Baselworld 2017 – Recreating The First Grand Seiko (SBGW251 – SBGW252 – SBGW253) Plus A Modern Reissue (SBGR305)
Seiko, for a long time, has been away from the trend of vintage and reissues. This was simply not their thing, the brand simply emphasized on evolution and modern designs. Yet, since a few years now, and mainly with the arrival of the Presage collection, the Japanese brand now looks at its rich history. For Baselworld 2017, the focus will be on the recreation of the first Grand Seiko, launched for Japan only in 1960 (while the international launch of Grand Seiko took place in 2010), with three limited editions (SBGW251 – SBGW252 – SBGW253). And for those who prefer present days, there will also be a modern reissue, the SBGR305.
Buying vintage watches on Ebay can be a risky business. There’s a lot of sharks and gussied up pieces in those murky waters. But, every so often those incredible barn finds do happen. Like this reference 7923 Tudor Submariner, which at the time of writing has a high bid of $99,999 USD, with 2d 16h to go. Yes you read that number right, a buck below one hundred grand. And to think that the seller originally listed it with a starting price of $3500, and the following sparse (almost poetic) description; The model number is 7923. This is one of the few manual winding watches. There is no band. The watch does NOT function. There is a ding in the crystal @ 5:27 with scratches front and back. It seems that on March 20th the San Francisco seller realised what they had on their hands, possibly due to the presumed deluge of interest in Tudor’s first ever dive watch, as they updated the description to let us know the watch was now in a safe deposit box and to provide geiger counter readings and other information expected of a watch of this rarity. Of course we can’t know for sure if…