The new Spring Drive Diver SLGA015 in high-intensity titanium is priced head-to-head against the Rolex Submariner.
Grand Seiko is updating its tentpole dive watch today, adding the Spring Drive caliber 9RA5 into a serial production dive watch for the first time since it debuted in 2020’s 700-piece limited edition SLGA001. The new Spring Drive Diver SLGA015 comes in a high-intensity titanium case that utilizes Grand Seiko’s new Evolution 9 form factor, an expansion of Grand Seiko’s original all-time classic 44GS profile, and features a striking “Black Stream” dial texture that Grand Seiko says is inspired by the Kuroshio Current, a powerful ocean stream that flows northward past Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. It’s priced at $11,600 and will be available at Grand Seiko boutiques and retailers in August.
The Spring Drive Diver has been a core part of Grand Seiko’s Sport Collection for over a decade. It was originally a pair of watches known as the SBGA029, in steel, and the SBGA031, in titanium, until the official Grand Seiko/Seiko split in 2017, when the duo were rechristened the SBGA229 and SBGA231. For a long time, they were an unheralded but reliable pair in Grand Seiko’s larger catalog of dress and dress-adjacent pieces. They were joined by a few high-beat mechanical dive watches here and there (don’t miss Cole’s recent field report on saturation diving with one), but it would be fair to admit that Grand Seiko’s spring drive dive watches have remained somewhat under-the-radar to most watch collectors despite a long-lasting production timeline.
That is, until the SLGA001was selected in 2020 to debut an entirely new type of Spring Drive caliber, the 9RA5. But after the initial excitement and hype gradually wore off around the SLGA001 and it eventually sold out, it was all quiet – there was no further update on when we might see the Spring Drive 9RA5 rolled out into a production dive watch at Grand Seiko.
Well, now we know. The SLGA015 is smaller, thinner, and (in my opinion) more attractive than any Grand Seiko Spring Drive Diver we’ve seen yet. At 43.8mm × 13.8mm, it’s not quite the sub-40mm Grand Seiko dive watch I know some people have been waiting for, but the new Evolution 9 case design will undoubtedly make it more wearable than the 46.9mm size of the SLGA001 and the 44.2mm diameter of the SBGA461 and SBGA463 (which quietly replaced the 229/231 in late 2021, with a slightly tweaked case and reformatted dial orientation to meet ISO standards).
It also features one of the most technically interesting and compelling movements Grand Seiko currently offers in the caliber 9RA5, offering up a more-than-impressive 120 hours, or five days, of running autonomy, in addition to Spring Drive’s characteristic – and charming – seamless smooth sweep and a reported accuracy rating by Grand Seiko of ±10 seconds per month.
With an $11,600 price tag, Grand Seiko is putting its premier dive watch in the cross-shopping territory of legitimate Swiss icons, such as the stainless steel black dial Rolex Submariner ref. 126610LN (MSRP: $10,100) and the blue-dial titanium Blancpain Fifty Fathoms on bracelet (MSRP: $18,300). From an aesthetics, a technical, and wearability standing, I think the SLGA015 stands up comparatively to both of those watches, in addition to similar competition from the likes of Panerai, Glashütte Original, and even the new Omega Planet Ocean Ultra-Deep, among many others.
It’ll be interesting to watch how collectors respond now that the SLGA015 has reached full-on serial production status. Will they vote with their wallets? Over $11,000 isn’t chump change, even if it is just a $500 increase over 2020’s SLGA001 limited release.
