Watch of the Week: Grand Seiko’s New SBGW279 ‘Oruri’

As a luxury brand rooted deep in Japanese culture, Grand Seiko continuously combines inspiration from Japan with the art of high watchmaking. This week, Grand Seiko unveiled a brand new timepiece inspired by a Japanese blue summer songbird that migrates to Japan during Rikka, the seasonal phase marking the beginning of summer: SBGW279 ‘Oruri.’

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Grand Seiko

The latest timepiece serves as a permanent addition to Grand Seiko’s Elegance Collection, introducing a new point of inspiration for the watches and a U.S. special edition timepiece.

The SBGW279 embodies all of the elements of a classic Grand Seiko timepiece: the deep blue sunray dial mimicking the blue feathers of the Oruri songbird adds depth and sophistication to the watch, and the signature case design creates a modern manual-wind dress watch with thoughtful proportions, impressive movement, a minimalistic dial with no date, and distortion-free finishing. Housed inside the -sized 37.3mm stainless steel case is the 9S64 mechanical manual-wind movement, which is seen through the caseback.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Grand Seiko

To celebrate the stunning new timepiece, Grand Seiko partnered with internationally renowned illustrator ShiShi Yamazaki. Through unique hand-drawn animation and footage for rotoscoping to convey sensation, emotion, and movement, Yamazaki tells the imaginative story of the Oruri Japanese Songbird in its natural habitat. “Like the Grand Seiko craftsmen behind the Oruri watch, I was inspired by the journey of the Oruri bird as it travels to the mountains of Japan each summer. The watercolor animation I’ve created represents the beautiful movement of the bird and its stunning deep blue coloring,” notes Yamazaki.

The special edition watch will be available for purchase this May and exclusive to the U.S. market and will retail for $4,600 at Grand Seiko Boutiques and Grand Seiko authorized retailers in the U.S.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Grand Seiko