Grand Seiko are most known today for three things: Spring Drive, artistic dial treatments, and Zaratsu cases. This, the SBGE249, brings all three together in a very modern GMT. It was introduced in 2019 as a numbered series of 250 examples in steel. It might seem similar to a Snowflake at a glance, but reveals a very distinct character in person.
The dial appears silver-white at a glance, but the finish goes much deeper. This watch was nicknamed the 'Blizzard' shortly after release and that seems apt. You can't have a Grand Seiko dial without inspiration and this one comes from a Blizzard seen in the town of Shirojiri, where the Shinshu Studio is, or so the story goes. The shimmering fine texture is actually highly reflective, but uneven and so reacts with every angle of light and comes off as matte at a distance. This is beautifully contrasted against its perfect, monolithic Zaratsu polished indices and beveled hands. Those hands are so perfectly polished top and bottom-side that you can catch the dial texture bouncing up then back down on the lower hand when the hands overlap. It's incredibly impressive, and brought together by three heat-blued steel hands.
Then there's the calibre 9R66 Spring Drive. Think of it as mechanical timekeeping with electric synchro-based regulation at the end of a mechanical gear train and then it begins to make sense. It's a calibre that combines the best of Seiko's history and modern ambition, tying elements of quartz into fine mechanical watchmaking. The final result is astounding: a perfectly smooth, masterfully graceful sweep of the blued steel seconds hand. Plus, its hour hand jumps independently, a true 'traveller' GMT. The 72-hour reserve is shown off by a dial-side indication with three separated bars in blue.
Its case is modern take on the 44GS with wide sporting Zaratsu bevels and a smooth bezel, thanks to a 24-hour GMT scale located on the rehaut. It steel, it's quite a bit heavier than a titanium Snowflake on wrist. Each example is numbered in series on back, with its calibre visible through a partial exhibition caseback.
Its design is a little more restrained than some of the more recent GMTs, which have a very Explorer II-adjacent aesthetic, but not so classic to belong in the elegance collection. It walks a line there very precisely to be modern, restrained, elegant, and decidedly Japanese. Few GMTs come off as so thoroughly considered as the Blizzard.
