Editor’s Note: Watches & Wonders (formerly SIHH) has moved online and Baselworld 2020 is canceled, but that hasn’t stopped watch brands large and small from debuting their new wares. Stay on top of this year’s best new watch releases here.
Typically formal-leaning Grand Seiko is well-known for its GMT watches and high-beat movements, but less so its sport watches. Though sometimes overlooked, the brand’s Sport collection offers everything GS is loved for but with the likes of more water resistance, more rugged styles and bold case sizes. Two new Grand Seiko Sport GMT watches also stand out for their use of Seiko’s famously bright lume.
Accompanying the GMT complication is the ever-popular, bi-color 24-hour bezel, but here it incorporates the brand’s LumiBrite luminescent material all around: the numerals glow in the dark for the nighttime hours, and the bezel itself is illuminated for the daytime hours. If that weren’t offbeat enough, the bezel is not evenly bisected but is slightly asymmetric, so that its two colors don’t cut through the numerals.
All this comes in a 44.2mm-wide steel case with a 200m of water resistance. Inside, it’s powered by Grand Seiko’s 9S86 automatic movement that operates at an unusually rapid 5Hz. Available in a blue-and-white colorway on a steel bracelet, the model known as the SBGJ237 has a price of $6,800 and will be available in August 2020. The green-and-white SBGJ239 model features some pops of sporty red and comes on a leather strap for $6,600, and will be available in July.
