With Greetings From Atera Valley, Meet Grand Seiko’s New SLGA025

“There’s no magic in magic, it’s all in the details,” the great Walt Disney once said. Perhaps he was inspired by a precious pocket watch with an intricate guilloché dial? We can’t say for sure, but what we do know is that the fascination with beautifully textured dials remains undiminished, highlighting details that give them a unique personality.

Grand Seiko is famed for connecting its dials to places in its homeland through intricate finishing techniques and colors, such as the “White Birch” dial, which refers to the white birch forests surrounding its Shizukuishi Watch Studio. The latest example, the SLGA025, is inspired by the Atera Valley, known for its pristine nature. Located in Nagano Prefecture in central Japan, where Grand Seiko manufactures its Spring Drive watches, this region is represented by the rich hue of the river, known as “Atera Blue,” which graces the dial with its fine texture. This radiant hue serves as a stage for the brand’s signature double indexes, meticulously finished hands, and a date display at 3 o’clock.

Water-resistant to 10 bar and magnetic-resistant to 4,800 A/m, the case measures 40mm in diameter and is made of the brand’s high-intensity titanium. Inside, the Spring Drive 5 Days 9RA2 is at work. Launched in 2020, the second generation of the 9R Spring Drive movement offers a comfortable five-day power reserve and introduces temperature compensation for improved accuracy of ±0.5 seconds per day. The caliber is adorned with a finish known as “Shinshu Frost”, another tribute to its origins, evoking the delicate frost that covers trees at the onset of winter and the starry sky glimpsed between their branches.

The SLGA025 is introduced as a series model in the Evolution 9 collection and comes with a high-intensity titanium strap. Pricing is marked at $10,500.

To learn more, visit Grand Seiko, here.