The brand new Grand Seiko SBGJ237 and SBGJ239, which be part of the corporate’s Sports activities Assortment, are as sturdy as any Hello-Beat GMTs I’ve seen. The SBGJ237 might be accessible in August, and the SBGJ239 is a boutique/salon-only piece that might be accessible beginning in July. They arrive with all the options that I might count on to see in a Grand Seiko GMT, however with add-ons for many who wish to be a bit extra lively. Foremost amongst them are their water resistance, which stretches to 20 bar (or about 200 meters), and a sapphire crystal bezel, which protects a luminous 24-hour scale. Within the night hours, from about 17:30 to six:30, the numerals themselves gentle up in Seiko’s proprietary Lumibrite. Within the daytime hours, it is the white background that lights up.
It is value mentioning that Grand Seiko has used Lumibrite on a GMT bezel earlier than, for instance within the SBGE248 launched final 12 months. As a result of each of those new watches use a Hello-Beat motion (9S86) with quick-setting for the native hour and a rotating 24-hour bezel, they will shortly inform the time in a complete of three time zones. There may be the native time, there’s the time instructed with the 24-hour hand by way of the stationary 24-hour monitor on the flange, and there’s the time that may be calculated by rotating the blue and white (or within the case of the SBGJ239, black and white) outer bezel in one-hour increments and studying from the 24-hour hand.
