Grand Seiko SBGA109 Spring Drive in titanium – 10th Anniversary Limited Edition: Spot the lion and the differences

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Grand Seiko SBGA109 Spring Drive in titanium – 10th Anniversary Limited Edition. Limited to 700 pieces. This piece commemorates the 10th anniversary of the launch of Seiko’s Spring Drive (which was launched in 2005). It is powered by the Calibre 9R15 spring drive with 72 hours of power reserve. There is the lion emblem at the 2 o’clock position. The case is in 40mm and there are differences in dial details, among other things, when compared with the SBGA111 Spring Drive. Price at around HK$60,000 / SGD9,800 (Singapore dollars) / MYR25,300 (Malaysian Ringgit). Note: Prices may differ and are approximate. Photo: © Seiko

Grand Seiko SBGA109 Spring Drive in titanium – 10th Anniversary Limited Edition. Limited to 700 pieces. This piece commemorates the 10th anniversary of the launch of Seiko’s Spring Drive (which was launched in 2005). It is powered by the Calibre 9R15 spring drive with 72 hours of power reserve. There is the lion emblem at the 2 o’clock position. The case is in 40mm and there are differences in dial details, among other things, when compared with the SBGA111 Spring Drive. Price at around HK$60,000 / SGD9,800 (Singapore dollars) / MYR25,300 (Malaysian Ringgit). Note: Prices may differ and are approximate. Photo: © Seiko

Among the limited editions launched by Seiko to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Spring Drive will be the Grand Seiko SBGA111 Spring Drive in stainless steel and the SBGA109 Spring Drive in titanium.

Like the SBGA111, the Grand Seiko SBGA109 Spring Drive in titanium shown above is equipped with the Calibre 9R15 Spring Drive movement which has 72 hours of power reserve after being fully wound.

Similarly, the dial of the Grand Seiko SBGA109 Spring Drive has multiple “GS” (for Grand Seiko) patterns and blued steel hands for the power reserve indicator hand and the sweep seconds hand. The text “Spring Drive” under the Grand Seiko branding is also in blue.

There is also the Grand Seiko lion emblem on the dial. Can you spot it? It is located at the 2 o’clock position.

If you cannot spot it, we recommend that you check the timewerke.com article: “Grand Seiko SBGA111 Spring Drive 10th Anniversary Limited Edition in stainless steel: Celebrating Spring” where a close-up of the lion symbol can be seen.

 

 

It will be easy to mistake the SBGA109 with the SBGA111 as both look identical. However, there are obvious differences. Try spotting them (compare it with the image of the SBGA111 can be seen on our Grand Seiko SBGA111 article).

Among the differences will be the Arabic numerals along the minute track at every five-minute intervals on the SBGA111 (there is none on the SBGA109) and their bracelets while another difference that is not obvious is the size.

The diameter of the Grand Seiko SBGA109 Spring Drive is 40mm, 0.1mm larger than the SBGA111.

The most obvious will be the weight: the Grand Seiko SBGA109 will be much lighter because it is in titanium whereas the SBGA111 is in steel.

The Grand Seiko SBGA109 Spring Drive will be even rarer as it is limited to 700 pieces compared to the SBGA111’s 1,500 pieces.