great about this
one? What is the fuss (at least in Japan, this was
causing lots of buzz and fuss)? Well, it's rather the case
than the movement inside. Umn, don't get me wrong.
The movement is the "normal", modern, the today's best GS hand wind
mechanical movement 9S64 (+5 ~ -3 sec per day, 72h power reserve) the
same as the one in 130th Anniversary LE - SBGW033). But the
case is what make this model stand out.
37.9mm (original
being 38mm).
Why the
case?
"44GS is a good example of
BAD case design" because good designer should NOT design such a low
productivity case. It just took too long a time to
make. At the time of 44GS, it took a veteran crafts man two
hours to polish just one surface and he could make just a few per
day. No wonder they stopped production in a relatively short
time.
SEIKO thought the schematic for the 44GS case
must be at Hayashi somewhere, but all were lost at the 3.11 Earthquake
disaster. So they had to look for it elsewhere - there was
only one left at Customer Service
center.
There were
several hurdles they had to surpass:
- The glass diameter is now 1mm unit, not
0.5mm. 44GS glass is 32.5mm and they wanted to re-create the
faithful re-issue, thus had to change the machine only for this
model.
- Hayashi had lost most of the equipment at
3.11 disaster but now has got new machines and this 44GS was given the
most advanced technology for case production.
- GS
cases are made almost exclusively with forging. Forged cases
tend to have "dull" angles or edges, but it is not the case (pun not
intended) for GS cases. Hayashi forges GS cases 13 times (!),
each time heated at 1100C for 15 minutes (in cases of 18K gold, 800C) in
between. And the sharp edges are made possible by machining
AFTER forging. They make cases a bit larger (0.03mm) first and
after forging, surfaces were machined away by CNC.
-
Blackpolish on the bezel. Hayashi made five new machines only
for blackpolishing using tin plate for this 44GS. New 44GS
finish is definitely a few notches better than today's other
GS. And the way they polished was the traditional way since
50s. Blackpolishing was NOT taken into account in the estimate
to SEIKO, but Hayashi wanted to do this way "because this is
44GS".
Blackpolished bezel
Sharp
edges.
With those not-too-visible or obvious
"attention to details" process, SEIKO/ Hayashi may have thought the
price was too low, but they did what they did because this is, after
all, THE re-issue of 44GS.
And the
modern interpretation of 44GS - newly designed case with automatic
movement GS - SBGR083 (to be available July
8th)
Wrist shot of WG
YG
and PG
version
Now the
next big topic was Astron.
Kintaro Hattori (founder
of SEIKO) LE
And other new Astron designs..... Red
second hand is cool.
Sporty Blue/Black
dial.
Orange/Black
dial...
Yellow green second
hand is a nice touch - only available in non-Japan
markets.
Spartan look black/white
dial.
Very cool rubber
strap, orange/ black dial - only available non-Japan
markets. Very cool... Why not in Japan?
:-(
That's
it!
Thank you very much as always - SEIKO Watch PR
Team!
Also, special thanks to Mr. Hirota who provided some
behind the scene stories of 44GS re-issue
project.
Best,
Ken
This message has been edited by KIH on 2013-08-19 09:51:48