Grand Seiko Updates "Seasons" Collection With New SBGH351 Rikka And SBGH353 Shubun Watches

Just launched by Grand Seiko is a pair of refreshed watches from the Japanese watchmaker's 62GS Sekki, aka Seasons collection. The new SBGH351 Rikka and SBGH353 Shubun models are now in a new Ever-Brilliant steel case and will be replacing the outgoing SBGH271 and SBGH273 watches with some relatively minor aesthetic changes. We don’t always see Grand Seiko go the “iteration” route with its collections, so it’s nice to see some refinement and edits made to these popular watches.

If you’re not familiar with Ever-Brilliant Steel, it is Grand Seiko’s proprietary alloy that we will start to see in more and more releases. According to Seiko, it is 1.7X more corrosion-resistant than stainless steel and is, in fact, the world’s most corrosion-resistant steel. It’s a bit more white in hue, something that actually makes the Zaratsu polishing a bit more challenging. It’s commendable to see Grand Seiko give some more love to its steel cases as the brand has always done with its excellent titanium cases.

What else is new? The SBGH351 Rikka loses the gold indices and hour and minutes hands of the outgoing SBGH271 while retaining the gold seconds hand. The changes to the SBGH353 Shubun from the outgoing SBGH273 are subtler, with everything staying largely the same but with a more vibrant hue of blue on the dial. The case dimensions are unchanged at 40mm wide and 12.9mm thick, with a 49mm lug-to-lug measurement and 100 meters of water resistance. Also unchanged is the 9S85 Hi-Beat movement, which operates at 5Hz and has a 55-hour power reserve.

The new Grand Seiko SBGH351 Rikka and SBGH353 Shubun watches will be available February 1st, both priced.at $7,200.